Well I got the 2112 40th. Just the standard 40th anniversary. I wasn't going to buy it, but received it as a Christmas gift. The remaster sounds fine, not sure if it's different from the last one they put out. Still doesn't beat the original regardless. But I don't think anyone is interested in yet another remaster of 2112 at this point.
The real meat is, of course, the bonus disc. I'm still disappointed at how filled with cover songs it is, but I understand they didn't have a lot of bonus material to choose from. The covers themselves vary from bad to pretty good.
Overture by the Foo Fighters is fine I guess. They play it pretty straight. Seems like more of a safe choice, would've liked to see them do a part of the suite with vocals. Is it safe to call Nick Raskulinecz a hack at this point? I don't think I've heard any production job by him that sounds good. Always way too loud and compressed to the point where the life is sucked out of the music.
Passage to Bangkok - Not sure Billy Talent is, this one just sounds like the same song with modern production and glam rock vocals. It's OK.
Twilight Zone by Stevie is the best of the bunch and I don't just say that because he's my avatar. The creepy psychedelic tone to this song is perfect for his style. It's close enough to the original but Stevie gives it his own stamp.
Wow, that is excellent. Better than the original.
I don't like it. Too busy. There are some interesting sounds but I really like how stripped down the original is. But I also consider Tears the second best song after the title track, so I'm pretty biased there.
Something For Nothing is good. It's the same guy who did that awesome Subdivisions cover that was posted in this thread awhile back.
Hilarious that Lessons got snubbed for the covers. I always forget that song exists and apparently they did too when putting this together. Even Alex seems pretty indifferent toward it during the Q&A interview on the DVD.
Live tracks are cool. It's nice to get an almost complete rendition of 2112 from the 70s, I had never heard one before.
I didn't even know they ever performed Twilight Zone live. In the liner notes it says it was only performed twice. Anyway, this recording is really low quality. I'm glad they included it for historic significance, but it shows that once again they are digging at the bottom of the well with this release.
Then you have a radio ad and the solar federation spoken word section isolated. Meh.
The DVD is pretty neat. Almost makes the whole set worth it. The live video is awesome. You get a nearly complete version of 2112 and some other 70s tracks. I've seen clips of this on various documentaries but never the full video. I'm sure the bootleggers are already familiar with this, but it was new to me. Love vintage video. The Q&A was surprisingly really interesting. I thought I had heard everything there was to know about this album by now, but there was actually a lot of new information. I think it helped that they got Alex and Terry Brown to do it instead of the usual suspects, Geddy and Neil. Since Terry is there they spend a lot more time talking about the production side of things. how the songs were recorded and such. Less about the songwriting which has been discussed to death. So I found all that really fascinating.
Liner notes are very expansive. Those are worth a read. You get bits on every song.
Overall, I'd say give this one a pass unless you're a hardcore fan. The whole release seems pointless. I get that there's not a lot to choose from, but why not do something like this for other albums? Or a box set type thing covering the band's entire early period. Just seems like a cash grab. It is better than the last 2112 deluxe edition, but at this point falls under the category of too little too late.
