Secret Vinyl Download #8

If you've ever purchased a deluxe edition of an album and wondered to yourself, "what's the point if everything isn't included?", this one's for you. Not that everything is included, because it definitely isn't, although this is a nicely done deluxe edition of an album that it can't be easy to do one for.

The quick and dirty of it is that this edition of this album was prepared in 2017 but only saw release this year. The vinyl may have been sitting in a warehouse for several years, as evidenced by the copyright info on the packaging, the use of old logos, a different name for the edition (it's listed simply as Deluxe, mentioning nothing of anniversaries) and the fact that the art and track listing leaked several years ago when photos and details about the vinyl were posted online by someone who had managed to acquire a copy. That's not even mentioning the typos in the track list. They didn't leak the music, but the damage was done for the labels. Anyone that did some basic research now knew what would be on the reissue, what was already available, and what wasn't going to be included. That list featured at least one b-side that was included as part of the album before it was initially released in 2000 and enough evidence to infer a number of assumed absences which ended up being accurately forecast, those being samples that were deleted from several versions of the album before the standard, international edition became finalized in 2001. Since then, that's the version that's generally appeared throughout the world, and is the one that (mostly) appears here. As for the other demos, b-sides, and non-album tracks that could've been included but weren't, those were probably left off also due to sample clearance issues, which is another missed but understandable opportunity. So what do you get? Remixes! Remixes galore! A ton of new ones (that is new as of 2017 though no one heard them until 2021) along with some choice classics, some of which are quite rare and haven't been available legally for years. It also includes beautifully written and detailed liner notes along with amazing packaging. That's the vinyl version though, as the CD was clearly prepared in 2021 and includes an inferior mix (as in like a dj mix) of remixes and bonus tracks on the second CD. Yes, it is nice to have a number of the remixes this group did for others, along with a few rare tracks not on the the vinyl (or digital) releases, but edits never tell the full story, for better or worse, and I'd rather have the unedited versions on their own than a bunch of shortened edits.

Have you guessed what this one is yet? Well, there are a few more small details worth providing. First off, this being the vinyl release, some of the tracks on the main album start or end a little differently than they do on the CD and digital releases. There's also the matter of one of the best known tracks from the album as it's been the center of some controversy regarding sample clearances. Pretty much every CD or digital release of the album has contained the original version of this track, which is to say the version with all the original samples. For whatever reason, an alternate mix with replacement samples so as to rectify some legal issues has appeared on some vinyl issues of the album, and appears on this one. That's a bummer, so I dug out another copy of the main album I own on vinyl and ripped the track from there as well as it contains the version with the original samples. So in this download you have both versions of the track, and if you feel like removing the version with the replaced samples and placing the original in its place, it should flow seamlessly.

Finally, I'd ripped this vinyl shortly after I'd gotten it and shared it elsewhere, though this is superior to that version. The vinyl was so clean, I didn't do any declicking and only noticed a few minor pops on the final side. Apart from editing the heads and tails of each side, normalizing the volume of each side, and editing each side into individual tracks, I did no other work on these files, and these are actually from the first time I played the vinyl. I kept those original files after ripping them as they sounded so good!

So, while you can get this album on digital platforms with the same tracks, some of these are slightly different edits, and they will sound a bit warmer all around in a way that the digital versions don't. They're also higher-resolution than any of the digital versions I've seen available. I hope you enjoy it. And if you can find the vinyl edition anywhere still, I'd suggest picking it up, even if you don't have the means to play it. It's a wonderful package.

Did I mention this is one of my all time favorite albums? A post about an alternate version of this album got my original Unheard Music blog pulled offline due to a complaint. Heartbreaking, sure, but I survived. No hard feelings, just beautiful ones.

Secret Vinyl Download #8

PS - The liner notes detail that tracks 23 and 26 are mastered from vinyl. So that means you're going to be hearing a vinyl rip of a vinyl rip. Kinda strange since both of those tracks were released on CD if not also digitally.

PPS - R.I.P. DOOM. I know it's been said before, but track 30 is a great reminder of why you'll be missed so deeply.