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[Nowheretohide 311]

16 minutes ago, missberic said:

By "error-free" do you also mean "without shitty edits" or is it mainly aimed at bad remasterings? Because sound quality aside, the edits do bother me a lot, not to mention the random tracklisting 

Oh, and where does one check to see a full list of "errors" on Celebration? I just read someone mentioning clicks on Music and didn't even know about it

https://requiem4adream.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/celebration-a-retardation/

Here is what is included on Celebration.

There are 16 previously released songs featured in their full-length, original album versions.

    BURNING UP
    HOLIDAY
    MATERIAL GIRL
    INTO THE GROOVE
    LIVE TO TELL
    PAPA DON’T PREACH
    LA ISLA BONITA
    WHO’S THAT GIRL
    LIKE A PRAYER
    JUSTIFY MY LOVE
    TAKE A BOW
    FROZEN
    BEAUTIFUL STRANGER
    MUSIC – MASTERING ERROR: multiple digital pops and clicks that are not part of the original recording can be heard throughout this song.
    DIE ANOTHER DAY – MASTERING ERROR: Track fades up late due to the incorrectly placed track index on the American Life album. This is ridiculous. The unaffected album version appears on both the US Promo CD single and the Die Another Day film soundtrack, all Warner Bros. releases.
    HOLLYWOOD – MASTERING ERROR: Track starts abruptly and end of “American Life”‘s fade out is audible.

Of these, ten were released as singles in versions that differ from these LP mixes. I would have much preferred the inclusion of the difficult to obtain single mixes, but I’m in therapy and have mostly moved on. Mostly.

Fortunately, five tracks do appear in their official single versions.

    SECRET (Edit)
    RAY OF LIGHT (Edit)
    SORRY (Single Edit)
    4 MINUTES (Edit)
    MILES AWAY (Radio Edit)

…and one more is a rarity from a US promo CD:

    HUNG UP ([Unblended] Album Version)

Next up, there are five remixes lifted directly from The Immaculate Collection.

    BORDERLINE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    LIKE A VIRGIN (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    CRAZY FOR YOU (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    OPEN YOUR HEART (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    VOGUE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

And now we pause to ask ourselves why.

The remaining nine tracks are unique to the collection. The first two are new recordings.

    CELEBRATION

    REVOLVER

One appears to be a from-the-vault rarity, likely included by mistake.

    LUCKY STAR – ALTERNATIVE Q SOUND MIX
    Virtually identical to the version heard on The Immaculate Collection, though there is noticeably more reverb on the “ee-yeah“‘s at the foot of each chorus. The music leading into the first verse is different (on TIC is was edited to match the original 7” version, on here it is not.) The most obvious difference is right at the fade, instead of the chorus it edits to a set of adlibs heard on longer versions of the song, but not heard on the Q Sound version. Odd, but inoffensive as it seems to be a genuine unreleased variation.

As for the rest, quality control has reached an all time low:

    EVERYBODY – FAKE EDIT
    This uses the full length, original 12″ version as its starting point (as did the official 7″ single version), but is structured differently. While the overall idea for this edit wasn’t horrendous, whoever was placed in charge of actually executing the edits needs to be tortured. Slowly… painfully.

    DRESS YOU UP – FUCKED UP INTRO
    What the hell happened here? This isn’t a mix variation so much as a mastering error… the album version started late with severe tape pinch/phasing issues right at the top. Of the four beats on the intro, all but the fourth are missing.

    EXPRESS YOURSELF – FAKE FUCKING FUCK.
    The most offensive. In a failed attempt to kindofsortof recreate the video version, they have taken the complete intro straight off of the Local Mix, “zipper” included. The actual, official video version starts at the percussion and is specially mixed to have echo on the line “Do you believe in love…” which is dry on the Local Mix and therefore not present here. This new monstrosity then incorrectly cuts to the 7″ Remix/Edit version and then again where they have BUTCHERED the song right at the bridge. A bad edit jumps the track from the end of the chorus to the repeat of the bridge which kills the structure of the track. This version is unlistenable.

CHERISH – FAKE EDIT
    The original album version cut to the length of the super-short Immaculate Collection version. AMATEUR doesn’t begin to describe how bad these edits have been executed. Poor edits result in creating entirely new lyrics! How about this chestnut… “Can’t get away, I won’t let to” ?! They render all prior complaints about bad edits on Madonna’s releases void. Again, unlistenable. In the cases of “Express Yourself” and “Cherish,” why not just use the fucking Q Sound remixes?! They’re the exact same length as the fake edits and it’s not like there aren’t 6 others from that release present here.

EROTICA – FAKE Radio Edit
    The edit points are around the same places as the OFFICIAL radio edit, but are poorly executed. The worst is around 3:30… they cut a beat late making for one of the sloppiest moments on this royalfuckupofacompilation. I don’t understand why this needed to be recreated as the official edit appears on countless singles and 2001’s GHV2 compilation. Oh. And the “surface noise” on the end of “Erotica” overlaps the beginning of “Justify My Love”.

DON’T TELL ME – FAKE Radio Edit
    The least offensive/noticeable fake edit, but incorrect nonetheless. The true radio edit was a unique mix for the very last second that does not feature the “whimsical strings” tag. For Celebration, they have chopped off the end, but the first millisecond of this tag is audible.

Regarding the mastering: It sounds as though noise reduction was used to remove “tape hiss” which is unnecessary on most recordings post 1980. This process kills part of the high end of recordings. In addition, the entire album has a smear of bass over it. I really wanted to like it, but it sounds like a cheap “bass boost” EQ effect was applied to the songs, not proper remastering.

I had accepted the slightly shoddy sequencing, several major omissions and overall lack of consistency and attention to detail with the mixes chosen for this release. I love the look of the entire project, but I cannot understand the use of newly created, butchered versions of songs.

[missberic 1,177]

47 minutes ago, Nowheretohide said:

https://requiem4adream.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/celebration-a-retardation/

This is just sad lol

That's why I don't know how anyone can prefer anything on this album, even the maybe 2 or 3 tracks that are "ok" are tainted by the awful conception and even worse artwork.

[deathproof 11,112]

Artwork was beautiful so you can stfu about that thanks 

[Adonna 20,759]

20 minutes ago, missberic said:

This is just sad lol

That's why I don't know how anyone can prefer anything on this album, even the maybe 2 or 3 tracks that are "ok" are tainted by the awful conception and even worse artwork.

It's because those errors are not as significant to most people listening.  No one but a few people really care.  Most just enjoy it "as is".  We know it's not perfect, but it's not that horrible that it can't be enjoyed.  I do understand some like to get super technical about it. I also respect that some like to point out those mistakes and discuss them.  Though, this idea that it's not even listenable or "tainted" is pure hyperbole.

[Prayer 16,666]

"Celebration" was a s**tshow and the fact that we're still talking about how bad it was handled 15 years later proves it.

Plus we're still suffering the consequences from it, lately the whole "Like A Prayer" Spotify merging thing.

Yep, the artwork and some of the versions included and remasters were the only good thing to come from that project. I would add the new songs too, but some people don't even like them, "Revolver" hasn't got many fans for instance (I like it).

[clkelley39 1,074]

1 hour ago, Nowheretohide said:

https://requiem4adream.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/celebration-a-retardation/

Here is what is included on Celebration.

There are 16 previously released songs featured in their full-length, original album versions.

    BURNING UP
    HOLIDAY
    MATERIAL GIRL
    INTO THE GROOVE
    LIVE TO TELL
    PAPA DON’T PREACH
    LA ISLA BONITA
    WHO’S THAT GIRL
    LIKE A PRAYER
    JUSTIFY MY LOVE
    TAKE A BOW
    FROZEN
    BEAUTIFUL STRANGER
    MUSIC – MASTERING ERROR: multiple digital pops and clicks that are not part of the original recording can be heard throughout this song.
    DIE ANOTHER DAY – MASTERING ERROR: Track fades up late due to the incorrectly placed track index on the American Life album. This is ridiculous. The unaffected album version appears on both the US Promo CD single and the Die Another Day film soundtrack, all Warner Bros. releases.
    HOLLYWOOD – MASTERING ERROR: Track starts abruptly and end of “American Life”‘s fade out is audible.

Of these, ten were released as singles in versions that differ from these LP mixes. I would have much preferred the inclusion of the difficult to obtain single mixes, but I’m in therapy and have mostly moved on. Mostly.

Fortunately, five tracks do appear in their official single versions.

    SECRET (Edit)
    RAY OF LIGHT (Edit)
    SORRY (Single Edit)
    4 MINUTES (Edit)
    MILES AWAY (Radio Edit)

…and one more is a rarity from a US promo CD:

    HUNG UP ([Unblended] Album Version)

Next up, there are five remixes lifted directly from The Immaculate Collection.

    BORDERLINE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    LIKE A VIRGIN (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    CRAZY FOR YOU (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    OPEN YOUR HEART (1990) (Q Sound Mix)
    VOGUE (1990) (Q Sound Mix)

And now we pause to ask ourselves why.

The remaining nine tracks are unique to the collection. The first two are new recordings.

    CELEBRATION

    REVOLVER

One appears to be a from-the-vault rarity, likely included by mistake.

    LUCKY STAR – ALTERNATIVE Q SOUND MIX
    Virtually identical to the version heard on The Immaculate Collection, though there is noticeably more reverb on the “ee-yeah“‘s at the foot of each chorus. The music leading into the first verse is different (on TIC is was edited to match the original 7” version, on here it is not.) The most obvious difference is right at the fade, instead of the chorus it edits to a set of adlibs heard on longer versions of the song, but not heard on the Q Sound version. Odd, but inoffensive as it seems to be a genuine unreleased variation.

As for the rest, quality control has reached an all time low:

    EVERYBODY – FAKE EDIT
    This uses the full length, original 12″ version as its starting point (as did the official 7″ single version), but is structured differently. While the overall idea for this edit wasn’t horrendous, whoever was placed in charge of actually executing the edits needs to be tortured. Slowly… painfully.

    DRESS YOU UP – FUCKED UP INTRO
    What the hell happened here? This isn’t a mix variation so much as a mastering error… the album version started late with severe tape pinch/phasing issues right at the top. Of the four beats on the intro, all but the fourth are missing.

    EXPRESS YOURSELF – FAKE FUCKING FUCK.
    The most offensive. In a failed attempt to kindofsortof recreate the video version, they have taken the complete intro straight off of the Local Mix, “zipper” included. The actual, official video version starts at the percussion and is specially mixed to have echo on the line “Do you believe in love…” which is dry on the Local Mix and therefore not present here. This new monstrosity then incorrectly cuts to the 7″ Remix/Edit version and then again where they have BUTCHERED the song right at the bridge. A bad edit jumps the track from the end of the chorus to the repeat of the bridge which kills the structure of the track. This version is unlistenable.

CHERISH – FAKE EDIT
    The original album version cut to the length of the super-short Immaculate Collection version. AMATEUR doesn’t begin to describe how bad these edits have been executed. Poor edits result in creating entirely new lyrics! How about this chestnut… “Can’t get away, I won’t let to” ?! They render all prior complaints about bad edits on Madonna’s releases void. Again, unlistenable. In the cases of “Express Yourself” and “Cherish,” why not just use the fucking Q Sound remixes?! They’re the exact same length as the fake edits and it’s not like there aren’t 6 others from that release present here.

EROTICA – FAKE Radio Edit
    The edit points are around the same places as the OFFICIAL radio edit, but are poorly executed. The worst is around 3:30… they cut a beat late making for one of the sloppiest moments on this royalfuckupofacompilation. I don’t understand why this needed to be recreated as the official edit appears on countless singles and 2001’s GHV2 compilation. Oh. And the “surface noise” on the end of “Erotica” overlaps the beginning of “Justify My Love”.

DON’T TELL ME – FAKE Radio Edit
    The least offensive/noticeable fake edit, but incorrect nonetheless. The true radio edit was a unique mix for the very last second that does not feature the “whimsical strings” tag. For Celebration, they have chopped off the end, but the first millisecond of this tag is audible.

Regarding the mastering: It sounds as though noise reduction was used to remove “tape hiss” which is unnecessary on most recordings post 1980. This process kills part of the high end of recordings. In addition, the entire album has a smear of bass over it. I really wanted to like it, but it sounds like a cheap “bass boost” EQ effect was applied to the songs, not proper remastering.

I had accepted the slightly shoddy sequencing, several major omissions and overall lack of consistency and attention to detail with the mixes chosen for this release. I love the look of the entire project, but I cannot understand the use of newly created, butchered versions of songs.

“Borderline” is NOT the Q-Sound mix. It’s a new edit that retains some echo-y effects from the New Mix. It’s similar to the It’s That Girl mix and what’s erroneously labeled the 7” version on streaming. 

[Prayer 16,666]

3 minutes ago, clkelley39 said:

“Borderline” is NOT the Q-Sound mix. It’s a new edit that retains some echo-y vocal effects from the New Mix. It’s similar to the It’s That Girl mix and what’s erroneously labeled the 7” version on streaming. 

It's an alternate Q-Sound mix as shown on Qobuz (official label info):

https://www.qobuz.com/es-es/album/celebration-madonna/0093624972730

They used alternate "Immaculate" Q-Sound versions of "Borderline" and "Lucky Star" for "Celebration".

[clkelley39 1,074]

2 minutes ago, Prayer said:

It's an alternate Q-Sound mix as shown on Qobuz (official label info):

https://www.qobuz.com/es-es/album/celebration-madonna/0093624972730

They used alternate "Immaculate" Q-Sound versions of "Borderline" and "Lucky Star" for "Celebration".

Right. It’s not the Q-Sound mix, but an alternative to it like “Lucky Star”. 

[Arckangel 294]

@missberic @Nowheretohide Wasn't Celebration reprinted without the errors?

[MPowered 7,747]

22 minutes ago, Arckangel said:

@missberic @Nowheretohide Wasn't Celebration reprinted without the errors?

They fixed some errors but didn’t fix everything that was wrong with Celebration. I think the only tracks that were changed were Erotica & Cherish.

[Adonna 20,759]

29 minutes ago, Arckangel said:

@missberic @Nowheretohide Wasn't Celebration reprinted without the errors?

Yes, for the most part.  Again, minor errors, and the majority of people listening to the album would never even know or recognize some of the errors that the more technical fans will point out.  Celebration is still quite enjoyable!

[Burroughs 921]

7 hours ago, Nowheretohide said:

HOLLYWOOD – MASTERING ERROR: Track starts abruptly and end of “American Life”‘s fade out is audible.

I don't get it.... Hollywood wasn't supposed to blend with American Life?

[Veronica-Electronica 281]

7 minutes ago, Burroughs said:

I don't get it.... Hollywood wasn't supposed to blend with American Life?

On the AL album, yes. But on a compilation where AL is not the track before it, it makes no sense having the AL fade out audible at the start of the track.

[fauxswan 298]

8 hours ago, Nowheretohide said:

https://requiem4adream.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/celebration-a-retardation/

..anyways

i don't have enough freetime to pick up on these things. thank god because id hate to come across as being anally retentive.

[Prayer 16,666]

9 minutes ago, fauxswan said:

..anyways

i don't have enough freetime to pick up on these things. thank god because id hate to come across as being anally retentive.

It’s not about having free time, it’s about paying attention or not.

[fauxswan 298]

5 minutes ago, Prayer said:

It’s not about having free time, it’s about paying attention or not.

my point is that these are rather minuscule errors, it's not a deal great enough to end the world lol

[Prayer 16,666]

4 minutes ago, fauxswan said:

my point is that these are rather minuscule errors, it's not a deal great enough to end the world lol

It’s definitely not the end of the world but they were not that miniscule when the label had to reprint the album two months after release updating and fixing four of the songs. And there were still more that should have been fixed.

[Orko 16,466]

9 hours ago, clkelley39 said:

“Borderline” is NOT the Q-Sound mix. It’s a new edit that retains some echo-y effects from the New Mix. It’s similar to the It’s That Girl mix and what’s erroneously labeled the 7” version on streaming. 

I don't understand how they screwed up Edits. Why not just use the mixes. They are already done. I have No idea how the stuffed-up Music. It's a straight Album Track. They should have just taken of GHV2.

This Version of Music was On the Taiwanese Edition, and it sounds Fab.

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Cheers,

Craigy

[Nowheretohide 311]

59 minutes ago, Prayer said:

It’s definitely not the end of the world but they were not that miniscule when the label had to reprint the album two months after release updating and fixing four of the songs. And there were still more that should have been fixed.

What are the other two songs they fixed besides Cherish and Erotica?

[Prayer 16,666]

1 minute ago, Nowheretohide said:

What are the other two songs they fixed besides Cherish and Erotica?

"Hollywood" and "Die Another Day". They were lifted straight from the "American Life" CD for "Celebration" but the tracking wasn't right: "Hollywood" started with the ending of "American Life" still and "Die Another Day" missed a millisecond or something at the start.

[Andreo 6,044]

I lowkey missed the periodical Celebration slander... Still not here for it 

Can we switch topic for once and focus on the real enemy, aka Madame X?

[Nowheretohide 311]

58 minutes ago, Andreo said:

I lowkey missed the periodical Celebration slander... Still not here for it 

Can we switch topic for once and focus on the real enemy, aka Madame X?

No, we can now restart to complain about the missing digital singles as Dress you up, OYH, DAD, ecc. and praying about the inclusion of some vinyl only available remix edits ecc. ecc.

Really, I'm praying for OYH and DYU remix edits but I'm not so confident...

[Veronica-Electronica 281]

2 hours ago, fauxswan said:

my point is that these are rather minuscule errors, it's not a deal great enough to end the world lol

If we’re not here to discuss the minutiae then what are we here for?

[Prayer 16,666]

51 minutes ago, Nowheretohide said:

No, we can now restart to complain about the missing digital singles as Dress you up, OYH, DAD, ecc. and praying about the inclusion of some vinyl only available remix edits ecc. ecc.

Really, I'm praying for OYH and DYU remix edits but I'm not so confident...

"Dress You Up" was released in July in the US so I guess we won't get it this year unless they do a digital singles campaign or something for "Like A Virgin" 40th with all the digital singles around October/November like they did for "Erotica" 30th.

[Orko 16,466]

1 hour ago, Prayer said:

"Dress You Up" was released in July in the US so I guess we won't get it this year unless they do a digital singles campaign or something for "Like A Virgin" 40th with all the digital singles around October/November like they did for "Erotica" 30th.

We Have a Digital source version for Dress You Up [Remix/Edit]