Fucked Up Inside vinyl

[Shinesalight]

Has anyone else noticed a spate of FUI records on E-Bay recently? Is this just a coincidence or what?:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPIRITUALIZED ... 564d64add2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spiritualized ... 2ec26a9046

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FUCKED-UP-INS ... 2ec21c1e34

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spiritualized ... 2ec292916a

[olan]

Two comments:

1. £200odd is big money. I picked up a spare copy of this for £60ish a couple of years ago.
2. All of those records look unreasonably clean and untroubled by creasing to the covers etc. The colours on the sleeves look a bit wrong too. I wonder if there is a bootleg pressing out there? The labels look OK though from what I can see in the photos.

[spzretent]

I know one of the sellers. He has had his for years.
I know i've told this before. Sister Ray used to have these for 8 quid. I'm talking mid 90's. It used to be one of my first stops when in London on a buying trip. 10 copies at a time. And this was probably on 4 or 5 consecutive visits.
Legend has it someone turned up with boxes of these at a record fair and sold the whole lot.
I dont know anyone who ordered or received vinyl of this from Dedicated. Just Cds.
Not sure its worth that kind of money though.

[sunray]

I dont know anyone who ordered or received vinyl of this from Dedicated. Just Cds.

I ordered the vinyl at the time. Unfortunately it was warped to fuck and had a big scratch on it. This been pre-internet days the only thing I could think of doing was to send the record, along with a note asking for a replacement, back to the PO Box address it came from. No reply or replacement ever materialised so I was down a record and the price of it too.

Never have replaced it but did pick up a cd copy cheaply a few years later.

Wonder if Jason has any spare copies? He owes me a record.

[olan]

I dont know anyone who ordered or received vinyl of this from Dedicated. Just Cds.

I ordered the vinyl at the time. Unfortunately it was warped to fuck and had a big scratch on it. This been pre-internet days the only thing I could think of doing was to send the record, along with a note asking for a replacement, back to the PO Box address it came from. No reply or replacement ever materialised so I was down a record and the price of it too.

Never have replaced it but did pick up a cd copy cheaply a few years later.

Wonder if Jason has any spare copies? He owes me a record.

Ditto, for the warp and scratch. I ordered a couple and one was just fucked up inside, outside, the cover, warped you name it, it was unplayable. Sent it back, received a CD about 4-5 months later, which was clearly played regularly as it was covered in fingerprints and the cover was folded etc. The other copy I bought was pristine, but has been well played now, so I bought a backup.

The release/distribution of FUI really was shambolic wasn't it? This was a real shame, as it is an astonishing document of one of the best live acts I've ever seen.

[TheWarmth]

Seems to me that eBay pretty much dictates the value of a lot of things these days. I noticed one of those auctions ended at 201 GBP or so and had 25 bids, so there are obviously people out there that are willing to drop that much. Glad I have a copy already!

[Laz69]

I bought mine originally from Dedicated using the coupon in the NME... knew nothing about it until i saw that ad and i think i bought 3 (2 for friends). All arrived safe and sound and all looked amazing and played well too. My only gripe was that it seemed so quiet on the vinyl.

[sm-iom]

Mine arrived cracked. Sent a letter, and a replacement turned up. Probably still have the broken copy in the attic, wonder if I could get silly money for it?!

[toomilk]

I got mine about 2 months ago for $75 from Amoeba in Hollywood. Beautiful condition. I didn't notice any 'queitness' with the vinyl.

[natty]

The vinyl was a shit pressing, really quiet and sounded awful. The CD is the one to go for.

Someone robbed mine. I miss it.

BZA's remaster is very good, I got to say.

[niamhm]

The vinyl was a shit pressing, really quiet and sounded awful. The CD is the one to go for.

Someone robbed mine. I miss it.

BZA's remaster is very good, I got to say.

not listened to it in a while but seem to remember even the cd sounded kinda quiet , nice artefact though ,

[mojo filters]

I agree, my CD also has a 'quiet' sound to it, regardless of where the volume knob is.

I always assumed it was mastered the opposite way to lots of more modern recordings, although curiously it doesn't exhibit to me the increased dynamic range a recording not so compressed as more modern 'loudness wars' casualties should do.

Also it doesn't have the raw, visceral feel live albums usually have in comparison their studio equivalents. If anything it has a slightly strange 'processed' sound, which I can't recall having heard all across any other album, studio or otherwise.

[niamhm]

I agree, my CD also has a 'quiet' sound to it, regardless of where the volume knob is.

I always assumed it was mastered the opposite way to lots of more modern recordings, although curiously it doesn't exhibit to me the increased dynamic range a recording not so compressed as more modern 'loudness wars' casualties should do.

Also it doesn't have the raw, visceral feel live albums usually have in comparison their studio equivalents. If anything it has a slightly strange 'processed' sound, which I can't recall having heard all across any other album, studio or otherwise.

saw them twice before this recording and it doesn`t really reflect my experiance , its cool and clear ,but quite tame to my ears, the second time I saw them was the Glasgow May Fest. at the Glasgow Pavilion , a medium sized theatre all seating-just as well - tripping and strobbed to fuck !! ,this recording doesn`t really capture it ,as you say the visceral live feelling,they were way better than this live ,

[runcible]

I always thought it sounded like the microphones were some distance away from the action so you don't have that intimate feel that the band produced back then.

I played a small part in this getting a distribution set up. I knew it was coming out but it was rumoured to be a fan club only thing although I wasn't aware of any such fan club at the time. So mail order only seemed the only way to get it. A friend of mine worked at Caroline in Acton and when I told him about it he raised it with the management there and next thing I know the CDs were available to order through Caroline and a load went to the US via them I believe. The vinyl wasn't distributed like that - only CDs - but both are pretty collectable these days. Another one of those releases I had a pile of 20 or so at one point...

[Sim]

The vinyl was a shit pressing, really quiet and sounded awful. The CD is the one to go for.

I find the opposite. Was listening to a lot of vinyl last night and put on the FUI vinyl after listening to a few other albums. It's a good while since I'd listened to it and was expecting to need to reach for the volume control once it started. But I didn't, it was around the same level as the other vinyl I'd been listening to. Now the CD, I always have to ramp that up a long way compared with other CDs.

Also I don't find the pressing to be bad quality, everything is very clear. I agree with runcible that any oddness seem to be in the way it was mixed. The sax is very prominent while the guitars are often way in the background. niamhm hits the nail on the head describing it as tame.

I know there is a lack of clarity regarding how many pressings of the vinyl and CD were done. I think it's certain that there were two runs of the CD. Possibly there are different pressings/variability in pressing quality of the vinyl?

[good dope/good fun]

Spiritualized releasing a poorly sounding album due to pressing?
That's unpossible.

[BzaInSpace]

I can't totally comment on the vinyl edition, but the cd version must be one of the quietest mastering jobs ever - even for the early 90s, where maybe some mastering engineers I think were still finding their feet with the digital medium. Not too bad if you have the capacity for a lot of volume, but a lot of music playback equipment (esp. portable devices) have (IMO) pretty conservative volume limits, and even up at full this album still sounds too quiet... hence my 'remastering' job last year. Cheers Natty. Even initial analysis of the original tracks revealed really low level peaks and the quiet parts were very quiet indeed.

However, even just amping up the original sound file makes a huge difference - suddenly this music is big, panoramic and beautiful, flecks of reverb and panning are more noticable, and the crescendos are all-encompassing and you can sway right into them. I don't think it's a mixing issue at all (arguably the mid-frequencies could do with a boost) but essentially the actual final stereo 2 track sounds great, it just seems to have been 'reproduced on disc' WAY too quietly.

[mojo filters]

but a lot of music playback equipment (esp. portable devices) have (IMO) pretty conservative volume limits, and even up at full this album still sounds too quiet... hence my 'remastering' job last year. Cheers Natty. Even initial analysis of the original tracks revealed really low level peaks and the quiet parts were very quiet indeed.

+1 to the above.

B - in the great IT crash of 2011 I lost your remaster, but I recall it sounding rather good...any chance you can re-upload it one more time?

Ta, G.

[Shinesalight]

How on earth can a copy of this go for £200 one week and then this one go for a tenth of the price?!:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spiritualized ... 2ec292916a

I was going to bid on it but ended up driving when the auction was coming to an end so couldn't. I've already got a copy of this on vinyl but the one on offer here looked in a lot better shape so I was prepared to go up to £25...typical

[sunray]

Had my eye on it but the seller wasn't selling outside the UK. I REALLY hate that shit.

Have to agree that this release was incredibly quiet both on vinyl and cd. Definitely have to switch the volume well above normal, even compared to other releases of the same era.