Very true and something I was aware of in my vinyl days. On some occasions one side of an album was louder than the other. Generally I found the quality of vinyl I bought in the 70s to be superior to the 80s. This is one of the reasons I switched to CD although the discs were a lot more expensive in those days.
Fast forward 35 years and I am very impressed with many of the remasters I stream on Qobuz. They are a lot better than what was there before and old favourites have taken on a new lease of life. Remastering I not just marketing. If a good job has been done and your system is of sufficient quality the difference is not subtle, especially if the previous master was poor.
Then I remember the ghastly tank top my mum knitted me in 1979 