1984's Footloose was one of a string of very-much-a-product-of-their-time flicks to come out during the 1980s. Despite mixed critical reviews, it proved to be a financial success, coming in among the top ten highest grossing films of the year. It's also one amongst a large number of films whose soundtrack albums are arguably better than the contents of the movies themselves. And it should be noted that the Footloose soundtrack album is indeed a repository of some truly great musical cuts, particularly the title track and the Mike Reno-Ann Williams duet "Almost Paradise." The 1984 CD release is fairly common in the secondhand market, the 1998 remaster less so. Which is the better buy, sound-wise?
Note: The remastered version of the Footloose soundtrack album includes bonus tracks by Quiet Riot, John Mellencamp, Foreigner, and Shalamar which do not appear on the original release. Those additional songs are necessarily omitted from this comparison.
Footloose
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Let's Hear It for the Boy
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Almost Paradise (Love Theme from Footloose)
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Holding Out for a Hero
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Dancing in the Sheets
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
I'm Free (Heaven Helps the Man)
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Somebody's Eyes
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
The Girl Gets Around
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
Never
1984 original CD release
1998 remaster
And the winner is:Original 1984 CD release.
We have here an example of an album that was originally a bit too quiet given a remaster that's definitely too loud. The original disc from 1984 should have been a bit louder; that said, it still sounds pretty good as long as you increase the volume on your playback equipment (just be sure to adjust it back down when you're done listening!). The remaster from 1998 is clearly louder than it should be, with the most egregious instances of this being on album opener "Footloose" and penultimate number "The Girl Gets Around," but other than that it still sounds pretty decent, to be honest. I've seen far worse than this on other reissues, and I could probably live with the remaster if I didn't already have a copy of its predecessor. Still, my recommendation is the earlier 1984 release, despite it being a product of the early compact disc era.
