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Japan - Quiet Life, half speed remasters

chiily

chiily

PFM Special Builder
Has anyone tried these Japan half speed remasters?

https://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=764563

Before I press the "give it to me now" button I was wondering if anyone on PFM had tried them. I was wondering whether they have been remastered or just recut from the original mix? I've been burnt before with remastered stuff being poor compared to the original mix.

My original copy of Quiet Life has seen better days :(

Any information would be really useful.

Ta.
 
I've compared Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum to my original UK pressings and the originals won. In the usual way; originals more punchy and alive. I’m pretty sure Michael 45 on YouTube did the comparison too and found the same. He’s certainly done quite a few Abbey Rd remasters. The series is competent to my mind, but I’d certainly argue some original intent was lost. I’d stick to first pressings where possible. The caveat here is I don’t think Quiet Life was ever the quietest pressing, I have a 1st press I’ve owned since new and the quieter parts can crackle a little. It would be very challenging to find a better copy.
 
Have a couple of first pressings of Tin Drum and the Abbey Road 45rpm reissue. Its pretty close as I listen through my system. I tend to put the Abbey Road one more often, maybe because it is incredibly quiet, although over two discs you have to flip after every 2 tracks.

I've been tempted to get a copy of AR Quiet Life largely down to what @Tony L said above about the OG never being the quietest (and I've been through a few copies).
 
Is it an actually a Japanese pressing or just the standard 45rpm pressing on red vinyl with an Obi on for the Japanese/collectors market. I recently picked up the Japanese copy of Floating Point/Pharaoh Sanders and that is just the standard Europe edition with Obi added.
 
flapland said:
Is it an actually a Japanese pressing or just the standard 45rpm pressing on red vinyl with an Obi on for the Japanese/collectors market. I recently picked up the Japanese copy of Floating Point/Pharaoh Sanders and that is just the standard Europe edition with Obi added.
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Its Abbey Road not Japanese pressed, and its 33 rpm not 45rpm.

Tony L said:
I’m pretty sure Michael 45 on YouTube did the comparison too and found the same
Click to expand...

I think that was actually Exorcising Ghosts not Quiet Life.
 
Ume 2 tier pricing system
£20 drag & drop a 24/96 file from the server , Email to lowest bidder pressing plant
£30 as above with Abbey Rd sticker & cutting lathe ran at half speed

Uk/German used copy much better Abbey road now just a BS marketing tool
 
I picked up a UK original of Tin Drum when crate digging a year or so ago. It sounds great insofar as it's really dynamic and punchy but is a really noisy record: quite a bit of crackle that's pretty noisy during quieter moments/ inbetween songs. Was this what Virgin Records albums from this time were like?

I ask because I picked up a couple of Tangerine Dream records (Phaedra and Rubycon) - both look really clean but are also really noisy.
 
norliss said:
I picked up a UK original of Tin Drum when crate digging a year or so ago. It sounds great insofar as it's really dynamic and punchy but is a really noisy record: quite a bit of crackle that's pretty noisy during quieter moments/ inbetween songs. Was this what Virgin Records albums from this time were like?

I ask because I picked up a couple of Tangerine Dream records (Phaedra and Rubycon) - both look really clean but are also really noisy.
Click to expand...

Virgin used quite a lot of different pressing plants over the years, often simultaneously, and some were much better than others IME. Tin Drum should be good, I don’t remember mine being noisy at all. It is a superb sounding record, really good and dynamic.

Finding quiet early TD is a real challenge. I’ve got UK first pressings of both Phaedra and Rubycon that look remarkably close to mint, certainly the best I’ve ever seen, and there is some noise on the quieter bits of Phaedra. The Rubycon is pretty good though, not perfect, but nothing annoys. These are both ‘colour two-virgin’ labels. Same story with Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, it is crazy hard to get a really quiet black and white label original. I just don’t think they were pressed that quiet. I’d actually say Virgin’s best period pressing-wise was about ‘76-81, so I’d certainly have Tin Drum in that range along with Magazine, Sex Pistols, PIL, Human League etc. After ‘81-82 the CD-era major label cheapening came in and things declined a fair bit.
 
Thank you for the information, really appreciate it. I went back and looked up my Quiet Life LP and the one I have is an original gatefold pressing. It does sound very good, just noisy. Interestingly I don't think it is noticeably noiser from when I first bought it, 2nd hand, about 1990.

I've popped an AR copy into my Amazon basket...

Think I'll check out what pressing of TD I have. I don't think that one is an original.
 
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An original of Tin Drum is not a hard or expensive find unless you specifically want the poster that the first ones had. It is a spectacularly good sounding record. £15-20 should find a really nice one, less with some luck.
 
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