kesiak

According to Shep, The Immaculate Collection and his work/mixing on it was very last minute, "a rush job" as he put it. That wouldn't make sense if "Vogue" had been written with it in mind, many months before.

Bless you Lenny but that's rather revisionist .

I've got the "Music" promo as well as the 2000 European pressing and the 2LP promo wins for sure.

Agreed. "Angel" especially, it's the best song on "Like A Virgin".

Didn't realise mastering was different on these. Has anyone got the EU version?

You really are a glass half-empty kind of guy, aren't ya?

Is it this edition?: https://www.discogs.com/Beyoncé-How-To-Make-Lemonade/release/10736998

That doesn't really answer the original point. Great article but it talks about the consumer price of vinyl, not the manufacturing/production costs which is what my original point was about. It also specifically focuses on special/limited editions (these will always be more expensive and tend to have extras). Oh, and insert does not a booklet make - a point that's already been made too.

What's the sound like on that release? I've been reading different things about it.

The lyrics and credits on vinyl are often printed on the sleeve that actually holds the record, it's always been the case. Inserts have been a common thing and still happen (presumably cause it's cheaper to produce a single sheet insert than a printed record sleeve). There have been occasional posters included (True Blue, You Can Dance) but that's about it, unless we're talking special edition box sets etc. Unless I'm missing something - can you point out examples of regular vinyl releases with actual booklets in them?

Yeah, I wash every record I get nowadays, new or old. Actually, the new releases are often worse for that as you noticed. Love the RSD You Can Dance pressing and I really enjoy the regular Madame X pressing (I've got the clear one as well but it seems to have a little bit more noise). As for other artists, the recent Goldfrapp re-issues sound flawless. Same with Robyn's recent RSD pressings ("Body Talk" and "Robyn" but her most recent album "Honey" sounds great too). Roisin Murphy's new album is amazing on vinyl (got the blue pressing and it's stunning), her "Overpowered" re-issue is great too. Same goes for Moloko's re-issues - got "Things To Make And Do" as well as "Statues" and I would highly recommend both. Most of my vinyl is r&b, funk and old disco stuff though .

But vinyl never had booklets like that (unless it was some special edition or something). You need a booklet within a CD release cause there's obviously not enough space to include all the lyrics, credits, etc. And vinyl is more expensive to manufacture already, would make no sense to add extra costs to it.

Are you talking about Madonna or generally? Cause there's tons of modern releases, new and old (re-released), that have inserts, etc.

You're very welcome, I love vinyl. Super jealous of your pink "Bedtime Stories" promo and I'd stick with it - I haven't heard that pressing but I sincerely doubt anything could beat that. As for Japanese pressings, I honestly don't know what it is about them, I'm sure there's someone more knowledgeable out there who could shed some light on that. Everything I've read however, points to those pressings being the best sounding and the ones I've got are a testament to that. As for "Celebration", the pops and clicks and all the original errors are very much present on the copy I own but it's not just that - the sound quality is all over the place, some tracks sound really great, while others don't. Vocals on "Open Your Heart" choruses for example sound compressed and slightly distorted, and there's a similar issue with some higher frequencies on other tracks ("Like A Virgin" comes to mind). I'm happy to have it in my collection but I don't listen to this release cause it's not a pleasant experience overall for me (and I listen to vinyl all the time).