RE: Up the Downstair...
I have to say that (for me) it got much better with the re-recorded drums on the re-release. I always thought the songs were cool, but hated the drum machine and I would usually listen to the versions on Coma Divine. But the re-release with Gavin was such a huge improvement it's not even funny.
Gotta do what orcus said I would do
and completely disagree.
Some really cool drum fills that were on the original were removed and played differently on the remaster, the vibe of many of the songs isn't as good, and Wilson completely sucked the life out of Burning Sky by re-recording the main guitar lead (which was awesome on the original, but sounds dull and lifeless on the remaster).
Generally speaking, real drums are almost always better than fake drums, yes, but in the case of those very early PT albums, the drum machine added a certain charm to them, and putting newly recorded drums on an album that old (it was 12 years old at the time of the remaster) is like pairing up two things that don't go together because they come from different times or eras. It just doesn't sound right.
I almost always love what SW does, but I think that was the one huge mistake he has made. A studio album is more than a collection of songs, but a snapshot in time, and replacing something that many years later is tainting that snapshot, IMO. Harrison's drumming was not a part of the band's sound back then.