Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills

Did anyone pick this up over the weekend - how does it sound? I'd love to own a copy of this, but I was told this was mastered from CD, and the CD is very heavily compressed.

I'm also curious about the pressing of Do the Collapse...

Thanks a lot!

 

Great album!!

 

I agree!

 

Good album. Kind of a bummer being Pollard's divorce record.

 

I didn't even know about these GBV reissues. Is the packaging the same as the original LP? I always thought it was kind of a bummer that they didn't try to replicate the cool fold-out design of the CD.

 

I think it's the same packaging as the original LP. The reissue is on blue clear vinyl (Do the Collapse on orange clear vinyl).

 

I have the Blue Isolation Drills - I like it. I ordered the yellow Do the Collapse off eBay today.

 

I ended up purchasing an original pressing.

Straight from the mouth of David Newgarden, GBV/Pollard manager...they wouldn't even stock this reissue in their webstore because they were so displeased with the sound quality. These were mastered from CD. The original master's were supposedly destroyed in Hurricane Sandy.

 

Oh wow, that sucks!

 

Were original pressings cut from? CD or analog?

 

Look cool....

 

Does "Do the Collapse" sound as heavily compressed as "Isolation Drills"?

 

I have an original copy and like it just fine. Hard for me to really chew the fat about GBV sound quality.

 

I hear ya', but Do the Collapse and Isolation Drills are substantially different than their lo-fi predecessors. The original vinyl copy of Isolation Drills does not suffer nearly as badly from the heavy compression issues of the CD; hence, the disappointment in these two reissues being mastered from CD.

 

I just got my copies the other day, but haven't been able to give them a spin yet. I have an OP Do The Collapse, so I'll at least be able to compare that to the new issue. Isolation Drills OP has been somewhat elusive to me despite it being my fave late-era GBV album, so I'll just have to continue my search and enjoy this pressing for now. I've only ever heard it on CD, so I guess I won't be completely unhappy with the sound.

Really I wanted these issues more because I'm a nutcase GBV fan and need to have as much GBV as possible.

 

In regard to GBV - my love was never about fidelity. It was about yelling, smoking, drinking and mic swinging.

 

It is kind of funny to hear them fussing over sound quality on a GBV release, but I get it. That album was recorded really well, so they want it to sound as good as it can. I can deal with sonic shortcomings that are inherent in the recording. It's the ones introduced after the fact that are a bit more troubling. I remember being really bummed by the weird digital clipping noises on several of the tracks on Suitcase 2. What should be the quintessential version of "Dusty Bushworms" is forever hampered because of Bob's cheap CD-R recorder.

 

I have an original DTC. It's a long album, but on a single LP it sounds pretty good.

I also have an original B1000. Between that and DTC (kind of both extremes of the GBV sound), I really think GBV is meant to be heard on vinyl. The shortcomings of the lo-fi analog end up sounding pretty harsh/cold on CD, versus LP. The vinyl of B1000 in particular sounds like a really murky studio effort, whereas the CD sounds like some dudes recording on a 4-track.

 

I've never heard an OP B1000, but I thought the exact same thing when I heard the latest reissue. Yeah, it's still lo-fi, but not nearly as lo as listening to it on CD.

 

Bob sure loved accentuating those high frequencies, said it was a like an AM radio (I never really agreed with that). Maybe the spikyness was rolled off a bit for vinyl? Definitely not for CD. The B1000 CD is lo-fi. The Propeller CD is straight up ear bleed.

 

My GBV fandom is part of what nudged me toward buying vinyl full time. I think Bob has always made albums with vinyl in mind as the real final product.

 

I agree with all the comments above!

I was really hoping these reissues would be comparable to the original vinyl pressing on TVT. I just want to hear their stuff as it was intended to be heard, and when I became aware that the band was so displeased with these reissues that they wouldn't stock them in their webstore it was rather disappointing. I wouldn't be concerned of the quality if these were reissues of their 4-track stuff.

That would be great - thanks a lot! Now is an excellent time to snag and OP of Isolation Drills

 

Well, I bought both of these on RSD and thought they sounded great! The band refuses to sell them?? I really don't see why. Hey, they were only $13.99 ea on colored vinyl. But then, I'm used to the lo-fi stuff on CD, so maybe that's why I was impressed with these. GO figure...

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into that.

 

Too bad TVT didn't just hang on to the original stampers.