The last five years have seen a slew of special edition albums appearing on our shelves with varying degrees of success. While some record labels seem content to merely tag on the odd b side as an extra track, others make a special effort to create an alluring package for the genuine fan throwing in demos, live tracks and even re-mastering jobs in an effort to justify a second purchase. The level of success for any given package is usually directly related to the amount of involvement the band has in its creation, and in the case of this rather special ‘Draconian Times’ reissue Paradise Lost have clearly been heavily involved in every aspect of putting the set together from the track-listing to the stunning re-working of the original package’s art. Available in two versions – a standard jewel case and a deluxe, 32 page hard-back book – the track-listing is the same whichever version you go for but real fans will almost certainly plump for the sumptuous latter version with its eye-catching shiny cover and liner notes.
A classic album that has stood the test of time, ‘Draconian Times’ needs no review here, but the question is does the extra material and the re-master warrant the purchase of an album you really should already own? To look at the extras first, the edition here offers a variety of demo tracks, live cuts and some promo videos to supplement the main feature. Interestingly there is nothing here repeated from the 1995 tour edition of the album (which came with a CD of demos, live tracks and b sides) and the tracks here augmen that collection – something that will certainly please completists. In terms of quality, the live tracks are good enough and having been recorded back in 1995 they capture the band in full flight at a time when Metallica comparisons were being bandied around and they were at the peak of their popularity. Moving on to the demos, the two tracks on offer (‘enchantment’ and ‘last desire’) clearly highlight how far the band had progressed before moving to the studio to record the actual album although they sound fairly rough and ready, but as with all these things quite how often you’ll want to listen to them is debatable. One minor gripe is that the extra tracks are on the album disc itself, an annoying, cost-cutting habit that record companies seem to have developed these days, and for those of you who like to hear an album from start to finish as it was intended, it’s always irritating to find the bonus tracks tacked on the end rather than kept nicely separate on a second disc. Finally, the DVD disc offers up not only the album in stunning surround sound, but also three videos which are nice to have but hardly essential, and far more welcome would have been a documentary providing insights into the making of the album and the whirlwind the band found themselves in at the time. Nonetheless, as a package goes, the extra tracks and live cuts are a welcome addition and the fact that nothing has been repeated from previous special editions is laudable.
What listeners will really be here for, however, is the re-master and the surround sound mixes available and in both cases they build nicely upon the original version without offering any significant surprises. To start with, the CD version (which will probably have the widest audience) offers up a sparkling rendition of an album which always sounded good but which was arguably a touch dry upon its original release. Essentially the new master adds a touch of clarity to the mix, with the drums and vocals in particular sounding punchier than I recall whilst still retaining the original dynamic of the original rather than simply pushing everything to the max as we’ve heard in other similar reissues. Certainly this isn’t a grand scale reworking in the vein of the recent Queens of the stone age reissue, but then that was never warranted in the first place with the source material still sounding strong and contemporary, rather this embellishes that mix with a subtle clarity that brings out producer Simon Efemey’s nuances and highlights the glorious weight of the guitars whilst allowing all the other elements to shine too.
Perhaps appreciated by a smaller audience thanks to the expense of the necessary kit, will be the 5.1 mix (available on the DVD in both Dolby Digital and DTS). I have, in the past, questioned the wisdom of 5.1 mixes as there are certain bands that gain great strength from such a treatment and others who use it as a selling point to no real gain for either the listener or the music. Thus the glorious 5.1 mix of Nine inch nails’ ‘Downward Spiral’ is a near essential purchase for those with the appropriate set up, while the Offspring’s greatest hits set is an abject waste of time. Happily ‘Draconian Times’ falls into the former category thanks to the many layers incorporated into the music which can be found here, stripped away and panned to the various speakers allowing the listener to hear all of the beautiful flourishes that are sometimes lost in a stereo mix. ‘Enchantment’ in particular, with its epic guitar sound and keyboard atmospherics benefits from the enhanced mix while the more straightforward rockers (‘halloed land’ and ‘once solemn’) simply envelop the listener with the scale of the band’s ambition laid open for all to see. As a nice touch the background screen is animated which, although hardly earth shattering, is still better than most other audio DVDs which simply show the track selection on screen and it typifies the care and attention to detail that has been lavished on the project as a whole.
Should you buy this new version of ‘Draconian Times’ then? Well, the extra tracks alone probably don’t justify the expense, although completists will undoubtedly have to have the tracks missing from previous editions of the record, as they are a fairly typical grab-bag of rarities that you’ll not listen to too often. The re-master and surround sound versions, however, are crucially excellent. Both have been handled professionally and respectfully with the band’s input stamped all over both and as a result the sound quality is simply stunning. Where the original occasionally sounded a touch on the dry side with the drums in particular lacking the weight and sparkle evidence here, the new version is a brighter definitive rendition of a timeless album and the surround version truly does allow the listener to hear the record from a new perspective with all sorts of atmospheric touches and guitar parts rearing their heads from out of the more compressed stereo version to allow you to really appreciate just how much attention to detail the band put into their song-writing. With liner notes and the artwork expanded accordingly, this is an admirable way to revisit an album that ranks highly within my top ten discs of all time and recalls accurately the same sense of wonder that was felt upon purchasing the album the first time round.
