Vinyl reissue of Vision Thing + 3 x 12"

[Being645]

According to poison-door-net (thanks), the next round is underway ...

http://www.levykauppax.fi/artist/sister ... thing_era/

[Pat]

At last, a decent pressing of YCBTO.

There's a couple of live versions missing from that list , Burn and Logic.

[Pat]

Pre-order on uk Amazon @£35.42
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vision-Thing-V ... sion+thing

[robertzombie]

Interesting. Vision Thing is an all digital recording, 16/48 maximum. Hopefully Rhino will also release this digitally with a fresh transfer from the digital master (presumably DAT or Sony PCM adapter) rather than simply re-eq'ing the existing CD master from 1990.

[eastmidswhizzkid]

There's a couple of live versions missing from that list , Burn and Logic.

that's right, from the limited edition 12" of Doctor Jeep.
similarly the long version of untitled from the boxed limited edition 12" of dominion is missing from the floodland-era box-set.

[17.auflage]

ah,
... making money is a wonderful thing...

But eh, it´s vinyl, so...I am in....

[radiojamaica]

ah,
... making money is a wonderful thing...

But eh, it´s vinyl, so...I am in....

+1

[Shadaloo]

Nice. I was almost worried for a bit they wouldn't get around to completing the set.

[Randall Flagg]

Nice. I was almost worried for a bit they wouldn't get around to completing the set.

speaking of set - do you think they will conclude with SGWBM & ASCOO?

and if they did would we buy it?

Flagg

[robertzombie]

5 days...

[Pat]

Dispatched.

[robertzombie]

On time!

[robertzombie]

HD http://www.hdtracks.co.uk/catalog/produ ... ion-thing/

Cheaper: https://www.7digital.com/artist/the-sis ... 17%2C9%2C2

Looks like the best deal would be to get the 24/96 (the album's a 44.1 kHz recording, so even the 96 kHz rate is massive overkill let alone 192!) option from HD Tracks and use code HDJULY29UK to save 15% Expires 31/07/2016.

[dtsom]

Vinyl box Ordered!

[robertzombie]

Box set just arrived, looking forward to giving these a spin tonight! Hopefully the same QC has been applied as with the two previous boxes

[robertzombie]

Just played the record through. High-res up next and sonic analysis coming soon!

[robertzombie]

I've now listened to the new vinyl and high resolution remaster once through. Here are my subjective listening notes, written whilst the album was playing:

Good detail on the drums.
Even frequency balance.
A pinch veiled/recessed.
Very crankable.
Nice guitar bite on Detonation Boulevard.
Solid stereo image.
Excellent lead vocal presence on Something Fast.
WYDSM drums sound awesome! Great kick action.
The album falls down and gets a bit grainy when the instrumentation gets busy. The vinyl mastering tries its best to remedy this and is fairly successful but there is still some congestion.
Nice multi guitar detail on Dr Jeep.
Good representation of macro-dynamics on More.
Good vocal imaging in More.
I Was Wrong sounds great, same as it ever was.

Title track is loud and powerful!
Strong kick drum, reminds me of the live show.
Good guitar separation on ribbons.
3D sound-stage.
Stable stereo image, excellently defined.
Great control over the album's aforementioned "congestion".
Everything is clear and easy to follow, perhaps at the expense of delicacy.
Certainly the most instrumentally revealing listen of this record. Subtle guitar slides and picking are far more audible than before, yet the album remains just as dynamic - a testament to the mastering facility at Air Studios!
Correctly rendered 'holographic guitar slide intro' to When You Don't See Me.
Multitracked vocals easy to pick out and follow.

I haven't listened to the bonus singles yet, though they appear to have been unnecessarily brickwalled on the download and - out of principle - I would never recommend a brickwalled master when a dynamic alternative is available. Thankfully, the album proper survives unscathed and is as dynamic as ever.

I chose Something Fast as a control track to test against other editions. Here are my subjective listening impressions:

1990 EU CD: clearer, more vocal presence but not as realistic, less bass guitar resolution - harder to follow, sightly wider sound-stage.

1990 USA CD: spooky vocal realism, great tangibility and timbre, powerful drums, cinematic climax.

2006 CD: tonally somewhere between the two above, forward sounding lead vocal at the expense of the other instruments, subtlety gets lost somewhat.

2016 HIGH-RES: opening strum is slightly cropped, vocal subtleties well resolved, similarly "hi-fi" like the 2016 vinyl but clearer, probably the widest sound-stage, drum micro-dynamics expertly resolved, the "blackest background" of the whole set, good 3D lead vocal, engaging and similarly cinematic like the 1990 USA CD.

1990 EU VINYL: really nice detail on the acoustic guitar that reaches out from the speakers, perfect drum balance, good vocal, similar sound-stage to 1990 EU CD.

2016 VINYL: even tonal balance but vocal slightly recessed, perhaps the most intimate lead vocal of the test group, probably the most "hi-fi" sounding, certainly the most subtle with none of the USA's comparative bombast.

Having listened to all of those, my current impression is that the 2016 high-resolution remaster just edges it to first place thanks to its better translation of low level detail, but the USA CD remains a force to be reckoned with!

The new vinyl pressing is well presented in a nice looking box, the quality of the vinyl is 9/10 with only a rare click or pop. The vinyl was "mastered from the original production tapes by Ray Staff" and I expect the high-res download was too. Ray Staff mastered the original vinyl pressing at The Exchange in 1990 (Eldritch was a fan, it would seem). Interestingly, the high-resolution download has a noticeably similar EQ curve to my 1990 vinyl needledrop. My suspicion is that the original vinyl was cut from a tape copy of the digital master, and that tape copy (or perhaps Ray's vinyl production master) was used as the source for these new remasters. That would explain the similar EQ curve between the 2016 download and 1990 needledrop (noticeably different to the other CD curves).

I don't play Vision Thing often enough. I've had great fun this evening listening to the album on various pressings and going back and forth! The box set is highly recommended for anyone looking to fill gaps in their collection. Perhaps, most importantly, the quality of 2016 vinyl is much better than 1990 vinyl. That alone makes it a worthwhile purchase to the vinyl collector. I wholeheartedly recommend the 24/96 album download, but would be wary of the bonus tracks.

VINYL: Technics SL-1210 Mk2 w/ AT440MLa micro-line stylus
DIGITAL: Rega DAC-R
Amplification: Rega Elex-R
Speakers: KEF LS50

[Pista]

Thanks Rob for taking the time to give it the golden ear treatment.

So, if I read this right, the album's been faithfully reproduced to a high standard, but the bonus tracks have been horsed up for some reason?

[ROBBIE]

Thanks for the enlightening review. I was always sceptical that the HD download would be that much better than the original but i will gladly eat my words because it is.

is it me or have HD Tracks got the last two tracks the wrong way round?

I love the live version of Ribbons and i would love to compare it with a 'proper' version of a newer recording of the track.

[robertzombie]

Thanks Rob for taking the time to give it the golden ear treatment.

So, if I read this right, the album's been faithfully reproduced to a high standard, but the bonus tracks have been horsed up for some reason?

That's right. My initial impression is that the album's never sounded better on either format. You can see from the DR readings though that some of the bonus tracks have been arbitrarily compressed

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed folder: /The Sisters Of Mercy/Vision Thing LP
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR10 -0.94 dB -12.01 dB 01-Vision Thing.m4a
DR11 -0.95 dB -13.62 dB 02-Ribbons.m4a
DR12 -0.94 dB -14.09 dB 03-Detonation Boulevard.m4a
DR13 -0.95 dB -16.94 dB 04-Something Fast.m4a
DR12 -0.88 dB -13.54 dB 05-When You Don't See Me.m4a
DR12 -0.93 dB -13.26 dB 06-Doctor Jeep.m4a
DR10 -0.97 dB -14.38 dB 07-More.m4a
DR14 -0.96 dB -16.22 dB 08-I Was Wrong.m4a
DR8 -0.97 dB -11.13 dB 09-More.m4a
DR10 -0.97 dB -11.53 dB 10-You Could Be The One.m4a
DR8 -0.95 dB -10.30 dB 11-Doctor Jeep.m4a
DR8 -0.99 dB -10.19 dB 12-Knocking On Heaven's Door.m4a
DR9 -0.97 dB -11.36 dB 13-When You Don't See Me.m4a
DR12 -0.99 dB -16.84 dB 14-Ribbons.m4a
DR10 -0.98 dB -13.54 dB 15-Something Fast.m4a
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 15
Official DR value: DR11

==============================================================================================

Ratings of 8 and 9 can sometimes result from a bass boost. But when you can pick those tracks up fairly easily elsewhere with good sound it makes them somewhat unnecessary this time. I'd recommend buyers of the download to get the standalone album (at 24/96, 192 is overkill for this born 44.1 digital recording) and complement it with the 2006 CD for the bonus tracks (or the original CD singles if one feels so inclined!)

(of course, the data above only applies to the download).

[robertzombie]

Thanks for the enlightening review. I was always sceptical that the HD download would be that much better than the original but i will gladly eat my words because it is.

is it me or have HD Tracks got the last two tracks the wrong way round?

I love the live version of Ribbons and i would love to compare it with a 'proper' version of a newer recording of the track.

Keep in mind it's not better "because high res". The recording remains a 16/44 digital recording made on '90s converters and the high resolution download has no sonic information beyond the recording's native nyquist rate of 22.05 kHz.

What makes it better is the mastering, the improved converters and equipment used in a modern studio versus what was used in 1990. If this mastering was put out on CD, it would still sound better (IMO) than the 1990 CD

[Gaijin]

Looks like the best deal would be to get the 24/96 (the album's a 44.1 kHz recording, so even the 96 kHz rate is massive overkill let alone 192!)

Zombie thread revival:

Just got my Vision Thing 1990 LP rip up and there's signal @ 48kHz. All my singles from 90/91 have the limitations mentioned in the posts above but not MR449L. Curious.

Similarly, the original TOL '92 & UTG singles are not limited to 16/44.1 as on the reissue set or HD version.

I'm confused.

[mh]

With a vinyl rip you do sometimes get frequency "leakage" beyond the 44k cutoff. Most likely an artefact of the medium, although I won't pretend to fully understand the process behind it. Rob's the man for that (understanding, not pretending, of course ).