With all the fan backlash regarding the sound quality of EMI’s recent Duran Duran remasters, I’m glad I’ve held off purchasing my third or fourth iterations of albums I’ve owned the better part of my life. Some fans are so disappointed – even angry – over the poor sound quality that they are campaigning for a formal recall. EMI is having none of it, according to the Guardian, claiming that they have received “positive and negative comments about the mastering” with “no plans” to recall the discs. Meanwhile, even erstwhile guitarist Andy Taylor has expressed his own disappointment with the remasters on his intermittent Twitter feed, “Sounds like it was done down the pub.” The re-issues are ultra-deluxe packages, featuring plenty of bonus material ensconced in elaborate and expanded artwork. EMI spent the money to have these reissues meet the standards of longtime Duran Duran fans in terms of artwork and bonus material, but the remastering job “modernizes” the dynamic range by pumping up the levels to the point where, as one fan on Amazon claimed, it sounds like “a big brick wall of garbage, and the high range/treble’s pushed so high that it’s literally painful on the ears to listen to.” I guess when I get the hankering I will just rely on the mp3 rips from my vintage 1982 pressing of Rio.