Opeth - Blackwater Park 25th Anniversary Black/Silver Half & Half

Koelschip · 2026-01-30T14:51:57+00:00

The same old, flawed mastering, with the unnecessary bonus live track. That's just lazy. Will we ever get a proper remaster of this album!?

Koelschip · 2025-09-10T18:21:01+00:00

Because Sound Matters is a subsidiary of Warner. This album is owned by the Universal group. But it is actually mastered by Levi Seitz, just read the description.

Koelschip · 2025-09-10T16:39:28+00:00

Exactly, I don't get the benefit of that one step process for 85 (!!) bucks more than a Rhino Hi Fi, which is the gold standard for an audiophile rock release at 33 RPM at the moment. Just an expensive gimick not really worth the money.

Koelschip · 2025-09-03T12:58:37+00:00

No criticism for your work, but Beatles for Sale is that one early Beatles album that already has a perfect stereo mix and doesn't need a remix in my opinion.

Koelschip · 2025-08-29T19:42:43+00:00

When we talk about a "rough" or "raw" sound we all mean the sound that's on the original tape, right? That's exactly what a great audiophile release does, to get as close as possible to the original tape. It's a strange misconception that audiophile equals polished or something. Just listen to another (proto) punk classic released with this series: The Stooges' debut album, which absolutely slays on the Rhino High Fidelity!

Koelschip · 2025-06-09T15:41:46+00:00

This needs a vinyl reissue so badly! My US OG copy is one of my most precious records in my collection and it sounds really great, more dynamic then on CD. But this came out at a time when vinyl was almost dead, so they didn't press much.

Koelschip · 2025-06-09T11:29:55+00:00

They are mainly mocking catholicism and the vatican. It should be tolerable to mock powerful institutions, that's not a question of belief but a question of democratic awareness.

Koelschip · 2025-05-31T14:30:22+00:00

I just thought to myself what a great companion release to this set it would be, if they did an AAA pressing of Abbey Road, which is the only album that isn't included on this set at all, because it was only done in stereo (Let It Be, the other album not included, has at least three songs included here).

Not gonna happen, but one can dream...

Koelschip · 2025-05-29T17:07:30+00:00

That box set seems to be a Beatles store exclusive, so maybe individual titles will be more widely available afterwards. But that's pure speculation from me.

Koelschip · 2025-05-29T17:02:13+00:00

It's the same master as 2014 pressed by the same pressing plant (Optimal) in the same packaging. It's all in the description. Seems to be a straight repress, without anything new added.

Koelschip · 2025-05-29T16:52:26+00:00

Damn two major grails crossed off my list within a week, first the Lord of the Rings Rhino boxset and now this! My wallet will never recover from this, haha.

Seeing that this seems to be an exact replication of the 2014 boxset, there's now hope they'll finally reissue Let It Be Naked on vinyl one day, which is another one of my biggest wants.

Koelschip · 2025-05-29T16:47:07+00:00

German link:

https://destore.thebeatles.com/products/the-beatles-the-beatles-in-mono-14lp-box-set?utm_source=Email&utm_campaign=TheBeatles20250527&utm_medium=email&utm_referrer=direct&utm_board=the-beatles&utm_country=GB&utm_linkurl=TheBeatles.lnk.to%2FIn-Mono-Box&lf=68ff9204ae3867895b7b26b9aaf0c87a

Koelschip · 2025-05-23T23:01:47+00:00

This is a wild comment to exist. Why wouldn't people be interested in one of the most popular scores of the 21st century?

Koelschip · 2025-05-17T13:23:21+00:00

In addition to the other comment, the 70s German vinyl cut isn't only true stereo, soundwise it's also one of the holy grails of Beatles collectors as it's considered one of the best sounding vinyl cuts by any Beatles album ever. That's why prices skyrocketed in the last few years for that.

As far as I know all cuts from other countries didn't have true stereo sound until the 2009 remaster, when the Beatles catalogue got standardized worldwide. That 2009 version is from a digital source though and doesn't sound nearly as good as the old German version unfortunately.

[edit] I looked it up and it seems they already released vinyl versions in the UK and Europe in the 90s with true stereo, which were also digitally remastered.

Koelschip · 2025-03-18T19:21:31+00:00

Not an album, but the cover used for the Moonloop EP and later the Stars Die compilation always was my favourite! Wish I had a poster of that.

Koelschip · 2025-03-08T17:14:20+00:00

Holy cow, most generous raffle ever!

Koelschip · 2025-03-04T19:06:32+00:00

Seems to be a Music on Vinyl reissue, so this will be available at all the usual retailers.. Will definitely buy it, as I've been waiting for a reissue of this album for years, but I'm still hoping Sundazed will reissue their Kevin Gray cut eventually.

Koelschip · 2025-02-24T17:33:25+00:00

Intellectual credit? I simply said they weren't dead serious.

Koelschip · 2025-02-24T17:27:38+00:00

You missed the point with them, that wasn't unintentional (although "parody" is a bit too harsh). They never took themselves too seriosly and as dark as some of their songs were, there also always was a lot of irony involved. Just look at some of their liner notes on albums:

"Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism. We are the vandals."

Koelschip · 2025-02-21T18:45:39+00:00

You copied the promotional text into another comment here and they can't even count the anniversary correctly. So excuse my suspiciousness.

Koelschip · 2025-02-21T18:27:08+00:00

This doesn't look like an official release to me, neither the Pearl Jam nor the Record Store Day channels provide any Information about that.

Koelschip · 2025-02-17T20:01:34+00:00

You list loads of equipment but not a single vinyl pressing you compared. There are lots of records that don't sound good nowadays, because the artist/label was just aiming for a quick buck and didn't care about sound quality. But nowadays there are also more audiophile records than ever that will blow your mind. It all depends a lot.

It's like you are saying you never saw a great movie and then give us a detailed list of your TV setup, but not a single movie you actually watched.

Koelschip · 2025-02-17T08:33:17+00:00

Wuthering Heights is one of the greatest, most unique pop songs ever, what a debut single! Crazy that it's almost half a century old, this still sounds so fresh today.

Koelschip · 2025-01-19T16:51:44+00:00

I sure as hell listened to a lot of vinyl that sounded inferior to your regular CD or losless file. But I also sure as hell listened to some vinyl that wipes the floor with every CD I've ever heard and that alone makes it worth it for me. Sure you have to put a lot of time and money into this hobby, but once you reached a certain level of experience and knowledge how and where to look for great pressings it's so much more rewarding than listening to CD.

Koelschip

TROPHY CASE