SUPERIOR-SOUNDING JAPAN 2008 REMASTER NOW AVAILABLE

In 2008, WEA Japan released the entire WB Tower Of Power catalog in remastered form. All of the albums benefit from new mastering, and are worthwhile acquisitions for fans. Even this live album sounds better than the US CD, which is just an old, LP-EQ'd master transfered to CD, as are all of the TOP WB albums.

I found all of the remastered material to be superior to the Rhino 2CD "What Is Hip?" 1999 compilation set, except, surprisingly, for the material from the 3rd album, which sounds better on the Rhino.

Amazon does a haphazard job of stocking these remasters, so you may have to seek them from Japan-based retailers. Also, Amazon's prices are at least a third higher than buying direct from Japan, although shipping costs will cut into that percentage.

Here are the links for the `08 remasters:

East Bay Grease
Bump City
Tower Of Power
Back To Oakland
Urban Renewal
In The Slot
Live And In Living Color

Again, it's sad that American consumers have to obtain better sounding CD's from another country. WEA, and now WMG, have long maintained a corporate policy of not upgrading their catalog under the "they're-gonna-buy-it-anyway-so-why-waste-profits" philosophy, no matter that rival Sony has made a lucative business model out of remastering nearly the entire Columbia records catalog. Although this internal policy was mandated by the WEA regimes of the past, Edgar Bronfman, the current WMG chief, has maintained the status quo.

So, Tower Of Power now joins fellow WEA artists Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, The Doobie Brothers, Tower Of Power, Neil Young, Van Dyke Parks, Little Feat, Van Morrison, America, Annie Haslam, Everything But The Girl, Roberta Flack, Todd Rundgren, Cold Blood and Paul Butterfield, just to name a few, whose catalogs either partially or wholly exist in better audio in Japan than here in the U.S.

It's a pathetic and frustrating situation.

ANOTHER WARNING ON MP3 DOWNLOAD!!!
I also purchased the mp3 download and it is NOT THE ORIGINAL VERSIONS OF 2 SONGS!! Sparkling in the Sand and Knock Yourself Out are from the "East Bay Grease" CD. They are NOT EVEN LIVE VERSIONS, no less from Live and in Living Color. These certainly ought to be pulled from the site for purchase, or fix the horrid error.

BE WARNED MP3 VERSION IS NOT SAME!!!
The track "Knock Yourself Out", a classic by the way, is 23:08 in the CD version... I downloaded the MP3 version from Amazon downloads and the "Knock Yourself Out" track is a different version, not as good, and only 7:12 in length...I dunno why, but BE WARNED!

It doesn't get much better than this...
Raised on rock, I played guitar in a metal band for a while. After hearing this, I was amazed. There is something missing in today's music, and that's the ability to groove. These guys have it mastered. Highly suggested for any real music lover. Great stuff.

My favorite CD
This CD is AWESOME! Tower of power is the best live band. I've seen them live, and they are awesome. Lenny Pickett's 10 minute solo is amazing! I think this is Tower of Power's best CD.