Visage – Visage

As the Rubellan site is shutting down, I asked the Wayback Machine to back up the page for this release: https://web.archive.org/web/20250326014922/https://www.rubellanremasters.com/visage1

At what point does a slowly dying CD industry start adding 2 and 2 together and realise that certain releases are actually wanted in a hard format ? As of today, this issue is 'worth' a fortune. The artist, the record company, the rights holders and Rubellan earn nothing from its re-sale popularity. Somebody please explain to me the sense in an industry purposefully evading healthy profit.

Ridiculous pricing due to lack of supply. This album should have had a proper reissue. The story behind it is fascinating - it was shelved for the best part of a year due to contract issues and waiting for the killer single 'Fade To Grey'. The story can be read in the books by the participants Midge Ure/ Steve Strange/ Barry Adamson etc. and online pieces.
A reissue would be appreciated - but at least I still have my vinyl.

Well, I'm the odd one out here, but I'm not so impressed with the remastering on this. Good decisions were made overall about what to do, and what not to do, but the intensity of what was done just a bit too much.

EQ is mostly OK. I'd probably have done it with a lighter touch, but it's not bad. What I mainly want is to dial back the noise reduction by about 75%.

I know from experience that remastering is tricky, and there's no perfect way to reduce background hiss. It's very easy to overdo it and end up with muted reverb tails and mangled or muted harmonics, which is what happened here.

I've learned to accept that part of the sound of music from this era is in that hiss; getting too aggressive about cleaning it up just results in changing the character of the music, no matter how carefully you do it.

So I give this release an A for the bonus track selection and a B+ for remastering.

I've read Scott's posts on the Steve Hoffman forum, and saw that he never wants to do any Visage reissues again because the fans are just way too nitpicky. Looks like I'm one of those fans. :(

Another +1 for this amazing remaster.

Just the word "Remaster" itself is enough to strike dread into anyone who cares about sound quality these days, but rest assured that this classic album has been treated with utmost respect.

No brickwalling here, no harsh compression. Hell, just compare the extended bonus tracks here to the same songs featured on the 2010 The Face (The Very Best Of Visage) compilation.

Not only are they easier to listen to (they don't burst your eardrums) but there is an absolute clarity in the sound. Beautiful dynamic range, you've simply never heard Visage this good before.

I'd go as far as to say that you can resign your original UK CD copies of the album to storage. This is your reference CD from now on.

Rubellan should actually consider a vinyl repress of this remaster. I've got the original UK LP and I would buy one, for sure.

The only fly in the ointment (and it's not even a fly, more of a microbe) is that sadly the original vocal version of Frequency 7 is not included. Something to do with Universal not owning the rights, it seems. Kinda ironic when all Visage fans have the Dance Mix of Frequency 7 multiple times!!!

The next step is surely for Rubellan to do the same treatment with The Anvil. It's a must!

Visage are showing no signs of fading away. Steve would be proud of this release.

Broadly agree with the comments on the remastering: in general it is excellent & makes a refreshing change to not have something clipped & limited to within an inch of it life. There are a few instances where the snare is difficult to pick out in the track 'Visage' compared to previous versions but it's really a minor quibble: I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't actively listening to the mastering quality.

fantastic cd edition of Rubellan Remaster.l'album we all know is a masterpiece.I would therefore pause on this edition just released: wonderful remastering from the old original masters, really unsured with a very soft warm wrapping editing really in line with the years 80.excellent also the extra tracks! At this point I would say that THIS 2018 edition is THE DEFINITIVE EDITION! absolutely to have!

This is a fantastic remastered and expanded edition of 'Visage' by Rubellan Remasters. What a clear and dynamic sound ! Let's hope 'The Anvil' will get the same excellent treatment and will be reissued very soon. Recommended !!

This 2018 remaster should be a blueprint for all future remasters (Cherry Red & others take note). Top quality clean sound without distortion or compression. At last, the great "Second Steps" finally makes an appearance! Hoping for the same treatment on the Anvil & Beat Boy if ever they are remastered :)

And now another excellent Rubellan remaster. truly appreciated by new wave aficionados!