ROXY MUSIC ILPS 9200 (-72) UK - GERMAN LICENCE PRESS VS. UK DOMESTIC PRESS

A subject maybe just interesting to me and a very limited number of vinyl anoraks, but I can't resist doing it anyway. For more on the album itself check earlier post. All UK 1:st came with label as shown here and laminated Robor f/o cover, but have different matrix no. settings - one kind is same as record no. the other starting with a "C". This has been a mystery for a long time, but maybe it can be explained. UK Island didn't have a pressing plant so most of their records were pressed by EMI. At the same time this was made EMI changed facilities and moved to a bigger plant. The moving affected the whole market and due to low capacity lots of pressings were leased out, not only in England but also to other European countries. As I understand the one used here with matrixes C 586259 A-1/B-1 is a German press, while the one having the ILPS number ending with a -u is made in England. As they look and feel the same and both recognized as UK I thought it would be fun to compare the audio and see if there's any difference at all. And there is some. The German is a little more compressed, making it somewhat smoother with less edge. Not by much but it's there. To my ears the UK sounds better separated and more natural. I guess it takes big ears and a meticolous mind to notice or even care, but now I have and it feels good. (ÄNÖ*) (CPYC*)