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Into the Gap | 
| Artist: Thompson Twins
Label: Demon
Category: Music
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £5.01 (50%)
New (27) Used (2) from £4.74
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 5737
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 740155200930
EAN: 7401552009306
ASIN: B0012PK052
Release Date: March 3, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Doctor Doctor | | • | You Take Me Up | | • | Day After Day | | • | Sister Of Mercy | | • | No Peace For The Wicked | | • | Gap | | • | Hold Me Now | | • | Storm On The Sea | | • | Who Can Stop The Rain | | • | Leopard Ray | | • | Doctor Doctor | | • | Panic Station | | • | Down Tools | | • | Hold Me Now | | • | Funeral Dance |
Disc 2
| • | Compass Points | | • | Still Water | | • | You Take Me Up (Machines Take Me Over) | | • | Sister Of Mercy | | • | Let Loving Start | | • | You Take Me Up (High Plains Mixer) | | • | Nurse Shark | | • | Passion Planet | | • | You Take Me Up | | • | Out Of The Gap |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Edsel destroy the sound of a brilliant 5 star album :-( November 24, 2008
The original UK Arista 9 song vinyl album was flawless. A fantastic collection of songs. This Edsel CD reissue Into the Gap is everything a CD transfer should not be.
One of the main attractions of the vinyl issue (and of the Thompson Twins in general) was it's lovely bass content together with a crisp top end (which fitted the punchy dance aspect of the music perfectly). This Edsel CD reissue has litterally stripped away almost all of the bass and boosted the top end to a daft level. The result: this Edsel CD made my left ear rattle because of the distortion. Really awful.
No other CD I have ever bought or heard has sounded quite so lousy (with the exception of T.Rex - 'Dandy In The Underworld' - also on the Edsel label). Even very old original CDs mastered and pressed during the early 80s sound fuller than this 2008 CD. I ended up turning the bass onto full and cutting the treble to minium. Despite doing this it still sounds poor. And not very loud. Also in between the album tracks loud hum is evident.
My mint vinyl to CD-R transfer created several years ago (requiring minimum restoration via basic WaveRepair software) sounds substantially better than this official release.
Before anyone says 'Oh yes, but this is official so you are supporting the artist' or 'Come on, it's only a fiver. What do you expect?' - my response is as follows: Despite having made a high quality restored home-made CD-R of this album I have still eagarly awaited an official UK remaster to the point where I have STILL bought this official UK CD (having already bought the 1984 UK vinyl issue) because it's a brilliant album.
I'm eagar to make sure artists get royalties. Otherwise I would've made do with my homemade CD-R. However, I would not have bought this Edsel CD if the original sound quality of the original vinyl album had been so horrible. Am I robbing artists of royalties by warning other fans about such shoddy sounding reissues? No.
It's the long-term fans who keep artists alive and spread the word. Any CD of this poor standard will not win any new fans and will leave long-term fans feeling ripped-off. Why don't the artists get involved or block such releases? And, is this kind of rubbish sound quality encouraging anyone to buy any further Edsel reissues. Certainly not me.
I am extremly disappointed with this Edsel Thompson Twins reissue. Edsel used to be a high quality reissue label. At one time I knew I would be safe buying any reissue on this label. Edsel's previous reissues by New Musik, Elvis Costello and T.Rex sounded especially great (except for T.Rex's 'Dandy In The Underworld' - which has exactly the same sound defects as this Thompson Twins reissue - another excellent album destroyed with bad CD mastering).
To use or not use vinyl when no studio masters are available: well, if theres no other option but to do so then the main thing is surely to keep the sound as pure to the original vinyl version as possible - unless the original vinyl sound was poor to begin with (if taken from a 7minute or longer vinyl 45rpm 7inch or a flexi-disc, or a well played but rare vinyl item). The Thompson Twins' 12inch vinyl singles sounded especially great due to the audio being spead across a wider area. None of this rich sound is evident on this Edsel CD transfer - despite it including several 12inch mixes.
Poor quality official vinyl to CD transfers is a bad practice. Low price or not, would anyone who really loves this album (and the 12inch mixes) want to spend even a fiver to encourage such disgusting practices to continue? Even some kind of sleeve note warning of the poor sound would have been something. But there's no warning about the bad sound heard throughout the discs anywhere to be seen. Shame on Alchemy Soho (according to the sleeve notes this is the company who mastered the CD) and bigger shame on Edsel for accepting and releasing such shoddy mastering.
FIVE stars for the music (it is a fantastic album - one of the best albums of the 80s). FOUR stars for the packaging (mini poster instead of booklet, but no lyrics). ONE star for the disgusting sound quality. I will be returning this purchase (together with Edsel's reissue of Thompson Twins' 'A Product Of...'/'Set' which was purchased at the same time and has the same sound problem) to Amazon for a refund...
Please, if you really like this album and are looking for a good CD reissue, try to track down the Japanese miniature edition (card sleeve, lyrics etc) instead of this UK Edsel issue. It costs a fair bit more than a fiver on import but is worth every penny. CD-japan or Revolution sell the Japanese version.
 Excellent value for money - bonus disc appears to have been largely fixed October 19, 2008
Listening to the original cassette version of this album used to be a guilty pleasure of mine, so I was looking forward to this reissue which includes all the bonus tracks from that cassette. However, after hearing about issues with the bonus disc, I thought I'd hold off and see whether Edsel were going to fix it. Six months later, after reading that the disc had been repressed, I thought I'd go ahead and order.
Now I'm pretty sure I've got the fixed pressing of the bonus disc, as I've not noticed any glitches at the start of the "Machines Take Over" track and apart from a couple of suspiciously vinyl-like loud pops much later in the track, it's fine. The rest of the tracks sound just fine to my ears, so I'm perfectly happy with this reissue.
So, I'm giving it 4 out of 5, not because of any sound quality issues, but because that's what I would have given it in the first place. I love the album, but it would be wrong to call it a masterpiece.
 Their last great pop album - in all it's extended glory June 8, 2008
Having purchased the 2008 reissue of Quickstep & Sidekick (which I happen to prefer as it still has some darker stuff on it) and been very impressed with the mastering/compilation (unfortunately the hinges on the case are not so good, snapped second time of opening...), plumped for Gap at long last. It was good to hear the album tracks again as there are so many compilations including the hits, often the 12" versions too. This reissue has similar, but still very nicely put-together, liner notes as Quickstep, along with all the versions/mixes you could hope for - well, nearly! "The Gap" US 12" mix is absent here, maybe because it was sort of a promo only release, but if you need it then search out the Greatest Remixes album (which isn't remastered, but sounds ok). Inclusions of the original Cassette tracks, including the excellent "Leopard Ray" instrumental, and the b-sides such as "Passion Planet" on disc 2 make this essential, even if you aren't keen on the extended versions. "You Take Me Up" appears in all it's forms here, including the limted 12" b-side instrumental. All in all a great compilation to 'complete' the original album, and generally great sound throughout (bar slight issues with CD2 track 3, "You Take Me Up (Machines Take Me Over)"!). Buy it and reminisce! For info the Kevorkian tweaked 'High Plains Mixer' of "You Take Me Up" also appeared (untitled) on Greatest Mixes, so maybe not quite as difficult for the label to find as the sleeve-notes seem to imply!
Good reissue for a classic album! April 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I would have given this reissue of one of the defining albums of the 80's five stars had it not been for the awful job someone did of the vinyl rip for "You Take Me Up"(cd two,track three).
If it was a matter of finding a better copy of it on vinyl,then they(the remastering techs)can't have searched too hard as one reviewer before me has stated that their copy of the track is perfect,in fact it sounds better than the version on this cd.
Very poor job on this track and I can't help but think that the "near enough is good enough" or "no-one will notice,will they?" approach for this particular cut has been taken.
For the sake of collectors like myself,it's great to finally have all these Thompson Twins extended versions and the cassette only tracks on cd and I would have no problem if there was some form of disclosure on behalf of the people behind these recent reissues.Just tell us that some of the tracks may have been copied from vinyl for the sake of giving us all mixes that are available!Surely that's not asking too much? Perhaps they are scared that too much info may put potential buyers off if they know some tracks are extracted from vinyl records.
Let's face it,we would all like as many mixes as we can get.If a vinyl rip is done correctly with a high quality turntable and a pristine copy of the record then I have no problem,but the job done on "You Take Me Up" on the second disc of this release is appalling!
Otherwise,this album sounds better than it did in the 80's but you have been warned!
**As a footnote,this release is not the only "Remastered/Reissued" cd out there with vinyl tracks ripped on to cd.Buyer beware!
Best Album Ever Recorded April 2, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
As passionate as I am about new wave, retro and synth-pop, there is no greater album to me than the Thompson Twins' 1984 release "Into the Gap". Now going on 25 years, the record still creates vivid images of places into ether and beyond in layers of spacey atmospheres, beautiful guitar melodies, alternative percussive rhythms and dreamy choruses by lead vocalist Tom Bailey and his colorful antic sidekicks Joe Leeway and Alannah Currie. Alex Sadkin's production is masterful, capturing the distant seaside presence of where the trio recorded the album in Nassau in the autumn of 1983. Finally, nearly 25 years later, the record has been re-released in a remastered version complete with b-sides, 12'' mixes, heavenly instrumentals and limited releases. Although the Thompson Twins owned the world and the pop charts, don't be underestimated. The talent speaks not in the fashion, but in the music that made this album my personal favorite of all time.
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