Pink Floyd – Brain Damage (2023) Remaster Review

Tape qualities of Pink Floyd masters must be starting to wear thin after how frequently they are outed. Cashing in on a track and remastering it, again and again, can only provide so many changes. Just because an album has an anniversary, 50 years from Dark Side of the Moon in this instance, doesn’t mean it needs another outing. Listening to Brain Damage and its subsequent remaster, another one that is, gives way to minimal changes. A track which gave Dark Side of the Moon its title feels to be a fair start to another remaster. But it was listening to that original version of Brain Damage, the jittery and powerful original where the broad scope comes from the mix of the time, that a love for the track was found all over again. That cannot be replicated on a remastering. Brain Damage (2023 Remaster) is still a Pink Floyd track, but an active attempt at emptying of its worth.

Crisper, brighter guitar work feels uncomfortable. Sharper edges to Brain Damage, a track that depends on the right balance between vocal presence and instrumental power, are lost. Roger Waters’ lead vocals are drowned out by the David Gilmour guitar work, pushing the former frontman down a peg or two. That rise toward “and if that dam breaks open many years too soon” feels subtle, neutered and quiet. A back-to-back comparison makes that abundantly clear. Stuffy reverb on the original is opened up and it gives an echoed, quieter feel to Brain Damage. That quieter move for this track makes no sense and it makes for an inconsequential reworking.

There is now the worry that this version will replace that of the much superior original, the 2011 mixture and the countless others that have tried and succeeded in peddling Pink Floyd. Brain Damage (2023) Remaster is the mix that broke the tapes, surely? But the most prevalent issue with this re-release is that it shows the cycle is endless. A 2011 mix that was still serviceable, still relevant, has already been cast aside because one of the Pink Floyd members fancied tinkering around with it again and again. Worrying that may be for the future state of the LP scene, at least the original mix and 2011 piece are still available. For now, anyway.

Pink Floyd mark an abundantly clear cash-in with a pointless remaster that comes just twelve years after the last one. Not just that but they have given a keen example to how a shift of original tapes to the present, as technology advances, is not always a strong enough reason to morph a song. David Bowie’s production team butchered Life on Mars on a 2016 remastering. It is possible to hold a song in reverence and strongly disagree with its remastering. The Kinks fans must be tutting and preparing their “I told you so” statements already, and those that can still feel the power of Pink Floyd’s earlier masterings, from the original up to the 2011 take, can observe the changes and degradation. A pretty poor mix that makes for a bitter look back at how warring factions can weigh in on how a remastering turns out.