[philball1974]

I'm sure anyone who has been collecting records long enough would have seen a copy of Dire Straits 'Brothers in arms' lp for sale for about £1 -£1.50 and in good condition, but this morning I saw a pre order for the reissue. £57 with this marketing bumpf

180 Gram 45RPM Audiophile Vinyl, Numbered Limited-Edition Blockbuster Brothers In Arms Helped Define 80s, Catapulted Dire Straits to Arena Status The End-All-Be-All Ultimate-Sounding Version of This Audiophile Standard: Mobile Fidelity 180g 45RPM 2LP Captures Delicate Nuances, Revealing Textures, Finite Information.

"The end all be all ultimate sounding version"!!!

What a joke.

[Spun out of control]

Ugh. Dire Straits indeed.

Never been a fan, as simply heard these tracks far too much back in the day - would almost pay £50 not to hear this

That said, even bands I do like that have always sold themselves on their integrity, such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers etc have all in the past couple of years issued deluxe £50 to £100 sets 'for the fans', so this is arguably nothing new.

As ever, the flip answer is 'if you don't like it don't buy it.' Also, Morrissey said it best 20 years ago: "Reissue! Repackage! Repackage! Re-evaluate the songs/ Double pack with a photograph/ Extra track and a tacky badge" ... though even the Smiths back catalogue became a recent Johnny Marr re-mastered deluxe set!

[jdubtxn]

I have the old 80s mass pressing and I found a mint Quiex pressing. The old 80s version is probably one of the better sounding records mastering wise I have. The Quiex is not much better. Highly doubt they can do much more with it.

[siforster]

Weirdest thing about this "ultimate sounding version" is that it was Brothers In Arms that was the CD industry's big thing to push people into buying CD players, because it was so much better sounding than the vinyl... Ho hum, plus ca change and all that.

That it's being reissued is no great surprise, as there will be a market for it - the market for "buy the same thing all over again even if you already had it once and got rid of it to buy the CD version" is a lot bigger than a lot of vinyl buyers now will care to admit to, and this sort of stuff will continue to be made just as long as there are people willing to pay that much money for something that they no doubt already have. The amount of expensive "classic" reissues on RSD alone, coupled with the voracious appetite for "Anniversary" editions (the Afghan Whigs' excellent Gentlemen at 21 edition no doubt starting a trend where there's bound to be a bunch of 18/20/21/25 anniverary editions of any old crap now) would suggest that this is a trend that is only going to grow rather than recede.