Pitchfork on Daydream Nation Deluxe Edition: Great Extras But Don't Ditch The Original

The good:

You'd be hard pressed to find many fans of indie rock who don't have some love for this record. That's partly because this record is great, sure-- that's one boring reason-- but it's also because this record is one of a handful that helped shape the notion of what American indie rock can potentially mean. It's almost a tautology: Indie fans love Daydream Nation because loving stuff like Daydream Nation is part of how we define what indie fans are.

The bad:

This reissue does what reissues have to do these days, raising the volume to compete with all the over-compressed new stuff on your mp3 player. Someone's clearly taken care with the process, making sure not to spoil the wide dynamics of this music, but this kind of re-master isn't the best fit for the open-room feel of the original: I'd be lying if I said the crystalline brambles of guitar in these songs didn't suffer a little from being flattened out like this. (Steve Shelley's busy, subtle drumming gets a particularly raw deal.) Mild audiophiles-- or anyone attached to the feel of the original CD and LP issues-- might want to spring for the vinyl re-release.