£12.99 Smiths - 2012 Vinyl Re-issues (Rhino)

[Gerard124]

Are the 2012 Rhino Vinyl reissues any good?

At £12.99 they seem reasonably priced (not sure about being part of Amazons 2 vinyl LPs for £30 deal - doh!)

 

[Rob998]

I bought the TQID, MIM and SHWC from that range to replace stolen and worn out copies of the originals. For me, they're not a patch on the original pressings, particularly TQID, which lost some of it's "shimmering" quality and seemed some distance from the original masters to me, compared to my original pressing (stolen) and even a German later pressing (played to death) I had.

Of course the original masters might well be shagged by now if they were on 80's Ampex tape, so they might well be the best we can get.

If you're not overly familiar with the original pressings then they will probably be perfectly adequate, and at £12.99 probably quite good value if you don't want to play the 2nd hand vinyl roulette game. NM or EX originals will be quite spendy in comparison, but...

I'd be interested if anyone knows of better reissues.

 

[Tim Wilmot]

I read an interview with Johnny Marr recently where he said he'd been remastering all the Smiths albums - might be worth waiting until they're released...

 

[Tony L]

I'd have expected the Rhino vinyl to be The Smiths Complete mastering, which at the time Marr was very happy with. I've got a copy (only cost about £25 when realeased) but had no prior digital copies to compare it against. Sounds a bit loud compared to the original vinyl (I have all the albums and a few singles), but certainly not terrible. Some titles, e.g. Hatfull Of Hollow (which was rather too long for vinyl) benefit.

 

[Gaius]

They are also available in Sainburys along with some other good title including a re issue of the Ramones debut on Rhino which is fine.

 

[RickyC6]

The originals are all available at between £20-£30 second hand for VG+ copies. Go with those then you have no doubts. They sound amazing. I bought an anniversary 10" issue of TQID a while back and it is nowhere near as good as an original. Looks cute though.