ABBA (2LP Half-Speed Master)

Forty years of hearing SOS on the radio and it never sounded like this — the strings just open up on the half-speed pressing, and the quiet bits between tracks are dead silent.

The half-speed mastering finally gives SOS the low end it always deserved. I've owned this album on three formats now, and this is the first time the strings on the quieter tracks don't sound thin.

Fifty years on and Mamma Mia still jumps out of the speakers, but it's the quieter moments on side two that surprised me. The pressing is dead quiet with no surface noise, and the gatefold feels properly made.