Nice. I see "Freaks" is the same tracklisting as the 2 CD reissue from 2012. Also, no "Master of the Universe"? Jarvis really doesn't want "Silence" out there (it would have been nice if they could have given "Take You Back" a proper release in its place...)
I might get the Separations green vinyl as I never thought the original pressing sounded that great, but am really loathe to keep buying the same old stuff over and over to put more cash in Fire's pockets. Would have been nice if they had done the limited colour vinyls in 2012 in the first place...!!
-- Edited by LeoVK on Sunday 15th of March 2015 10:15:22 PM
I love colored vinyl but I'm with Leo. I don't know if it's worth repurchasing albums I already own one or two copies of to begin with especially when it's Fire putting these out.
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This is making me want to start collecting records, do they sound better than the CDs ?
I used to be skeptical that there'd be a noticeable difference to the untrained ear until I was recently bought a new turntable, several years after flogging my old one. I'm convinced it gives a warmer, fuller sound, and personally feel that the odd bit of crackle gives character - a bit of history between you and the recording.
But to be sure, my wife conducted a 'blind test' with a set of headphones and tightly clenched eyelids, playing the same track through an amp via either iTunes or the record player (nice new heavyweight vinyl, with no excess 'noise'). Each of us identified the vinyl track as sounding nicer in all cases.
(I've never noticed a major difference between CDs and MP3s.)
But all that aside, I find it a more fulfilling experience sticking on Fire's 'Countdown' compilation and having to flip the sides every so often than just clicking at the tracks on an iPod. And as objects, LPs are beautiful things. I pawed the Suffocate rerelease in a record shop the other day and it's soooo desirable - just a bit short on cash, I'm going to try to get back there at the end of the month (hope it's still there!)
It's a qualitatively different experience too, in that having to fuss about changing sides and selecting tracks, cleaning surfaces and changing the odd needle puts the music at the heart of what you're doing - focuses your attention on the act of listening - rather than allowing the music to dissolve into the background and become a musak of sorts.
-- Edited by superchob on Sunday 26th of April 2015 01:19:03 PM
The argument of whether digital or vinyl sounds better is an age old one (well...as old as digital at least), and it boils down to preference really...and the quality of your turntable/cartridge > pre-amp > power amp > speakers....
The fact is though that the recordings on these pressings would have been taken from the 2012 digital remasters anyway, and so the sound was already 'digital' before it even got pressed to the vinyl if that makes sense...so whatever warmth or fullness is heard on the record is because the recordings are being 'coloured' by the vinyl format and will vary from system to system.
I think Separations sounds great though - I haven't listened to the others enough yet to form a strong opinion.
I *hate* the tracklisting on "It" though - The fact that 6 out of the 7 'original' tracks are on side one, and side two starts with "In Many Ways" before going into the bonus tracks. I think they should have just put the main "It" tracks on the vinyl and made the bonus tracks available through download, like they did with Seppy.
Actually...would have been happy with "Looking For Life" being on the vinyl too, seeing as it has kind of been 'adopted' as part of the main tracklisting since the early 90's, and is a much better closer to the album than "In Many Ways".
OR...instead of doing the bonus tracks as a download, they could have bundled a 7" disc along with the album containing all the bonuses - now that would have been sweet!
-- Edited by LeoVK on Sunday 26th of April 2015 08:54:44 PM
I've bought these just need to buy It. In my opinion They Suffocate At Night sounds bloody amazing, you can hear everything so clearly. Either that's down to the mastering, or your setup which if that's the case, good job on the stylus and amp leo
Two quotes here from Sturdy's book regarding the original "Freaks"/"They Suffocate at Night"
"the mastering of the album was also botched - the top end is cut off, and the bass slightly distorted"
"Compare the 12" single release of 'They Suffocate at Night' - the same recording and mix but mastered by someone else - with the album version to get the idea. The single version seems to bring out lots of subtle nuances, in Jarvis' voice especially, that are barely detectable on the album version"
I did this at the time and agreed with what he was saying. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to try this out again but the version LeoVK has posted above reminds me of the single, rather than the album version, particularly taking into account Sturdy's comment re Jarvis' voice. Sounds like a good buy to me
Thanks for the opinions everyone, I had a feeling vinyl sounded more "live" somehow, but wasn't sure if it was just my imagination. I love my cd collection and definitely think they sound better than mp3s, but curious about hearing my favourite albums on vinyl now too. This could get expensive! :)
A question, is there a difference between the sound quality of MOTU single version, compared to the Freaks one? Apart from the cleaner lyrics of course
I've never done the back-to-back thing with them (or if I have it's too long ago/not sufficiently noteworthy to remember) but I don't think there's much difference, certainly not of the same order as TSaN.
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