I've been listening to the vinyl. It's not bad. Certainly not audiophile. But enjoyable for me. And I've played it more than 10 times in the last week. Gets better and better with each listen. I don't understand the age group thing. I'm 61
I’m away on holiday so have only listened on Spotify. I like it. If you can’t stand the compression on the louder parts you won’t like them. The three albums sound very dense at times. There are quality songs on it. Looking forward to listening to the vinyl and hearing it on my systems.
I have the regular US black vinyl version pressed at Sterling. I'm waiting on the Red Vinyl import from Juno And also the Blue Vinyl with the bonus live CD. Trying to find this weekend online the RSD release with the bonus 45 single. And also from CD Japan the CD with the bonus track which is Smile Demo Version
They keep getting better with each album. Her voice is like a sirens call breaking through all the noise of the world. They are one of the few bands I pay attention to these days.
is it safe to say you are a fan… ive actually got a couple of copies, one a HMV 1921 edition, the other with the CD. Both are going back, as I have got hold of the red vinyl and red vinyl - both personally signed to me from the band. i don’t need 4 copies!
The only reason for multiple copies is the bonus songs. The live CD The Bonus 45 single with a new song And the demo of Smile I'll going to sell the extra vinyl copies And yes I am a fan.
I’d be livid if that were me. But only because I’ve done the same with other bands I like. It sucks when record companies do this.
It’s taking the piss, because they are exploiting the dedicated/ hard core fans to engineer the highest possible chart position. I don’t think Wolf Alice have done this, but the trend of cassettes in bundles, is just a tactic to sell more units for the charts. The vas5 majority will never play them, and they will be in landfill pretty quickly.
The cassette revival is something I never thought I’d see ! The things sounded flakey the first time around.
so once again another jacked up cd? So frustrating when you like the music but just can't enjoy it due to being compressed to death. so many new music cds lately, cheap trick, foo fighters, Evanescence to name a few, now this one too. I don't get it. Are they all deaf when engineering the music? lately I've been forced it seems to just rip the cds and listen on my computer setup and just listen casually instead of playing it on a nice rig set up.
Sometimes when I read comments from people saying they suffer ear fatigue from certain CDs I don’t get it but this one really hit me. Got to track 5 and had to pause for a bit. It’s a shame things have come to this.
I'm usually pretty tolerant to some loudness on cds, but lately it seems to be off the charts. After a few songs I tap out. Yes a damn shame. I suppose I could buy the vinyl, which I do as well sometimes, but its just not my preferred method.
My system has quite an open, neutral sound so it's perfectly listenable on that. I can tell it's heavily compressed, but then what isn't these days. I played it on my Oppo PM-3 headphones the other day however, which have the bass bumped like most closed headphones, and the extent of the mastering ****-up was far more obvious there. It's relentlessly loud with far too much distortion on the guitar and bass. Mastered for Airpods. I still love it, but it's such a shame when they do this to a potential future classic with many delicate and beautiful compositions. No Hard Feelings is genuinely moving and How Can I Make It OK? is like Fleetwood Mac reborn.
This has crept up on me a bit over the last 24 hours and 5 plays. There’s some really good songs on it. Shame about the bloody mastering. Think I’ll live with it over the weekend and if I like it anymore by Monday I’ll sell the CD and invest in the record. Pain in the butt really, but as a headphones listener the CD hurts.
It’s a shame because the songs are great. Would love to hear them produced by Steve Albini ! The album’s main problem can be summed up by listening to the chorus of Feeling Myself. The sound just congeals into brick walled mushy gloop. Listened back to the debut yesterday. What an album that is !
Grief !!! Those numbers are almost burning into my monitor !!! The new Gary Numan album is even worse, believe it or not.
Great record, excellent songs, album of the year candidate. The "wall of sound" production on it took me by surprise. To the extent that, at first listen on Tidal, I had to check around "Smile" that (a) I was actually listening to the right album and (b) there wasn't anything wrong with my speakers or cables. It took me a few days to get accustomed to its sound (first step: realize that the album is supposed to sound like this) and it wasn't until then that I "got" the songs on it. Before then I thought the album was a turkey; I don't think I've ever completely reversed what I thought about a record quite so quickly (less than a week!). The production (once you get used to it) does give the album a unified theme. The songs are stylistically all over the place--like on "Visions of a Life"-- but on this album they are all held together by a common, distinct sonic signature. It feels more like an album than "Visions of a Life" did. The "big" guitar at the very end on "The Beach II" is the punctuation mark on that one.
I'll second the recommendation for Desperate Journalist. They've had a couple of absolute knockout songs on their last two albums ("Argonauts" on the last one, "Radiating" on the one before) and I can't wait for the next one. I think they and Wolf Alice the best two British rock bands in their prime right now, with Wolf Alice as the major-label "front-runner" and Desperate Journalist as the indie-label "underdog". If you like one I suspect you'll like the other.
I'll third the "Desperate Journalist" recommendation. I'm partial to the first 2 albums. I thought the 3rd was a small step back, but still good. Wolf Alice plays any and all styles, where as Desperate Journalist has more of a consistent sound, from song to song. Agree that they are the best to newish British rock bands now.
Had my first listen on my main system. Sounds good, better than Visions of a Life. The DR numbers may be poor but I’m finding it listenable. Some great songs. It is a shorter album and less diverse than the others. Has more of a thematic flow.
great to hear this. They are pretty new to me - they are doing a show and signing next month at Rough Trade in East London if anyone is interested.
