When Radiohead released In Rainbows as a pay-what-you-want download in the fall of 2007, they also gave fans a chance to preorder a special deluxe version of the album for about $80. This Discbox, initially the only physical version of In Rainbows, included the album on 2 heavy weight LPs, the album on CD, and a bonus CD of outtakes from the In Rainbows sessions. Naturally, it very quickly sold out. Earlier this spring, however, Radiohead announced that they would once again be making it available exclusively through their website, and I jumped on the opportunity to own it.
The mastering of In Rainbows was initially criticized by the audio community for being too compressed, which limits the dynamic range of the music; in short, the loud parts and the quiet parts are essentially the same volume. This master was subsequently released in CD form, and on the single disc ATO Records vinyl release. The real treasure of the Discbox version is that the vinyl has a completely different master than any other release, and a lot of the compression and limiting are not present.
The result is a fantastically recorded and mixed album, elements of which were invisible on the other versions. Though it seems impossible, “Nude” is even more intimate, the spaces between Thom Yorke's lyrics uncomfortably quiet. The intro to “Reckoner,” where the over-compression was most glaring, is entirely opened up, and Phil Selway's percussion swirls out of the speakers in whorls of cymbal crashes and snare hits. Drums crack with vibrancy through the mix, and Yorke's characteristic vocal layers are much more evenly spaced and distinguishable. The two discs run at 45 rpm, which allows for greater fidelity and less surface noise; in fact, the album sounds the smoothest and is among the quietest that I've ever owned. It is a landmark achievement not only in terms of musical quality, but in modern day vinyl production.
The Discbox comes in a thick black and white outer sleeve which contains a hefty LP-sized book inside and has a very satisfying weight to it. Resembling a coffee table book, it contains the two records and CDs, a book of Stanley Donwood's photographs for the album and a lyric booklet. The records come in black paper sleeves lined with rice paper to prevent scratching, and they look immaculate right out of the box.
If you're enough of a fan of In Rainbows to want to own it on vinyl, do yourself a favor and scour eBay for the Discbox version. It will run you about $100 at this point, but it's worth the extra cash. The packaging is sturdy and beautiful, and the sound is incomparable to the ATO Records release. It is a veritable piece of art.
For all you sound enthusiasts, our contributor T.J. Masters takes a look at vinyl releases from a strictly audio point of view with his column 'Sounds Like Vinyl'. This was an addendum to his In Rainbows review that was posted last week.
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