Search - Cindytalk :: In This World

One of the Most Powerful Records of the 80's

Fritz Gerlich | admin@audioetc.info | 06/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Sharps masterpiece. It alternates between beautiful simple melodic pieces, atmospherics, and massive rushes of intensity. If you are looking for standard song structures, and verse chorus verse stuff, this is not for you. This is not brit pop, or industrial, or metal, or any other identifiable genre. One guy listed the genre as 'gordonesque' and that's the best label I've seen.



There are moments of stunning beauty, and others of child like simplicity. The intense pieces rely on masochistic guitar riffs, dissonance, and harrowing vocals. I am having trouble coming up with words to describe the myriad of emotions conveyed in this music. It is one of my all time favourite records.



As to the sound quality: I ordered the white vinyl and was sorely disappointed. It was unlistenable owing to the massive surface noise. Luckily, the Amazon seller I bought it from offered a refund or he would send me the cd version in compensation. I was hesitant to take the cd offer, but I did in the end. Usually modern cds are compressed to heck, and all of the beautiful natural dynamics in music destroyed. So it was with hesitation I put 'in this world' on. But low and behold, it has been mastered properly!!!!! It sounds great and it maintains the integrity of the original.



I heartily recommend this album to anyone who loves non-mainstream music. It is essential.



Edit: I decided to compare the sound quality of the 1988 cd version and the 2007 version. The 1988 version has slightly more dynamics, but has less resolution and is muddy and bass heavy. The 2007 version has slightly less in the way of dynamics, but has much better resolution and is not bass heavy. The only downside to the new version is in a couple of spots where the music is intense, there is some added distortion. I think this must have been an artistic decision on the part of Gordon Sharp as he has co-mastering credits on the new disk, and he did not have anything to do with the mastering on the 1988 version. And the addition of the distortion was not to maximize volume, as the few bits with the extra distortion do not max out at zero db, but at -1 to -2 db.



So I am quite satisfied with how this re-issue was handled. Now if only the rest of Gordon's catalogue would be re-released. Come on Abraxas, get releasing."