Plain Recordings Vinyl Reissues

[PopeJez]

Sorry if this has already been covered - did anyone work out if these had been produced properly (from the original masters) and not just dumped from CD onto vinyl?

Many thanks - J

[bambam]

I assume that because lagwafis has the cd track order and not the original LP order, it was mastered from cd/digital file. Also pp does not have quite the same panning of the original. That being said, they are not bad pressings (like some of the other plain lps)

[bbbhenko]

maybe just adding to the confusion here, but...

...but PP has the running order of the original LP, right? which would include two versions of the title track and them being sequenced and crossfaded in another way that could not possibly have been borrowed from a cd?

as far as I remember, we never cleared up whether "The Individual" is the same mix on the plain reissue as on the original LP (which is supposedly different from the CD version)?

[davedecay]

I don't know, either.

How's the Plain reissue of Pure Phase? I found one on sale that I want...

[James T]

The Plain reissues of Low's early albums are actually very good. The songs for a blue guitar red house paints lp is good also.

I never heard the LAGWAFIS one, but the other 2 were decent enough!

[davedecay]

i bought LAGWAFIS just recently, but haven't had time to fully appreciate it so i haven't spun on the TT yet.

[BzaInSpace]

The Plain vinyl reissues

maybe just adding to the confusion here, but...

...but PP has the running order of the original LP, right? which would include two versions of the title track and them being sequenced and crossfaded in another way that could not possibly have been borrowed from a cd?

as far as I remember, we never cleared up whether "The Individual" is the same mix on the plain reissue as on the original LP (which is supposedly different from the CD version)?

Presumably Plain, through their licensing with Sony, just used the existing digital vinyl masters to press these - in other words they haven't been remastered from the original tapes for these reissues. The Plain reissue of Pure Phase does indeed contain the track 'Pure Phase' twice on Side 4, as per the original vinyl. This to me would indicate they have not just used a straight CD rip-to-vinyl process. Comparing the two on vinyl, the original Pure Phase carries different matrix numbers etc and is also pressed on far more lightweight vinyl.

All three Plain reissues sound good to me, but for exceptional high-fidelity Spiritualized on vinyl I'd suggest Let It Come Down or the triple 45rpm 12" set of Amazing Grace.

[toomilk]

I think they sound great. I've compared their LGM and PP to the originals and I can't tell the difference. I always play these Plain reissues and keep my originals clean. They did a clear blue LAGWAFIS reissue that is great.

[PopeJez]

Thanks for your help with this. I would add that FUI also sounds amazing on vinyl if you turn it up a bit.

[davedecay]

hope this doesn't mean bad news for my order:

Item Number: PLAIN 1601 Product is Back-Ordered

[BzaInSpace]

Thanks for your help with this. I would add that FUI also sounds amazing on vinyl if you turn it up a bit.

The CD is the same. There's great music there it's just mastered extraordinarily quietly...

[James T]

Just seen Bob Stanley on twitter urging people not to buy the Plain reissues of Saint Etienne...

"Don't buy new Foxbase Alpha vinyl reissue. Can't be from mastertape or original artwork as we have both, and Plain Recs haven't spoken to us"

"We'll be doing official St Et vinyl reissues in a short while. Ones on Plain Recordings may be legal but they're not official"

[mojo filters]

Just seen Bob Stanley on twitter urging people not to buy the Plain reissues of Saint Etienne...

"Don't buy new Foxbase Alpha vinyl reissue. Can't be from mastertape or original artwork as we have both, and Plain Recs haven't spoken to us"

"We'll be doing official St Et vinyl reissues in a short while. Ones on Plain Recordings may be legal but they're not official"

It would be interesting to see what the source is given what he says about the "masters". Obviously it's quite conceivable other masters exist that were properly mastered for vinyl, but it would be of concern for the quality of the resulting vinyl if a generic or CD master source was used, as they likely will have to be remastered for vinyl - if only to ensure the sub bass is summed to mono to ensure the records pressed play without jumping (a problem caused if records have stereo out-of-phase very low frequencies).

And of further concern is that were this recording being mastered for vinyl by this record company then the due to the scale of the reissue this process may well be done cheaply, and obviously from Bob Stanley's statement certainly not with input from the artist as it most likely was originally.

Of course this is pure speculation. If they have already got the license from the original record company, one could assume that came with the correct vinyl master, as there would likely have been several originals produced to be used at multiple record pressing factories in different parts of the world.

However when a company like Plain licences material for reissue, it seems like it should be good practice for them to give details of the provenance of the material alongside other details such as the weight of the vinyl and other significant technical information.

[James T]

My problem with Plain is that they never even tell the artists. This is like the 5/6th time I have heard of this from them.

Still, I stand by that the ones I mentioned sound good. I know that Low don't have any rights over the first 3 albums so maybe they got hold of the masters from Vernon Yard / Virgin to release those. No idea about the RHP one but I like it!

[mojo filters]

My problem with Plain is that they never even tell the artists. This is like the 5/6th time I have heard of this from them.

Still, I stand by that the ones I mentioned sound good. I know that Low don't have any rights over the first 3 albums so maybe they got hold of the masters from Vernon Yard / Virgin to release those. No idea about the RHP one but I like it!

With purely profit driven private equity firms in charge of some big record labels now, it's not surprising they are happy to license anyone so inclined to reissue any of their back catalogue of which they also administer publishing rights - there's not really any incentive for them to consult the artists concerned nor necessarily seek their consent, if contractual obligations don't require them to. The nature of such companies is to aggressively leverage earnings from their existing assets.

I still don't see why there can't be an industry-standard requirement for all releases to carry specific technical information and appropriate credits, that ensure consumers are properly informed about the chain from final mixdown to finished product.

[davedecay]

Pure Phase arrived today. It looks nice, gave Lay Back in the Sun a quick spin, not the quietest vinyl I've heard, but maybe it really does need to be properly cleaned before playing. I don't have a Zero-stat, and there's some nasty static going on with this cold, dry weather.