Needle Time

  Pink Floyd - Animals (2018 Remix) [PFRLP28 UK 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] What on earth would you expect around here after some industrious electronica.... how about some indulgent progressive rock social commentary with sheep sound effects? I bought this album out of curiosity around the time of release and am pleased with how it sounds. I've read some very mixed reviews out there, some agree with my ears, others hate what they've done with Animals . Cut by Bernie Grundman from James Guthrie's 2018 Remix, this record is certainly a different animal. I have a UK second pressing, and amongst the wear & crackle it does sound less dynamic. On this new mix, which comes in at a comfortable DR13, those drums & that bass are much clearer in the mix. There isn't a squeezed middle to be heard, the whole thing just fills your ears. As with all such things, it will be to the individual pairs of ears to draw this conclusion, however I believe that they've succeeded and...

  Pink Floyd - The Division Bell 対 (TSUI) [SIJP 26~7 JPN 2016 24-Bit FLAC] Here is another of my acquisitions on a trip to Tokyo a few years back. Originally released in 1994, The Division Bell was the last/final album proper by Pink Floyd. For me, it stands comfortable head an shoulders above anything they have done since the seventies and whilst anthemic stadium rock may not be to everybody's taste, it is an album I have enjoyed since I first bought the UK compact disc. The remastering of the original audio was completed by James Guthrie at his Das Boot studios in California at the turn of the last decade and his trademark light touch approach lifts the compact disc original to new levels. This album needs to be enjoyed in full on proper hi-fi equipment, portable audio just won't do it justice as these lush soundscapes need your full immersion. I am not a top-end audiophile hardware buyer, but this album sounds amazing on playback through my meagre Cambridge Audio amp and ...

  Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds [SHSP 4020 UK 1972 24-Bit FLAC] It may come as a surprise to most that I own most of the Pink Floyd album back catelogue on vinyl. These were acquired mostly second-hand during the nineties when I was expanding my musical horizon and seeking alternatives to brit pop. Obscured By Clouds is possibly my favourite album by the band, squeezing in nicely between the psychedelic years and the stadium tedium of their more 'celebrated' works. The sleeve design was by a pre-Sleazy Christopherson Hipgnosis. Conceived as a soundtrack to Swiss director  Barbet Schroeder's La Vallee,  Obscured By Clouds stands out for me as it features the debut of the EMS VCS 3 synthesizer which Richard Wright had acquired from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop at some expense - and is highly evident on the title track. Unusually for Pink Floyd, most tracks clock in at under five minutes, the wacky Free Four was a single and in my opinion, Richard Wright has the b...