James UK Double Vinyl Reissues

Received Millionaires today. Nice high gloss inners. Manufacturing wise A+.zero surface noise. A few pops and clicks that come with the territory.
Comes with a wav. DL card using the old compact disc mastering.
Recommended if you absolutely have a 'must have James on vinyl fetish'

 

Where did you end up buy these? US Amazon doesn't show in stock for any titles.

 

That one was from Amazon. I pre-ordered it. They must of had small amounts in stock. For other titles I've seen importcd's carrying them.

 

Juno has the most reasonable pricing for them I've seen thus far.

 

A few pops and clicks come with the territory? Not really...

I expect maybe some surface noise but no pops to be honest, especially if I’m paying the £28 that I’m seeing these in the shops for. I expect them to be quiet virgin vinyl for that price.

 

But they ship in mailers that don’t use stiffeners so it’s a risk. I had to return my last order to them as the cover was gouged.

 

I bought Gold Mother, Seven, Whiplash, and Millionaires from HMV, £28 each. I'll play them on Mon-Tues, I'm excited about these albums, which are some of my favourites.

 

Did you miss the GZ part Rich?
I'm only grabbing this one as I felt it holds no advantage over my old compact disc, others mileage may very

 

Thx for the info, did not know this!

 

Would've been nice to see some bonus tracks on the fourth side of these, with the album split over three, since most of them don't really need to be doubles. Oh well.

 

I'm pissed! I bought Millionaires and PTMY from ImportCD and the outer sleeves came damaged.

I ordered Seven from Amazon US and it's prepping to send.

 

Any reviews of Gold Mother, Seven, Whiplash?

 

Anyone?

 

Verdict please? I have original pressings of Gold (both issues) and Seven. Should I consider getting these?

 

I got Whiplash and Millionaires. Listening to Whiplash now. As c-eling has stated the vinyl pressing is very good,despite my first impression of paper flecks and rub lines from hard inners. That all disappeared after a proper cleaning. Cool to own but a little disappointing from a soundstage presentation. The Whiplash CD is fuller sounding. On this pressing it sounds like all the highs are rolled off to eliminate any siblance that might be present. Really is flat sounding and reminds me of pan and scan vs. wide screen. Dead quiet wax. This album is so great but this release fails to hit the sweet spot for me. I hope Millionaires sounds better because I adore that album.

 

Hello - sorry, I've been poorly and haven't been able to listen to these LPs. I'll post my thoughts once I've listened to them, but I can't offer comparative insights 'cause I've not got any other vinyl versions.
I would imagine original pressings sound impressive?

 

Millionaires is now £15.99 on Amazon UK (£13.32 if you ship it outside EU).

 

I've finally got round to listening to Gold Mother and Seven and I'm very happy with both. The pressings are quiet; they are nicely balanced with great levels of detail and enjoyable to listen to (I only listen through headphones).

I much prefer these re-releases to my UK CDs. I've not got any other vinyl copies so I can't make any comparisons.

 

HMV has these reissues for £28. I don’t care but I’m not that desperate for these so they can do one for that price!

 

I ordered them all from Import CDs on Ebay. Arrived today and every cover is damaged to some degree. Partially due to jamming 2 LPs in a single sleeve (corners hardly survive) and partially due to Import CD's just jamming them all in a box with no padding - you'd think that when someone spends $140 on 5 records you do your best to make sure they arrive in nice shape.

Will be giving these a listen over the next week or two and will report back then. I am so done with ordering online in general, that I am just going to keep them and not go through the hassle of returning them. The reviews here so far seem mixed but I bit the bullet anyhow since James is one of my all time favorites.

 

I am diving into these tonight. I'm doing comparisons so I won't get through all of them, but will give a report on what I have heard so far before I dive into Millionaires. I thought I bought them all but forgot I held off on Gold Mother for reasons unknown.

Seven - (comparing to original US CD). The original CD sounds pretty damn good so I wasn't expecting the 2017 LP to blow me away. And it didn't. But with that said, it does sound very good. The wax is dead quiet and looks nice after a bath and new home in rice paper inners. As stated above, the album is well balanced with good detail. It's a little more bass heavy than the CD giving it a more punchy and in your face sound which honestly isn't a bad thing. Sometimes I like to feel the music a little. For $30 it's fine (damaged sleeves and all), especially if you're a huge James fan, huge fan of this album, or a James completist. If you own the original CD and aren't any of the things I mentioned, there is a pretty good chance the CD will do for you.

Whiplash - (comparing original US CD and original UK LP). The original CD is definitely on the loud side, but still quite tolerable and somewhat dynamic. In comparison, the original UK LP pressing is extremely quiet and loses a lot of the punch and detail, even when you crank it up - and you can certainly crank it up all the way because it's so quiet. It has a very flat sound that never comes alive. The 2017 LP is a lot closer to the original CD sound to me - almost too close. It's true that some of the highs seem rolled off making the album sound flatter. It does not sound as good as Seven but still enjoyable. It's a nice quiet pressing like Seven and I give this LP an edge over the original UK LP but NOT the CD which sounds more dynamic - but the advantage isn' huge to me. Same thing I said about Seven applies for this regarding whether or not this an album for you.

So far I have no regrets on picking these 2 up.

Millionaires and Pleased To Meet You impressions to follow.

Edit (teaser): I am Track 2 of Millionaires and feel like this could be a real winner.

 

Bought Millionaires couple of weeks ago. Mastered by Barry Grint @ Alchemy. Don’t think it was pressed at gzvinyl. Nice and heavy bass. Haven’t compared to the CD yet, but happy with this edition. Would be great to hear opinions on Pleased To Meet You.

 

Think you are right. These are manufactured in the Netherlands, so it would make sense these are probably RI Haarlem

 

I'll try to make this short regarding both Millionaires and Pleased To Meet You.

Both are fantastic and significant upgrades to the original US CD's I compared them too. Both of the original CD's seem compressed (especially Millionaires), and somewhat harsh. The vinyl reissues are much more dynamic and detailed and sound like what these albums should sound like. Both incredible listens and I'd say these are the 2 real Must-Have's of the 4 I bought and listened to. I'd say they're both strong 8 out of 10s.

I am going to place an order for Gold Mother based on the experience with these 4. I won't be buying from ImportCD's though, I'd like to arrive in better shape.

 

So it took me 6 months to get around it, but I finally purchased and listened to Gold Mother. I never had an original but this is better the original CD I have. More depth/deeper bass while not losing all the detail. I have to highly recommended all of these reissues. Fantastic job and hopefully they reissue the few remaining titles that have not gotten the same treatment.