vinyl buying advice/astral weeks

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i have just put astral weeks on, hannah said she has never heard me play it before and is very impressed
its actually the first non vinyl album i have listened to in a while (about 3 weeks + i recon)
anyway hannah suggested it might make a good vinyl purchase, i think she might be right!
anyway the question is, and this i guess applys to other albums to, what might be better - the 2009 180g version or an older version
to me the logical answer would be that the new 180g version would be the one to go for ... but since that rather confusing thread about compression etc im not sure i know what the hell im doing when it comes to buying music anymore!
i do like this album, so i would like to get the best out of it i can

[Alex_UK]

We'll have to wait for someone properly knowlegeagble to come along, but in the meantime, my guess is, it's not as simple as that (you didn't expect it to be simple, did you Hamish? ) I reckon it will probably vary from album to album - some reissues maybe not bettering the original, with others blowing them away. I see Astral Weeks on 180g can be got for about £16.50 Buy it Now on ebay, and the original should be easily got for less than £8 - both inc. p & p - then you could compare all 3 versions, stick the 2 worst ones back on ebay and provably not lose very much, but learn quite a bit in the process. Just an idea.

But, if I was going to buy just one, I'd hazard that in general terms, the 180g reissues will be better most of the time.

[Mike]

I've got an original, it's nothing special regarding vinyl quality or recording quality. I'll be getting hold of a recent reissue myself soon I think, it's an album I like.

I've noticed there's a live version too.

[REM]

I recently replaced my early 70s 'oil crisis thin/crap vinyl' pressing with the current 180g 'Bact to Vinyl' re-issue and all I can say is:
BUY IT NOW

Comprondevous, am I making this clear, is the message getting through, can I put it more simple, etc, etc, etc????

Seriously, you wont regret it, a fantastic album and a great recording, superbly pressed on nice quiet vinyl. I suspect the origional masters have had a little digital 'spit 'n polish' but that is only to be expcted these days, the results though are excellent. Forget the recent live version, think self indulgent, pension plan toss (IMO, of course).

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Righto, hmm it sounds as though the new version just might be the one to go for, il get on that as soon as I can get to a big computer! Cheers for the advice!

[Mike]

Forget the recent live version, think self indulgent, pension plan toss (IMO, of course).

I'll hold off buying that for now then...

Cheers...

[Joe]

My early 70s vinyl copy is shot to shit through over-playing, so I'll be keeping a beady eye out for a quality pressing.

[steveinspain]

As mentioned before, the new pension filling version is the biggest load of whateveryouwanttocallit ever - I became an adult to Astral weeks, and bought the new version so full of hope - If anyone wants it as a freebie, then let me know, but it really is utter cr*p.
Hope my spelling isn't too close to the mark - I wanted to use bigger and nastier words...