5/5 this review is about the sound and pressing quality of the new capitol reiisue series
  by J. Niss (Western Mass)
A caveat - the 5 stars are for the music. 4 stars for pressing!

Re: Pet Sounds and OK Computer Capitol vinyl reissues:

These are better than the abysmal (imo based on disraeli gears and tea for the tillerman) "back to black" reissues.

both the capitol reissue of ok computer and of pet sounds that i bought today are dead quiet and neither suffer from obvious digitalis. they do not sound as if they were recorded using the cd as the source, which many people have felt about the b to b pressings.

the lead vocal on pet sounds is a tiny bit on the bright side (though it may simply be more revealing of whats there - and my system is extremely revealing and cuts no slack in this direction), but it's not brittle like tea for the tillerman is in places in the b to b series. comparing this mono pet sounds to the generally well thought of 1999 mono cap reissue i am hearing slightly better defined detail and slightly increased bass. the more distinct detail may proove to be an improvement or a detrement in the long run. i have to get used to it before i'll be sure which i prefer; but i sure as heck prefer the silence of this vinyl to every pressing i've ever owned of pet sounds. its just great to hear no distracting noises during the oh so many sublime moments that Brian Wilson created for us!

this pressing of ok computer is more dynamic than my uk parlaphone which til now has been my preferred pressing. i have never been wowed by any vinyl or cd of ok c. it aint a sonic pleasure like the radio head lps that have come after it. this does not reverse that assessment of its sound quality (the recording quality of ok c is what it is), but this does seem to be an improvement, at least a bit.

certainly compared to the huge bummer that the back to black series offers, and especially as many of us have been afraid that it foretold that this was all the big record companies were prepared to offer, this comes as a positive tasting of the capitol reissue waters.

so, at first listen i'd say these will at minimum fill the void for those not having quiet (or any) copies of these titles and perhaps bring some small improvements for those lacking pristine wlp's or first pressings. of course the rest of this series may be all over the place by comparison. this is a very hopeful 1st sampling though.