Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap

It's super confusing working out all the different pressings of this album, not helped by the fact that different pressings were put into the sleeves and OBIs of the "Brilliant Career" campaign at some points. This pressing, mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road at sounds very good to me- especially side A. My copy is pressed well and plays without much surface noise, and the music is super clear and full-sounding to me. I've seen comments about other pressings playing too quietly (i.e. the volume of the music being too low) and that could be applied to this pressing too, however I think the truth is that there is a ton of dynamic range on the album, with some songs just being louder and punchier than others (and some songs increasing in volume during their duration, which is something of a B&S trademark!) I can see how with a bad copy though, pressing noise could detract from the music. Not sure why this mastering hasn't been used on more reissues, but to my ears it's worth getting hold of.

Very happy with my copy. Sounds nice and it's full of incredible songs that make me want to go back to a time I lived through, in the prime of my life I might add, but never knew existed. The internet needs to know all that. That's why I said it.

Lovely quiet dynamic pressing of a classic album - £12.99 in Rough Trade sale!

This is an excellent pressing. I was not expecting much, considering it's an album from 1998, produced squarely in the digital age, before the vinyl resurgence. However, it sounds fantastic, with deep separation, clear instrumentation without noticeable compression, and wonderful warmth and openness. It sounds much better than the digital files I am used to. I am pleasantly surprised and happy to own this great album on vinyl!

Agreed very much with the other comment--this pressing sounds excellent.

Just got this & the sound quality is actually fine. Yes, there are some minor crackles at the start of side 2, but otherwise, it plays beautifully.

Flat, heavy disc, but SO MUCH noise straight out of the package, on a very quiet record. I'm used to better product from RTI.

This is quite a quiet pressing, but once you turn it up it’s one of the best sounding albums. Strangely, the run-in grooves are much longer than any album I’ve seen, which also means that the run-out grooves are short. Luckily theres zero IGD to be heard!

Lovely looking version. However, if you're going to do a 20th anniversary edition why not re-master and sort out the wild volume fluctuations from the original. A1 and B1 are so quiet and then you get to B5 and blow the roof of the house off! Clear sounds though and an amazing LP. Nothing to dissuade you from buying this over the OG just a missed opportunity to improve on the OG.

Don't have another vinyl release to compare to, but sounds good; recommended