Some Miles Showell half speed masters you may have missed. I love the ones I already have except, perhaps, Disraeli Gears. It’s going to be an expensive autumn for me.
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Tinderbox, Peepshow, Superstition & The Rapture (all released last December). Peepshow is my fave SATB album. The Rapture’s the only one I don’t much like.
Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters (released in April). Or available on CD in your local chazza for 99p.
Blind Faith – Blind Faith (released in April).
Genesis – Seconds Out (released in June).
Everything But The Girl – Amplified Heart (released in July).
Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis (released 20 Sep). Now we’re talking!
Scott Walker – Scott 4 (released 20 Sep). None more AW.
Fabs – Abbey Road 50th (released 27 Sep).
The Specials – The Specials (double 45rpm, released 11 Oct).
Plus another Ikea Kallax to store them all in…
dai says
Snake oil, methinks 😉
fentonsteve says
Trust me, they do sound great.
I can live without the ‘mastered at Abbey Road’ Obi strip and the certificate. The ones without those are priced at normal new vinyl prices (about a tenner less), such as Banshees and Eurythmics, and sound just as good.
Arthur Cowslip says
I’m curious about whether half speed vinyl mastering sounds better or not. I’d probably need a blind test.
John Walters says
It really does sound better !! Check out Fire and Water by Free and Live at Leeds by The Who.
No Scott’s 1/2and 3 though ???
Arthur Cowslip says
I’ve never heard Live At Leeds on vinyl – a shameful admission! I only got into that album years later whenthe expanded CD release was the norm.
The albums that sound best on vinyl (he says, going by pure instinct and experience without scientific evidence) are I think early seventies pressings that have lots of acoustic guitar. CSNY’s DeJa Vu fairly dances off the turntable. And I’m a sucker for compilations like The Rock Machine Turns You On and Fill Your Head With Rock where female-led acoustic performances like Melanie, Laura Nyro and The Garden Of Jane Delawney really shine.
SteveT says
Chicken Skin Music by Ry Cooder sounds much better on vinyl than on cd.
nickduvet says
I only have one – John Martyn’s Solid Air. The difference is immense. Well worth it if you have the set up.
eddie g says
I have a few of these half-mastered albums and they do seem to sound crisper and clearer. Sometimes the albums are split into ‘doubles’ playing on 45 which is a bit annoying because they break up the flow of the original but it’s a small price to pay for the sound quality (even if the monetary price is somewhat larger). The early Eno albums (where he dabbled in songs rather than soundscapes) are great, as is Live at Leeds. The only problem is that I find them a rather tense listen at times because, having spent so much on them, I dread even the slightest pop or crackle….
Arthur Cowslip says
You know…. (and I think I share this sentiment with other vinyl lovers)… I LIKE it when my records start to develop pops and crackles. Is that weird? It feels like added imperfections that make them uniquely mine. It elevates it from a perfect record of something into an artefact with its own imperfections.
Plus I just like the sound of vinyl crackle. It’s warmly nostalgic.
It’s like guitars. I don’t feel as if I really “own” a guitar until I start to get a few nicks and scratches on it.
Or books! Books are the same. I hate to see books on my shelves with intact spines and no dog ears. They don’t feel properly “consumed” unless they start looking a bit worn.
Baron Harkonnen says
Hi Arthur, you’d be really pleased with my copy of ‘The Rock Machine Turns You On’, there’s enough snap, crackle and pop on my copy to keep Kellogg’s in business for a few years!
Regarding the Abbey Road half-speed remasters, I have 3 or 4, maybe more of these and I do really think they sound better. I’ve not done blind listening tests with the originals nor any of that DR nonsens, life’s too short. I just go off what my ears tell me. The thing is I reckon, if someone gets it in their head that something sounds better or worse, there’s no way that will change. Also who am I to say it should. Happy listening.
eddie g says
My books look completely unread. I hate cracked spines. It makes me wince physically when I see people bend back the covers till they snap. And I always take the dust covers off hardbacks because I don’t want them crumpled or damaged. They get slipped back on once I’ve finished the book.
I don’t mind the odd rumble on a record- or the occasional crackle- it’s part of the magic and life, as Peelie once so memorably said, has surface noise. But I don’t appreciate loud pops or noises on a brand new album which I’ve paid over thirty quid for due to it’s specialized mastering.
I have a few nice guitars and they too are pretty mint even though they’ve been gigged. I have a Gretsch White Falcon which is slowly turning into an attractive shade of cream but they do that all by themselves apparently. And my Gibson is getting darker. Weird.
Junior Wells says
A conundrum with this stuff is that the albums worthy of remastering are invariably excellent and much loved so people like the first iteration, the second, the third.
fentonsteve says
What I particularly like about the ARHSM series is the selection is not the usual audiophile fare. There are already loads of special pressings of Kind Of Blue and DSOTM on expensive import from the US, to get New Gold Dream, Arrival and Back To Black for about 20 quid is catnip to me.
A point made already by Twang, and by my pal the mastering engineer and hi-fi reviewer, is that music mixed and mastered for vinyl sounds best on vinyl.
Twang says
For that reason I won’t be buying the EBTG album even though it’s brilliant and was never released on vinyl (and features Thompson D and R).
fentonsteve says
I bought it because the ARHSM catalogue already includes Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black LP, which pisses on the CD (and “high-res” BD) from a great height.
And because it’s my fave EBTG album.
Twang says
Me too. It’s superb.
fentonsteve says
Just listened to ARHSM EBTG and, guess what? Sounds ace.
GCU Grey Area says
‘Our’ HMV had Genesis’ ‘Seconds Out’ when I was last in, and it was – from memory – well over £30.
The last remaster of it on CD sounds really good and I’m sure the vinly will too, but I wonder if Steve Hackett’s guitar will be – to my ears – well down in the mix, below Tony Pebblé’s (sorry, Banks) keyboards?
Baron Harkonnen says
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
fentonsteve says
Not being a Genesis fan, I’m leaving that one until I see it cheap. I bought both Cream and Free ARHSM and only played them once or twice.
GCU Grey Area says
‘The Sound Of Vinyl’ site has it for £29.99, which is still too much for me. . .
fentonsteve says
Yes £29 on the Abbey Road site, and about double what I’d be prepared to pay. For a double LP, when many of the single LPs are £25, that’s not bad.
They sometimes drop down to £15 (e.g. Simple Minds) or £20 (James Brown, Marvin) on there. I think the Who Live at Leeds triple was £22 when repressed.
John Walters says
Yes. Live at Leeds triple was indeed £22. I bought it when you gave me the heads up a few months ago.