This quick vinyl goodness update is for all vinyl and/or Opeth lovers out there. I’ve just received some fabulous new 180 gram, virgin, coloured and clear double-vinyl pressings.
Talk about vinyl goodness, and before Opeth and vinyl guys go crazy, yes, of course, I already owned My Arms Your Hearse on vinyl! It’s one of my favourite records and I’ve got an earlier, 2008 Back on Black / Candlelight 180g clear, double-vinyl release.
The earlier pressing sounds great, but the opportunity to get the newer release on clear, virgin 180g vinyl was too compelling. Vinyl lovers out there will understand.
I also grabbed Sorceress, an album I didn’t yet own. This one is the special ‘nuclear blast’ red 180g, 300-copy, limited German edition. It ticks all the boxes and it’s a ‘nuclear blast’ limited edition so how could I pass it up?! Plus it’s German…
How do they sound..? How do you think they sound..?! Amazing, every Opeth record I’ve ever bought has been superb.
Coloured vinyl
A quick word on coloured vinyl. Regular black vinyl can hide a multitude of sins. These include recycled records, bits of paper, other plastic, you name it. This can mean noisier records.
If you want the quietest, virgin vinyl, coloured records, especially clear ones are the way to go. The vinyl used in clear records is the purest, virgin vinyl. Manufacturers often make a special effort with coloured vinyl, so grab your favourites on nice thick coloured vinyl!
My clear copy of My Arms Your Hearse came from the excellent Discrepancy Records in Victoria, Australia. Discrepancy Records were even kind enough to include a nice, thick protective sleeve on my copy of My Arms.
My stunning red Sorceress came from Germany, via a seller in Greece, who stocks some amazing records.
Double Vinyl Releases
You want to hunt down double vinyl releases wherever you can. Yes, they cost more, because they’ve pressed two records for you instead of one. The reason, however, is important.
Double vinyl releases allow greater spacing of the grooves on the record. This allows for greater signal modulation, lower compression and distortion. So your record sounds better than the single record version, where they’ve squashed everything onto two sides.
So far, I’ve been able to find every Opeth record on 180g double vinyl (from memory)!
Vinyl Goodness Quality Shortlist:
- Clear or coloured vinyl
- 180-gram pressings
- German pressings
- Double vinyl releases 🙂
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Awesome stuff! I would like to add a suggestion for the vinyl goodness list (although whether or not a vinyl reissue qualfies is often very hard info to come by & usually not feasible at all in the case of newer recordings due to them being recorded digitally in the 1st place) that of an all analog manufacturing chain. I seem to get the most value in reissues with late 70’s early 80’s units though that’s also around the tipping point for digital steps being put in place for vinyl reproduction.
Another aspect for the Vinyl Goodness Shortlist is half speed recording.
I managed to pick up a copy of the 30th Anniversary KICK album (INXS) that is a double album, half speed recorded, so played at 45rpm.
Fantastic sound quality.
When this was first released, I heard an interview with Kirk Pengelly from the band. He claimed that when listening, you would think that Michael (Hutchence) was in the room with you. He was correct.
I played it for a friend who would have listened to that album on CD too many times to count over the last 30 years. He was completely blown away by what he was hearing.
Hi Darren, thanks for commenting. Yes, it’s called half-speed mastering and that is a little different from vinyl albums pressed to play back at 45 rpm, but I understand you. Both are indeed also well worth seeking out. Playback at 45 rpm allows for more information to be recorded into the groove. This effectively improves frequency response. It also means of course that you get only about 15 minutes a side, so most albums then become double albums.