Thoughts on BF/BFF vinyl

OH DAMN, if the songs are even slightly different, I might have to splurge, even though I have the original pressings.

I know Messner like the back of my hand. Can't wait until it comes in. If there's anything different going on, I think I would notice instantly.

Just got my red vinyl Messner today. Put it on 30 seconds ago. Will come back with results.

EDIT:

Here is my rig, for reference:
Pioneer PL-L800 linear tracking turntable
Audio Technica AT440MLa cartridge
Sanyo integrated amp

First, let's talk about the packaging. Very nice glossy sleeve, including a gatefold which replaces the printed inner sleeve which is now a snazzy matte plastic anti-static sleeve. The sleeve feels very sturdy. The art has great clarity and the words are printed pretty clearly, which is rather refreshing after the somewhat disappointing packaging of the Whatever and Suburbs reissues.

Next, the colored vinyl is just gorgeous. Bright red color, very clean, and appears to be little to no pressing defects. I think there was one tiny dimpled area which is inaudible on playback. The vinyl is dead quiet with virtually no surface noise. The sound is consistent from the first drop of the needle to the very inner groove with no distortion to be heard anywhere.

Most importantly, let's discuss the sound. I can say with complete confidence that this is the best sounding version of Reinhold Messner ever released. The dynamics are fantastic. Robert's bass and Darren's drums have never sounded better. The background vocals are rich and lush. The recording really seems to open up; the soundstage feels bigger and better.

The separation of instruments is out of this world -- the sound is NEVER cluttered, even in the loudest parts of Narcolepsy, the synth craziness of Your Redneck Past, the end of Regrets, or the climax of Lullabye. The increased clarity of the recording brings out details like the chimes at the end of Don't Change Your Plans and the little creaks of the studio in Magic. Like the original vinyl pressing, Hospital Song concludes side one and the final chord rings out into silence. On the CD, that decay would be interrupted and Army would begin. The horns have such great presence in Army.

I'm hearing things I've never heard before, such as very faint studio chatter in the right channel as the band begins to play on Your Most Valuable Possession. Jane is rich and warm (WARMTH on a Ben Folds Five record, imagine that) and I've never heard the electric piano quite as well as on this LP. There's also a gorgeous synth during the chorus that I never noticed before.

This is the definitive version of the album without a doubt. While there are no differences in the mixes used (unlike the Silverman reissue), the sound quality alone makes it worth the price of admission.

Oh shit, I'm going to have to go get that. My 99 pressing, I bought used (didn't become a fan till 05), and doesn't sound great - previous owner clearly played the shit out of Army... and that's about it.

WELP my normal go to store doesn't have the red variant. Time to hunt.

Oh shit, I'm going to have to go get that. My 99 pressing, I bought used (didn't become a fan till 05), and doesn't sound great - previous owner clearly played the shit out of Army... and that's about it.

WELP my normal go to store doesn't have the red variant. Time to hunt.

The black vinyl will certainly sound just as good. Depending on whether or not resellers jack up the prices of the red, it may not be worth spending the extra money on the red.

True. But if I'm gonna get it, I want the color variant. Lol.


That way it's even more different than my 1999 one

Just listened to the clear vinyl Songs for Silverman. Let's talk about it.

Starting with the packaging again. This album does NOT come in gatefold packaging. The lyrics and pictures come as a full-size insert in the sleeve. The record comes in a nice matte plastic anti-static sleeve. There is definitely a certain sturdiness that Analog Spark's sleeves have, and the art is very crisp.

The vinyl is, once again, dead quiet... to the point where I actually began to doubt whether my speakers were turned on before the music started. And the clear vinyl is very, very cool looking. There is a little inner groove distortion present -- it's barely noticeable on a fairly hot and potentially sibilant vocal on "Gracie," which ends Side 1 in a tight inner groove, and it's also somewhat present in some of the more stridently-sung parts of "Time." It's somewhat forgivable since this record has a very tight inner groove, but I'm left wondering why they didn't reissue it as a double LP like the original pressing. I'm a bit concerned that I can hear it on my linear tracking TT with a microline stylus. I'd assume the IGD is much more noticeable with a traditional tonearm and a less fancy stylus.

Dynamics on the album are much better than any digital version I've heard, but there is still a decent amount of compression inherent in the mix itself. I feel as though the sound holds back a little too much during its loudest moments, for example the loudest parts of "Landed" and "Trusted." I will say that the band just sounds huge in those loudest parts in spite of the dynamics being a bit "tucked in."

Again there is a distinct lack of clutter in the sound. There is fantastic separation between the instruments, and the spaciousness of the recording is evident. The sound is truly warm and inviting, which is perfect for a laid-back album like this. Extremely smooth presentation.

Indeed there appear to be VERY subtle differences in the songs themselves such as the lyric change in "Jesusland" ('from town to town' rather than 'town to town'), but as I'm not quite as familiar with this album as I was with Messner, so it's harder for me to say where those differences are for sure.

I think the Messner reissue was a 10/10, while this is more like a 9/10 due to the slightly more conservative packaging, slight inner groove distortion, and taking into consideration that it would've been better off as a double LP set. That being said, this is the best-sounding Songs for Silverman ever released. Kevin Gray's mastering is impeccable.

Just got Messner in the mail. I've owned Silverman since 2005 on vinyl.

This album sounds great and looks great. I just got it on standard black vinyl. The album art looks amazing and the packaging is sturdy. Listening to this album front to back is just fantastic, sometimes I forget how amazing the early albums were. Finally have his entire catalogue on vinyl.

Listened to Messner on vinyl last night (regular black vinyl edition). I've got a U-Turn Orbit turntable and Bose system. The album sounded great! Very clear with extremely little surface noise. I had the volume cranked up on it and only heard slight noise between songs and on some of the quieter moments in Jane. I forgot to mention in my review of Silverman that I think my system is a bit heavy on the bass (not a bad thing right?).

Listening to this album brought back some great memories. I remember seeing the Five on the Messner tour in 1999 and it was the last time I saw them together until the reunion show in Chapel Hill in 2008. I live about 3 hours from Chapel Hill and knew I had to make that show when it was announced.

I got a RED while I was on vacation back home at my mom's. THEN I left it in Wisconsin. WHOOPS.

I recently picked up the WASO lp on Record Store Day.  In my current apartment, I don't have a record player, but I saw it came with a digital download.  However, it seems that the site (hosted on myplaydigital.com, which I believe is a Sony company) has been undergoing maintenance everyday since then.  Checking on Twitter and some other places shows other people having the same result.

Anyone else who picked it up have success?

I was able to get it to load with Firefox but not with Chrome. But then I ended up getting an access denied error when I put in the code. Refreshed and got an error saying my download limit had been reached.

Ended up emailing support and getting a Wetransfer link from them.

I've got the same problem. I tried to download at home and work and no such luck with either.

Just found this listing on Amazon - Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP (LP). Release date is 2017/10/20.

https://smile.amazon.com/Supersunnyspeedgraphic-2-LP-Ben-Folds/dp/B07574WDBV/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1505258238&sr=8-2&keywords=Supersunnyspeedgraphic

Supersunnyspeedgraphic!

I have mixed feelings about this. I love the EPs, don't get me wrong, but I do not like this release. I don't like the re-visited versions of these songs. I really think that Ben should have just let them be!! I also don't like how it skims over half the stuff he wrote on the EPs.

This would be a good opportunity to just release all three EPs as they originally were, in a vinyl format.