As with the recent acquisition blogged but yesterday, the decision to
invest in the triple(!) vinyl pressing of Belle & Sebastian’s ‘Push Barman
to Open Old Wounds’ was motivated in the main by a desire to hear songs so
familiar from their digital form on CD in the analogue context that, romantically,
somehow seems to be the most appropriate for the fullest appreciation of their
charms, manifest as they already are in other formats. The widescreen artwork
might have been a contributory factor too, as can be appreciated.
It’s disappointing to report, however, that the sound issuing forth
from the vinyl doesn’t quite cut the mustard in the manner one had anticipated,
especially as the stylus follows its course over a side of the platter, towards
the centre, where the quality seems to deteriorate quite noticeably and badly,
rendering the subtleties of the music almost unlistenable – an unsatisfactory transfer
to vinyl &, all in all, product, which is a shame indeed (not least
considering the £30-plus price tag). I would consider this a fault of my
playing system, but it seems common to at least some of the few current
pressings in which I’ve invested, & the old, original records (not these
‘heavyweight’ 180gram examples, although I can’t tell/feel the difference
anyway) from the Seventies & Eighties don’t suffer the same problem for all
that they might be a bit scratchy in places (as to be expected).
Perhaps,
indeed, my hardware is of a vintage that won’t do new LPs justice, but it’s a
shame all the same, & in this
particular instance we’ll be returning to our double CD housed within its
‘bound book’ packaging (a lovely object in itself) for a proper appreciation of
what remains fabulous music, a good deal of the cream of B&S.
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