Hi everybody, I have a question about the XTC remasters. I have some albums in their original CD issues and two of the remasters, and the remasters drive me nuts! The sound is overcompressed and fatiguing (Oranges & Lemons + Skylarking are the two I have). Is it just me or is this a common complaint? I've heard parts of the original Oranges & Lemons CD and it sounds a lot better.

Have the two English Settlement tracks omitted from the original CD (Leisure and Down In The Cockpit) ever been released on an unremastered CD? I'd love to have those songs, but I don't think I'm willing to shell out the money for a remaster that I probably won't play very often.


Anyway, it's great to find this forum. I used to be a lurker at the old board (any news on it?) but never got around to posting.

Hi Axis, welcome to the forum. There are several CD reissues with the two mentioned songs included. Just take a look at

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I too disliked the Skylarking remaster. It's like they just made everything louder with not much nuance. One part I can't stand is the remaster of Dying in which that sound that originally and aptly sounded like a ticking clock was remastered to sound more like clogs on a hardhood floor!

But I liked the O&L remaster, it is also loud but the mix is clearer and brought out aspects I hadn't heard before... besides it doesn't hurt an album like O&L to be a little louder.

It's seem like I had minor problems with another of the set but I can't remember which one. But mostly I liked the remasters. And wheter or not they're loud, at least they're all mastered at the same volume. Don't you just hate it when you have CD's on shuffle and you have to turn one album up to hear it only to be blasted by the next? My original copy of English Settlement was horribly quiet.