Forgive me if you will for bumping this dinosaur, but I guess the time is ripe for someone to say "Well this aged well, didn't it?!" The ironic part to me though, is OP's remark about the original album: "It's way too loud and distorted." - Well then! xD

Hrm, wait where do you see it fixed on YouTube?? The official audio track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZbDuO-Ks3k) is the same age as the other tracks and still has the dodgy opening bar. Spotify version sure sounds great, though. So clearly it was an error (pity!) and they're doing what they can to remedy it. Seems strange that an error like this passed all quality checks, it's the one thing that stands out when you listen to the whole album each track sequentially (as I'm sure most of us would have done upon release). I definitely noticed something was off but didn't make much of it until I started seeing peeps complaining about it everywhere, lol

Critics might point out that the waveforms have never been so artificially pumped-up with loudness, compression or distortion as they are now, or argued that the originals were already perfected timeless masterpieces that could have been left untouched... And I suppose they wouldn't be completely wrong on either count. Well I'm not sure if it's just a subjective thing or not but I really feel there's good reason for all of it and that it was done that way intentionally and for a symbolic purpose. So in that case it couldn't have been delivered any better, or come at a better time (anniversary aspect aside, even). This whole lockdown/pandemic crisis has transformed our worlds upside-down and introduced so much uncertainty, turmoil, unpredictability and chaos... It's like whatever we took for granted and were once so comfortable with, was largely stripped away beyond our desire/control, or faded to a backdrop of what it once was... So, I for one could think of nothing better right now than being "punched in the face" so to speak, with a blast from the past of nostalgia by none other than my favourite album of all time played back overdriven and in-your-face at full volume and impact. Hearing these familiar classics from a completely renewed and contemporary sonic perspective is refreshing and inspiring. It reminds me that as much as the world has changed, there is so much we should be grateful for even in the present moment, and that we should not fear change or the future, but embrace its inevitability to create magical new moments to remember Anyways that's my 2c take on things. Apologies for some extraneous sentimentality or any unintentionally conveyed notions of self-mutilation (lol)😄 Loving the new mixes and even more excited for LP9 now than ever =D

Wow. So someone actually has these and is actively willing to trade them (xpeehdroox on soundcloud yeah) Has anyone actually contacted him/her to try negotiate something? We're so close and yet so far. The soundcloud clip is so juicy... it would be a sad day indeed if we never get our hands on the full tracks! By the way, the instrumental for Uno is finally out there as well (ok maybe old news to some - but since I last checked at least XD)!! for anyone who missed that

Damn, I hope...