Portishead – Portishead

Is the UK (or EU, German, etc.) vinyl better than this US cut? I ask because 2 1/2 decades after buying my copy, I finally compared this pressing with my original Canadian CD I snagged for a buck. For "Half Day Closing", my gawd, the CD trounces my vinyl copy. Cut at a much higher volume, highs are clear and crisp with "air" and no sibilance, the bass is more robust, and the drums have more snap. The same track on vinyl sounds so thin, sibilant with dull highs that it has the yucky quality I usually associate with a compromised sound due to the side containing too much music e.g. 30+ minutes. But that's not the case here, as Side 2 is only under 13 minutes long. I rarely played this record over years, so wearout is probably not the cause.

The original UK pressing or modern EU reissues HAVE to sound better than the US pressing. Anyone? Which (re-)issue would be recommended - the 2017 pressing? the Simply Vinyl reissue?

My copy includes both discs but disc 2 is mislabeled. There is a "side one" label on side four!
So disc 1 is "side one and side two" and disc 2 says "side three and side one".

My copy has a side Two label where the side Four should be!!

In my last comment I noted that I received two of disc 1 in my sealed release instead of a disc 1 and a disc 2. I received a further email from the seller that indicates that this is not an isolated incident. Take this into when purchasing the album. Below is an excerpt from the email...

"Thank you for advising that you would prefer a replacement. I can confirm that another copy will be dispatched to you shortly. I have opened the cellophane wrapping down one side of the replacement so that I could manually check this item and I can confirm that the two discs/vinyls are correctly labelled as side 1, side 2, side 3 and side 4.

We have also performed a check on our stock and have found some others contain the incorrect discs so we have highlighted this with the studio who supplies these items and withdrawn our remaining stock from sale to prevent any future disappointment for our customers. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

This double LP should contain a disc 1 (sides A/B) and disc 2 (sides C/D). The sealed album I received contains two disc 1s and NO disc 2s. Had to return to seller. Haven't read about anyone else having this issue but just throught I'd put this information out there.