Sometime back in the early 90's I was given a cassette of this album and I enjoyed it very much. My gift was an original copy and not just a blank C90 with the album recorded onto it (I would never condone home taping obviously *cough*), but unfortunately I lost it.
It's rather curious that I have no recollection of the exact circumstances under which I was given the tape and I have no idea how it fell out of my possession either. It is as if it came into my life, delivered its message and moved on. I like to think that cassette is now treasured by someone else; but I suspect it met a less satisfactory end.
In 2020 I had tired of only owning digital files of this album and I decided to purchase a nice new copy on vinyl. This was advertised as a remastered "HD audio" 180g vinyl that suggested it would be audiophile heaven.
However, this record is more like audiophile hell. This is the noisiest new record I own and one of the worst pressings I have ever heard. The needle drop is one of the quieter elements of surface noise and there are constant crackles and random attacks of sibilance throughout playback. As the record spins I find myself repeatedly looking at the needle expecting to see a big ball of dust and debris clogging it up. Really I should have returned it, but my experience is that a replacement is likely to be just as bad. I've seen on Discogs that other owners have a much better experience and don't report any issues, but for me this record verges on unlistenable. I don't even understand what HD audio is outside of a home cinema or computer context. How can you have a HD vinyl?
Anyway, the music on this record is rather magical. Yes, I have an aversion to guitars, but Robin doesn't use them to create the typical rock sound. The guitars on these tracks are played cleverly and drenched in effects that transform them into expressive and imaginative instruments. The contention is that there is no synthesizer on this album and I dare say there is an element of truth in that. But make no mistake there are a lot of electronic sound sources and effects creating the same end result. I like the fact that there is no drummer in the band and they relied entirely on a drum machine and Robin's programming skills. There isn't a bad song on this album which makes it highly suited to vinyl: you don't feel the need to skip about. The only issue with the vinyl experience is this terrible pressing. 4/5
