Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

2013 NOTE: I posted this review in 2002 on the original 1990 release. Unfortunately, with Amazon's idiotic policy of cross-pollination of reviews across multiple editions of the same title, it appears on the new 2013 remastered edition... Not my fault! As Warner is choosing to still press that atrocity, instead of deleting it, I'm leaving the original review posted. Yes, Warner Brothers, I mean you. With all of the advances in remastering technology over the life of the CD format, you should be ashamed to offer such a classic recording that sounds this bad. And that is why I'm giving a one-star rating to a five-star album. Imagine my dismay when I slipped this great album into my CD player, cued up "Oh, Well", and was greeting with the tinniest, noisiest (hiss), most distorted and worst sounding presentation of this song I've ever heard. Whatever master this travesty was spawned from sounds many times removed from the original recording. Granted, the original recording has inherent noise and distortion, but even the LP I had back in the 70's sounded better than this. And the technology certainly exists, and has existed for years, to bring this wonderful recording properly into the digital domain. To properly judge how bad this CD sounds, all one has to do is A/B "Oh, Well" from "Then" against the remastered single version on the now-defunct "The Chain" box set. This is a textbook example of why consumers have complained about the CD format for so long. In this case, this is horrible neglect of a classic recording, and a pathetic corporate culture at Warner's in refusing to utilize modern technology to improve the listening experience for the consumer for almost 30 years. WB, where is your soul? When exactly did you lose it (maybe that black day 25+ years ago when you fired Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison and a host of talented others in the same day?). Haven't you sold enough copies of "Rumors" alone to afford to properly re-master this classic? But then again, I am speaking to the company who has steadfastedly refused to bring its catalog into the digital age until the late 90's - over two decades since the introduction of the CD format. As I said before, Warner Brothers, you should be ashamed. You dishonor your company, the artists whose true genius cannot be fully (audibly) appreciated, and the legacy of the pioneers of your company who found and nurtured those artists, all for the sake of the allmighty buck.