Number:645521 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Radiohead - The Bends - No EMI, Warner Credit
Number:645522 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Radiohead -The Bends - Text Missing next to Barcode on Warner Credit Copy
Number:645532 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Radiohead - The Bends - Inner Sleeve - Warner Credit
Number:645541 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Radiohead - The Bends - Warner Credit Label - No Parlophone "Pound" Logo in Circle To Left
Number:645542 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Radiohead - The Bends - Warner Credit Label - No PArlophone "Pound" Logo In Circle To Left - Side 2
...But something's been bugging me about my version of this from the start, since I bought it, and compared it with entries elsewhere online, and I'm pretty sure I know what it is now:
My recent (2014) Warner garbed press is NOT 180g!
I'm trying to find my weighing scales to be sure, but I'd be confident in saying my copy weighs in at around maybe 120g or so... basically the same weight as an original first press standard vinyl weight.
The reason this is significant is that the (two) entries for this 2014 press (Warner-ed) on Discogs state that it is 180g press, and having seen the mixed bag of opinions and reviews as to quality there, it seems the reason maybe that there are two different weights of vinyl masquerading as the same issue.... confounded with each other, all same details, labels, artwork, just a thicker piece of vinyl.
Which makes me wonder if this was a bit of a "made it up as we went along" job from Warner, when they acquired the EMI / Parlophone rights... that maybe they initially did as I said below, and just dusted off the old kit and made the same issue with slighlty modified artwork, but using the same grade of vinyl too...
... but then, attempted to merely upgrade the vinyl, by pressing onto 180g, but using kit (matrices, stampers, pressing machines etc.) designed, or rated only for 120g?
Result, an inadequate bodged 180g run that caused a lot of problems for people (skipping etc.), while the ones they issued using the original vinyl grade were great.
(Mine sounds F&%$ing spectacular!... And plays a treat.)
I think this might be more evident that barely a year or two later, a new 180g Reissue was made.
So perhaps it would be possible to confirm this by asking people who own the 2014 Warner whether they have 180g or 120(ish)g vinyl in their sleeves, and discovering which have problems and which don't.
I saw a comment on Discogs concerning the version have with the Warner credit, where some unhappy chap had to replace his copy twice due to an unlistenable second side (Skips, jumps etc.).
This got me worried about my copy, as I'd only listened to the first side once I bought mine in the new year, once I'd got it home. I was concerned this might be a repressing issue in general, but I gave it a full spin today, and thankfully, it's all good!
In fact, this sounds much better on vinyl than on the CD.
Thom Yorke's voice has enough separation from the crunching guitars to be more distinguishable, and float high above it all in the right places.
The vinyl has a more acoustic weight, and the dynamic changes in the music are handled much better (Sometimes, like in Sulk, and Black Star, his voice is nearly lost in the dense guitar sounds on CD, but great here).
And the Power of songs like Nice Cream, and Just are greatly enhanced.
Bullet Proof, High And Dry, and Fake Plastic Trees really benefit from the extra detail, and more organic sound too.
Looking at the matrix numbers on this, they are:
Side 1: PCS 7372 A - 01 - 01 - 2 ("She's Out With Her Answerphone" - scratched) D - stamped
Side 2: PCS 73272 B - 01 - 01 - 2 ("Nice Dream" - scratched) D - stamped
So exactly the same as the original press!
They basically just fished the all the existing kit for this out of the broom cupboard, dusted it down, and continued pressing the original.
So there'd be no reason to worry about buying a new copy of this.
Was expecting it to be a re-issue with new cat#, heavy vinyl etc. But it's exactly the same as this... they've just continued pressing this issue!
Which is better actually, I think... especially as all the other vinyl in the new 180g+ issuings are very expensive. This was only £12.99
Only aspects that are different are that there are two lines of copyright on the bottom rear... the other giving credit to Warner Music, and expunging here and elsewhere on the sleeves and label any EMI reference