What does it sound like?:
Well, what do you get? Two CDs and a BluRay in a clamshell box, with a decent booklet. One CD is a remaster of the original stereo mix; the second is a new stereo remix by Stephen W Tayler, who did the remixes in the recent big Charisma Years box set. The BluRay has the content of the two CDs plus a 5.1 surround mix and the video promo for “Wondering”. For review, I was supplied with mp3 files for the two CDs plus a proof of the booklet – but nothing relating to the BluRay and obviously nothing physical, so the review relates to the mp3s. The A4 page of notes from Cherry Red/Esoteric mentions vinyl in passing, but gives no further details.
What does it sound like? I’ve been listening to this album for nearly 50 years, having bought the LP on release in October 1976. The remaster sounds fine and much as you’d expect – a bit cleaner, a bit sharper round the edges, but broadly what I’m used to hearing and nothing to scare the horses.
The remix, though…it’s a little bit odd (yes, well may you laugh) but fascinating! Although listening in stereo, bits of it felt like a preview of what to expect from the surrounding mix. Initial impression is that everything has been pulled apart, cleaned and put back together in a slightly different way. Everything is sharply delineated: Hammill’s vocals are sounding superb and more prominent, less buried in the mix – this may not suit everyone, of course (hi, Mike H). Guitar sounds louder and more aggressive where present and more balanced where a second guitar has been overdubbed.
Any extraneous noises or odd backing vocal sounds have been pushed up rather than buried in the mix – and I have a feeling that they will be prominent in the surround mix as “ambient” noises. Effects on Hammill’s voice – it’s very easy to tell “proper” delay from ADT, or where he has overdubbed a completely differently second vocal line – again, emphasised rather than buried in the mix. Also, “A Place to Survive” continues for a further 18 or so seconds of sounds after I’m used to it cutting off – gave me a turn, it did! “Meurglys III” has some nasty, fuzzed up guitar brought to the front and the whole track feels less compressed, more spacious – and more aggressive.
Overall impression? At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it – but the more I listened, the more interesting it got. The remix has emphasised the aggression which was always an undercurrent on this album – and has brought it to the surface. And I love that! The links with Godbluff and Still Life are still there – but now the link with, say, Crying Wolf on Over is more overt – and the full-on nastiness of the attitude on Vital was in fact lurking there all the time, just underneath.
I should note that the big Charisma Years box has some remixed albums – but not this one (or Quiet Zone/Pleasure Dome, or Vital). Therefore, as of now, this is the first opportunity to obtain this remix. Will I be buying it? On the evidence of the mp3s, that’s a big yes!
What does it all *mean*?
That somebody must still be buying and playing this stuff…
Goes well with…
The big Charisma Years box set.
Release Date:
28th March 2025
Might suit people who like…
Full-on progressive music – guaranteed pixie-free! Fans of “twee prog” need not apply!
Thanks for the review. I wasn’t too taken with World Record when it first came out, and considered it by far the lesser of the first seven VDGG albums. However, the album’s remastering on the Charisma Years boxset led to a reassessment. I may be imagining it, but nowhere else on the boxset were the drums and saxes cleaned up so well and given greater prominence than on World Record. Stephen Tayler gets a lot of credit for the Charisma Years remixes; I reckon more plaudits should go to Ben Wiseman for his remastering. So while World Record is now ranked in my eyes as equal to its contemporaries, I doubt I will fork out £35 for the Tayler remixes (even though you make them sound very enticing).
I know what you mean – I liked the songs, but it always seemed muddier than the other two. Considering it was more or less the same studio personnel in more or less the same studio, I don’t know why it worked out like that.
But yes: big improvements made on the remaster – and something different on the remix!