I have the 2CD version now, and there is (what I consider to be) a horrible glitch in the transition between
I. Prelude and
II. Apollo (Bringer of Wisdom), about 4:20 into the main
Hemispheres track.
This YouTube video illustrates the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN0Du99auQcYou might think that they've chopped a second or so off the fade out, but I analysed this carefully in Audacity by comparison to the '90s remaster, and in fact they haven't. The problem is that the last chord of
Prelude doesn't fade soon enough.
On the remaster, the duration of the fade out from that last climactic chord at 4:20 is about 5.18 seconds.
On the anniversary version, that chord is sustained quite a bit longer in the fade out - for 6.58 seconds - after which it stops abruptly.
The timing from that last chord to the next section is near identical - there's no more than 0.01 seconds in it. So there's actually more of a silent gap in the '90s remaster version.
Remaster:
Anniversary:
To my ears the Anniversary edition does sound slightly subjectively 'better' than the remaster, so it's a shame.
