Spiritualized Electric Mainline* – Pure Phase

Got the glow in the dark - does the end of Side C sound really distorted and bad on the black version too?

Bought the standard black edition, after a major disappointment with the sound quality of the coloured ("Glow In The Dark") version - and compared them quite carefully: yes, the black edition is quieter, less (background) noise, BUT the sound is partially equally crappy, muddy, distorted, dynamics are out of control (partially the sound is even worse on the black version). Listened to the CD/digital version of the album over the same PA right away and realised what I am missing frequency wise on this vinyl (!!!). It seams that with this on going vinyl mania/hype the skills / technical abilities to achieve proper sound qualities on vinyl got (partially) lost - considering the fact that this and other reissues supposedly been produced under the premise/promise of "explicitly supervised quality control") - as long as people will be eagerly paying all this ridiculous prices for bling-bling releases with such poor sound quality, without being even able to realise that they buy crap, then this new vinyl industry will be flooding the zone with crap like this.

I am giving myself a break with newly pressed vinyl releases. Too many recent disappointments. Ultimately I want to enjoy listening to music and not collecting shinny objects. And I certainly don’t have time, energy and patience to study the sound quality of poorly manufactured goods and then reviewing them online. this is the last one … I promise 🤣🤣🤣

Out of the two Fat Possum variants, this is the one you want. My copy was flat and I did not have distortion or cosmetic issues on the vinyl itself. I did spin clean my copy twice before really sitting down to listen. Overall the mastering sounds quite great, soundstage is wide, and the dynamics are fantastic. This album is meant to be listened to on headphones. The production really shines in the headphone experience.

I'm knocking a star off my review because it was a pain in the ass getting an actual clean copy of this.

Does anyone else get distortion towards the end of side A?

Does Lay Back in the Sun end on a locked groove, or is this just another crappy press from FP?

Not perfect, but noticeably better than the Glow in the dark variant. One example where its better to skip the “limited” version.

I know Fat Possum can get a bad rap but I'm very happy with this pressing. It's flat, quiet and sound wonderful. Particularly on headphones. I find the dynamics and separation great. Plus the packaging is top notch. Kudos to FP, keep it up

Did anyone receive a version of this where side A & B are on glow-in-the-dark vinyl, and sides C & D are on standard black vinyl?

I'm digging this. A lot. I see what people are saying about the stereo mixing being "weird," but I'm enjoying the effect (to be completely open minded, J Spaceman and the band were probably in a bit of an altered state of mind when mixing!). It's nice rediscovering this one.

Was leery when the record arrived with the "Pressed in Czech Republic" sticker (GZ has notoriously spotty QC), but my records are flat with little to no clicks (wet cleaned/vacuumed prior to spinning).

This is fantastic, if I wanted to complain about anything it would be the watermelon coverart. I've been listening to this thing since it originally came out and I just do not feel watermelon and green. At all. But I love this release regardless.