June has seen the release of two 12" singles by John Carpenter's Lost Themes band on the Sacred Bones record label. The first single contains re-recordings of Halloween & Escape from New York, whereas the second contains re-recordings of Assault On Precinct 13 & The Fog.
Personally I was more after the second of these two releases but thought I'd buy the pair. Sadly the sound quality isn't great. Both releases are available on picture disc or on standard black vinyl in a black and silver sleeve. Stylistically the black vinyl in a foil sleeve looks the nicer and one would expect it to sound better, since good quality black vinyl tends not to suffer from the surface noise often associated with picture discs.
Sadly I've had to return two black vinyl 12"s so far of The Fog (& know of a friend who's had to return another copy) as the quality is abysmal with too many clicks and pops. I've also tried a picture disc but this has far too much background hiss to be acceptable too. Ironically my copy of the Halloween 12", although not perfect is playable.
It's such a shame that what should've been much sought after records are so poorly made as to be a waste of money. If you want these new recordings it may be best just to download the mp3 files. It's a shame there is no CD available of the new recordings.
Sooooo disappointed! I wonder what John Carpenter himself feels about how these shoddy pressings affect his prestige as a music artist!
Saturday 25th June 2016
