Without doing an A/B comparison, I believe this remaster has more clarity (overall, but particularly evident in the vocals and percussion), less gauze than the album as I have known it for 30 years. Some may find fault with this, but if the situation were reversed I think the complaints would be legion. It is refreshing to hear this cleaner sound. It's a little less woozy, matching my own personal condition, perhaps. There may be less mystery but there is more detail to appreciate. This will be my preferred listen over the original CD. Played perfect until Side 4 where there appears to be some nonfill that is audible (pops) at the end of Filter Dub and beginning of Signals - imperfections not rising to the level of a return for me. Pleased to finally own a copy of this classic on vinyl after pining for 3 decades.
Waay too much distortion and surface noise on mine, even as the vinyl looks immaculate. Sending it back to amazon (unless a good wet wash can at least clean up the noise, not much i can do about the distortion).
The super special deluxe premium vip 4LP is on the way so we’ll see how it compares.
Happy to own one of the most hypnotic and truly enigmatic albums of the nineties. Terrific sound with a lot of detail and hefty dubbed-out bass. Pick this up!
Ugh I don't know how I feel about this remaster. First things to tick off: great vinyl quality, dead silent, vinyl came flat and in a rice paper innersleeve. So no major complaints here, except that it's always kind of odd to have a 2xLP without a gatefold. Now to the mastering. It is very detailed and has both a good stage and depth. If you were used to hearing this on streaming services or Youtube (like me) you are going to be positively surprised about the sound. For the first time you can really hear all elements of this beautiful music very clearly. On streaming everything sounds kind of mixed into a big clump of sound and therefore very veiled.
However, two things bother me.
First one is the bass. Unfortunately, this is the only instrument which is too muddy and "oomphy" sounding to me. Also, it is not present enough to my taste. This is especially annoying in songs, where the bass is very much leaning towards a dub sound e.g. Climactic Phase #3, Polyfusion or Filter Dub. Both Climactic Phase #3 and Polyfusion to me are so amazing, because they are carried by these gorgeously minimal bass patterns, but in my mind they should be as present as the drums and not too boomy. They should have some oomph with a good amount of attack. At least on my system, however, the bass is too quiet and very wobbly, it is hard to even distinguish the notes.
Secondly, even though the remastering is very revealing in a positive way (and probably closer to how you would hear the actual band at a live concert), it does at times not feel coherent enough. This is kind of a trade-off situation to me: untangling this very clustery Seefeel flow of sound does reveal it's intricacy. On the other hand, it just takes away the "magic" and "dreaminess", resulting in the music sounding a tad too anemic. Hence, either you improve the "audiophile" experience or maintain the very My Bloody Valentine blurry sound collage, where details are secondary. I have not decided yet which approach for this album I like better. I am used to the latter, which might explain my concerns.
Lastly, for me there's probably no way around buying an original, as I am very keen to compare the sound between both. Maybe someone could also share a comparison to shed some light on whether the new remaster is very different from the 1993 pressing.
However, if you are not that crazy about spending a fortune for an original and just want to have this killer album on vinyl for a good price, I recommend this pressing :)