Hello Happiness

 

The Beloved - Happiness [NEW 9239LP UK 2020 24-Bit FLAC]

Last ripped a few years back, I wanted to revisit this release. It is cut 'very hot' and a combination of my initial naivety and the noisy vinyl affected the end results. The Hana Shibata cartridge handled things much better than my old Ortofon and with all the subsequent hardware upgrades, I have put things right at 176.4kHz.

One of my most anticipated reissues of 2020, was the new vinyl remaster of The Beloved's Happiness. I only bought the compact disc back in 1990 and it has remained one of my favourite pop albums, delivered by band I had followed closely since their original indie-rock roots.

This release is cut digitally by John Davis from the originally analogue tapes. The pressing plant seems to wish to remain anonymous.

The band's debut album followed chart success with the Hello single and Jon Marsh's cash cow, The Sun Rising. The original indie-pop foursome where now just down to Marsh (sporting a new floppy fringe) and guitarist Steve Waddington, marking a dramatic shift into pop and dance music. The first two singles Loving Feeling (oddly missed from the album) and Your Love Takes Me Higher failed to return hits, however it was the immortally catchy Hello and The Sun Rising which would lead to Happiness blasting from in-car compact disc players all over the land. Indie-synthpop lovers will always love I Love You More which would have been a better follow-up hit than the mundane choice of Time After Time. The closing Found is totally gorgeous and reminiscent of those halcyon indie days.

Now comes the critical part ...this record is just a bit too loud! - likely due to compression during the digital remastering phase which has also resulted in a little sibilance on some tracks. I have kept the recording levels down as much as possible as some of the RMS figures come in at around -13db with a dynamic response rate of up to DR10 which is too high for a vinyl album. Avoid the remastered CD folks.... if you want to keep your eardrums.

A1 Hello

A2 Your Love Takes Me Higher

A3 Time After Time

B1 Don't You Worry

B2 Scarlet Beautiful

B3 I Love You More

C1 The Sun Rising

C2 Wake Up Soon

D1 Up, Up And Away

D2 Found