Dubnobasswithmyheadman: 20th Anniversary 5-CD Deluxe Boxset

[khouri]

Now that I've received my super deluxe edition and ingested it fully, I'm sorry to say I'm not satisfied with the design.

I assumed the yellow slipcase was a kind of translucent thing or at something that otherwise covered up the proper black and white album. I was wrong. For some reason, this version of Dubnobass is yellow. It's plainly less attractive and I suppose they did it to differentiate the package from the others, but it really puts me off.

The contents of the book are beautiful and provocative but they are not Dubnobass. They are some other underworld record, perhaps one yet to be created. This seems like a missed opportunity to present the gorgeous and truly iconic original album imagery in a deluxe format, perhaps alongside other pieces from the era: the Cowgirl/Dirty Epic EP, Dark & Long, Skyscaper, etc. Again I stress that this work is beautiful, it's just not work that reflects this album. I'm utterly perplexed by this choice. Perhaps the thinking was that the original artwork would be reproduced for the vinyl reissue? Overall the Barking deluxe edition was the more successful object.

The John Savage essay is lovely though.