Maybe it's just in my head or the earphones I'm using, but it does sound a little more vibrant... still on my honeymoon lol, so won't be able to accurately compare it to a higher fidelity (i.e. non-youtube) source like my CD for a couple more days.

thought about this site for the first time in a very long time today, and when i got here i saw the news about the vinyl re-releases. pretty cool, and it looks like they're still in stock!

Got my vinyl in today, good condition which was a plus. Anyone else feel the artwork quality is lacking though? I feel like they just blew up the original artwork and it got distorted...the text is kinda blurry/pixel-y.

Maybe I just haven't looked long and hard at the CD jacket.

Hi guys,

I am a longtime Pillows fanatic and vinyl fanatic. This makes me so... so unbelievably happy.

I am having a hard time finding the vinyls on From Japan or Zen Market. It seems like I'm just finding the CDs.
Does anyone have direct links?

EDIT: I see the post on the second page explaining the request process. Awesome. Thank you, guys! I hope I can still get these records. I'm so excited!

For those who already own them, how are the records? Do they feel expensive or cheap? 180 gram? Do they sound good? Any special hidden tracks or goodies in the album sleeve or anything?

Thanks,
Sam

^ Hopefully they arn't 180gram.

They are 140g records.
As for the tracks, they are the same as the CD versions. Little Busters still includes the "secret track".
The quality feels good to me. The gatefolds are pretty beautiful and each record has a double-sided sheet of paper in the sleeve that includes lyrics/credits on one side, and artwork on the other.

I see what MyFoot is talking about for the artwork on the cover, but after comparing the album jackets with the CD versions, I think that the pixelation in the title text is just more noticeable in the larger size. My eyesight is bad though, so I can't confirmed it.

Cool, man. Thanks. Sounds great.
I'm glad Little Busters has the secret track! Ever since I heard that crackly MP3, I dreamed of one day playing it on a record player. I guess my life is complete.

Now, were these albums ever released on vinyl before? It's been my understanding that the Pillows never did any vinyl releases before this.

(Dude, I'm gonna' buy every single album they put on vinyl.)

[quote="haunter27"]It's been my understanding that the Pillows never did any vinyl releases before this.[/quote]
That's correct.

The artwork definitely looks upscaled from the CDs. Seems kind of cheap of the record company, yet somehow I like the look. Not sure why.

Yo!

First time posting in a long, looong time. Finally got my copy in the mail today. Just figured I’d pop by to share that I had the awesome opportunity to jam to this bad boy earlier today on a ~$45k hi fi system at a local listening club. Tons of people really enjoyed it, too! It was wild to hear these songs that I’ve literally listened to thousands of times, but being able to notice slight intricacies and other things I’ve never caught before. My 15 year old self would’ve shat his pants in excitement. My 27 year old self managed to avoid that, but it was a pretty close call.

[img]https://image.ibb.co/dJuLWb/D0_FEE628_21_B0_4_A09_BD5_C_5053_DBA491_E1.jpg[/img]
Now to just hurry up and order my copy of LB before it sells out. It’s a shame kashima is a little low on these mixes, but I’m so incredibly stoked to have an -actual- piece of the pillows discography on a medium that I care about. Here’s to hoping we get at least a Happy Bivouac pressing, too.

[quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]Here’s to hoping we get at least a Happy Bivouac pressing, too.[/quote]

Oh don't worry, it's happening. Already been announced.

Bah, which sellers have you guys used to buy yours? Think I'm gonna break down and buy at least PML while it's still in stock.

[quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]I had the awesome opportunity to jam to this bad boy earlier today on a ~$45k hi fi system at a local listening club.[/quote]
faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark

[quote="Crescent"]Bah, which sellers have you guys used to buy yours? Think I'm gonna break down and buy at least PML while it's still in stock.[/quote]
Personally, I'd recommend Zenmarket. I've heard From Japan is good and cheaper than Zenmarket if you're buying a few items from the same store (e.g. if you're buying both [i]Lostman[/i] and [i]Busters[/i]), but haven't tried them myself. Tenso is good if you like to buy stuff yourself and have it sent to them, but it usually costs a little more than the other services.

Alright, so about the cover resolution...

I stuffed Lostman into my scanner to compare it to the CD.

https://imgur.com/a/XnQol

This is the back image with the CD insert up on the corner for a quick comparison. I scanned this part of the cover because there's a lot more text.
I'm really not seeing any upscaling. Some of the text is even altered ("side a, side b," track numbers), so there would be no reason for them just to blow up the original. Little Busters even has added text for "album mix" and "album version", so they definitely didn't blow up the text.
The picture doesn't look blown up to me either. It's just bigger. The cover of the vinyl version looks lighter in my scan, but looks the same as the CD version in actuality. I tested the front of the cover as well, and the results are the same.

It's definitely softer, and the blacks are a bit crushed. The black crush is really obvious around Shin's face and the softness is evident in the texture of their clothing and skin, all pretty typical signs of upscaling.

The text could have been re-done but it doesn't seem like they had the original artwork available in a high enough DPI for the size of the LP jacket.