Elbow – Asleep In The Back

So, this is the only Elbow-album still missing from my vinyl-collection (kinda strange since it’s my favorite) Should I try to get the 45rpm-edition, or does this much easier available version sound just as good?

Boy, am I sick of losing the vinyl quality control lottery. Both records were warped, but the real issue was a visible scratch at the end of "Little Beast" which caused about 30 seconds of horrible sound. The real killer is the large band of stitching ("non-fill" to most folks) running through the beginning of "Scattered Black and Whites" creating that distorted, "paper-ripping" sound for a good part of it. The rest was excellent, but these two defects (way too common these days) are unacceptable. Trying to negotiate returns/exchanges is getting to be a huge PITA, too. Hope others have better luck.

BTW, the mastering is just OK to these old ears. Kind of mushy bass and soft on the top end. Need to compare it to my original UK CD, I suppose. Nothing too terrible, but not exactly "audiophile" either. This is however a BRILLIANT set of songs and an all-time fave of mine.

My copy is one of the famous september "delayed" ones. These copies were supposed to be delayed due to sleeve quality issues... but in september, I received a preordered copy from the first 3 albums including "Asleep In The Back", of course... All I can say now that I also own the "december versions" is that the only difference is that the first copies (september versions) of "Asleep..." had a clearer colour of sleeve... closer to the original CD versions than the "december versions". I can see no difference on "Cast Of Thousand" and "Leaders of the Free World".

Has anyone in Canada received this album yet? I got an email saying it was shipped at the end of Nov but to expect delays 😷

Does anyone else have a copy where both discs have the same labels? Disc 1 has Sides C/D label, just the same as Disc 2... luckily the discs themselves aren't identical!

So was this edition cut at 45rpm in the end? Any feedback appreciated!

The vinyl reissue expected for 25/09/20 has been delayed... So, why do I own it ? Same thing for "Cast Of Thousands" and "Leaders Of The Free World"... I don't understand.

I imported this from the US. If it was from a local store it would be getting returned as it's really noisy all the way through. Disc two is warped and side C is miles off centre. There's a great sounding record in there if you can put up with the issues, I can't... real shame.