One record at a time: 503. Beloved - Conscience

Back in 1993, when CDs ruled the world and vinyl was taking an extended tea break, "Conscience" slipped out with only a handful of LP pressings. Naturally, this meant that the original vinyl soon became the sort of item collectors stalked.

Fast forward to recent years, and with demand still bubbling away and the rights having returned to Jon Marsh, electronic specialists NewState clearly spotted a chance to make a lot of fans very happy. On paper, the reissue sounded downright irresistible: remastered audio spread across two slabs of heavyweight white vinyl, limited edition, full colour sleeve and wraparound artwork. All very fancy. All very take‑my‑money. Then you actually play it.

This is where the warm glow of nostalgia smacks straight into the cold wall of reality. Some tracks are different mixes that do not match the originals. There is added noise on almost everything. The sibilance is, quite honestly, among the worst I have ever heard. I would love to tell you that the sheer brilliance of the music rises triumphantly above the overbearing compression and the extra noise. I really would. But I can't.

And that is such a shame, because the album itself remains wonderful. "Conscience" felt like a natural step on from their debut "Happiness", with the new husband‑and‑wife duo of Jon and Helena working beautifully together. There is just enough pop threaded through the dance elements to keep things interesting, long before their next album "X" would wander a little too far into clubland and lose some charm in the process.

One of my favourite memories is hearing someone play an advance copy of this album in an HMV before the album was released. The moment Jon sang the opening lines of "Spirit": "So welcome back again, On the right track again" I saw a couple of people drift towards the B section of the CD racks, only to be met with crushing disappointment when they found nothing there.

The singles "Sweet Harmony", "Outerspace Girl" and "You Have Got Me Thinking" deserved far better chart positions than the public gave them. They are still great songs. Even better is the killer trio of "Celebrate Your Life", "Rock to the Rhythm of Love" and "Let the Music Take You", a run of tracks I always looked forward to. The only stumble for me has always been the closer, "Dream On", which drifts a bit.

So yes, a great album, but this vinyl pressing does it no favours whatsoever. Whether the problems are down to this disastrous white vinyl edition or whether the universe is simply refusing to let "Conscience" sound good on wax, I cannot say. What I can say is that the regular black vinyl version, which is supposedly on the way, has had its release delayed at least three times. It does make you wonder if the poor thing is proving too difficult to get onto vinyl in a form that does not make you wince. Until then, my advice is simple: adore the album, avoid the pressing. 3/5