Next up in the Metallica reissue campaign is the much-talked-about …And Justice For All, which fans have been desperately hoping the band would give a proper mix. The only concrete news we've heard on that front so far has come from original mixer Steve Thompson, who said there are no plans to remix the album because the band wants to keep it the way it is.
Now ex-producer Flemming Rasmussen has chimed in during an interview with Mitch Lafon, revealing that the reissue should be out sometime in November and that he has no idea what the plan is.
Perhaps more interestingly, Rasmussen also throws out there that maybe there will be an alternate mix disc in the reissue package. This seems to be the most logical solution – Metallica gets to have the album stay the way it is, and fans can get the remixed version they've always wanted.
"A remaster cut is coming out now. I'm actually in the process of sending stuff to Metallica and writing an essay about how it was recorded and what we did. The last year was the 'Master of Puppets' re-issue, and 'Justice' is gonna come out this November I guess. Same thing – vinyls, loads of CDs, rough mixes, all the demos and the works and big book and everything.
"I'm guessing that the main version, like the remaster thing, is gonna sound more or less as it did. But there might be alternative versions on there.
"I know for sure that nobody's asking me to remix it or anything and I'm pretty sure nobody asked Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero to do that either. I think they're gonna go with the remastering thing; whether they're gonna stick more bass in there – I have no idea. But let's see when it comes out.
"It was all recorded on two-inch tape. And I edited it so much that I'm pretty sure they're all gonna fall apart if you start playing them now. You'd probably need to re-tape them together again. Whether or not somebody transferred that to digital, I have no idea. And the question is, when did they do that and what does that sound like. Because once you change the format, you're fucked.
"But we'll see. Probably in November it's gonna be out. So we're working on that right now."
I'd be genuinely curious to see how much revenue a version of ...And Justice For All would generate should Jason Newsted finally get some justice, as well as a version of St. Anger where the snare isn't a trash can.
[via Ultimate Guitar]
