Spiritualized®* – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

I guess I got lucky…listening for first time and my copy doesn’t have any standouts tics, a bit surface noise here and there (but surprisingly not on the quiet parts) and I haven’t cleaned it yet. Better than average for VMP for me, I have definitely had serious issues with a few of their pressings in the past, but this copy is pretty great.

I'm really pleased with this. The packaging is on the whole superb although I'm not sure what the thinking was behind basic die cut paper inners as well as shiny printed inners. I've ditched the paper ones and slipped poly bags into the printed inners. The gatefold cover is made from very sturdy board and has a lovely gloss and some subtle foil detailing. The pressing is to my ears very good. I steered clear of the repress a few years ago (the one which bizarrely changed the iconic cover art to something completely different and inferior imo) because it was widely criticised. It would be interesting to now do a side by side comparison of the two because this sounds great.

Finally got my VMP copy as I have always loved this album since release. It's definitely a mixed bag - the presentation is great apart from those unlined paper sleeves and the mastering sounds good but mine is also a bit noisy with some of the clicks in spots as mentioned here. Records are all nice and flat. Overall if you're not over-paying for this one I think it's worthwhile just don't expect it to be flawless.

Got lucky with a super well kept copy as well as one that seems to have turned out alright. Gave mine a light clean and the only fault I can find is some light surface noise toward the end of the C side. Otherwise remarkable presentation of the music and very glad to not have the more recent reissue’s artwork

The term "organized chaos" is probably what best describes this album. Quiet peaceful ages like exterior shots from 2001 Space Odyssey alternate with explosive climaxes with the force of volcanic eruptions. The album has you glued to the edge of your chair the whole time, waiting to see what happens next. The way the songs build up the tension is unique. They usually lull you gently until you feel safe, until they suddenly throw you out of the open car door at 200 km/h. The listener is in a constant state of positive tension. For me, the album is pure entertainment and musical enjoyment. One of my absolute favorite albums of all time!

The conversion to vinyl is also very well done. No surface noise, vinyl pressed flat and centered, not cut off with sharp edges and the punched hole is the right size.

Found this version at a record store yesterday! So glad I got this version. Sounds incredible, for an equally incredible record ♡

My copy sounds pretty close to perfect. Quiet, clean, dynamic. No pops and ticks, no static or hums. The jacket is really solid feeling and looks great.

A missed opportunity, truly. I know this was supervised by J Spaceman himself, which makes it all the more frustrating. I had really hoped for a restoration of the original vinyl pressing, on which the tracks were re-ordered slightly to flow better across four vinyl sides. "Stay With Me" was relocated to Side 3, so that the seamless transition between "Home Of The Brave" and "The Individual" could be maintained uninterrupted. Art Vinyl did a reissue in 2012, which is reportedly amazing, and properly kept the original vinyl track sequence. When I saw VMP was doing this, I hoped they would do the right thing and not repeat what Plain Recordings did, simply mimicking the CD track order on vinyl. So, that transition between "Home Of The Brave" and "The Individual" just cuts abruptly at the end of Side 2 and then starts up (no fade out or fade in) on Side 3. So classless and lazy. Sound quality wise, save for a couple of tracks it honestly doesn't really beat the original 1997 CD.

Can’t speak to the pressing quality yet but just today opened a brand new copy to find that it contains 2 copies of the second disc…no disc one. Any one else have this problem?!

Just received my VMP copy a few weeks ago. Agree with below comments that this is overall a pretty noisy pressing, with some recurrent ticks on a few tracks, including Broken Heart (which also has a few loud pops). LP 2 even has a fairly large chip in the outer edge of the vinyl. I'm reaching the end of my tether on returning vinyl (especially since I live in Switzerland), so I'll probably just stick with this one, but I am starting to lose confidence in VMP lately...