I remember when 'Music Has The Right To Children' was released and it took me to 5 record shops in the west end of London to finally bag a copy. They sold out incredibly fast and I was very lucky to get one.

Yeah it’s unbelievable how we are nearly 25 years since the millennium hey Michael.

Boards of Canada really excels at taking the listener on a journey, setting a mood... a landscape. Few bands have the sonic identity and do this the way they do.

Autechre and BOC where so big in the 90s. Saw them both live, best concerts I have ever attended

I have their last work (Tomorrow's Harvest) in LP and the sound is astounding.

Awesome, thank you for sharing!

Once again, your passion, which many do not understand shines. First pressings do have a magic about them even with digital steps.. Thank you.

I only have “Music Has the Right” 1st pressing, my others are reissues. You’re right, it’s insanely good sounding. The window is closing on finding originals of those.

I never heard of them until now. I'm sure it's great stuff. Amazing how fantastic music can be so under the radar for large groups of people and regions of the world. RIP Tina Turner

I am still waiting for Blue Note to reissue St Germain Tourist as a Classic series ❤ Other important late 1990’ies early 2000’thans electronica could be. Kruder Dorfmeister K&D sessions ❤

Michael, thank you for the thoughtful, informative review. I really enjoyed this stream. I have a Geogaddi reissue on the way.

I remember Music Has The Right to Children was really popular among my university friend group. It really takes me back to that time.

„music has the right to children“ is a perfect entrance into the world of Boards of Canada - the most accessible album of their discography without sacrificing deepness. As I said in an old editon of Klanghorizonte at the Deutschlandfunk radio (translated with DeepL, sorry for funny translation mistakes): „Boards of Canada refused the „electronica fashions“ of their time. They loved an unsteady, wavering, shaky texture reminiscent of ancient film reels, dusty magnetic tapes, aged vinyl, all prone to decay, distortion - and rediscovery. Sheer beauty appearing out of nowhere. On some of the tracks on Music has the right to children, memories just jump out at you - everyone knows bleached photo collections, and those time travels of watching old childhood Super 8 films - and all the stored emotions. On the bleak side of nostalgia, the cover, for example: the faces of the people - empty spaces. What did the eyes of these figures look like? No one knows - unreliable memory. And same thing with the music zigzagging between „good old times“ vibes and a mild horror vacui (eine seltsame Unheimlichkeit)… - this tension, too, keeps this album so very much alive after all these years…“

Great stuff Michael. I have OG’s of two of their albums: Music has the right to children and Hi Scores and then all the reissues. Haven’t listened to most of them in a while, but need to go back and do a comparison of Children now. Btw in terms of source material these come from a fairly extinct format: DAT - Digital Audio Tape - which if I remember correctly is the same digital resolution as CD’s but stored on tape. They were used for both the OGs and the reissues.

Congratulations on the finds, Michael. I’ve had similar experiences when seeking Trip Hop/Acid Jazz/Electronic from the ‘90s. The prices have been surprisingly high but like you said, when you can find them in great condition, get them.

Truly timeless music.

It was because of your vid you did 3 years ago about them. I tried them out, and I have to agree, they are brilliant.

I was a twenty something during the electronic music revolution of the 90s. It was an amazing time, every week we went digging for new releases and we'd always find something fresh. I remember checking MHTRTC simply cuz of the cover, blew my mind that one, and it still does.

Great band. I have the first press of Music has the Right to Children. Right now I'm playing my first pressing of Four Tet's Rounds. Totally brilliant and you can buy it for buttons

Best band EVER. Wish they were still around. The quality that went into pressing the vinyl copies of their releases is top tier. I'm only missing Hi Scores. All the others I have and they are absolutely perfect. I wish I could find someone else that was just like them but no one really is. I've found things that are in a similar sort of style that I really love, like Freescha and Kodomo, but no one close to them. Favorite is Geogaddi. So damn spooky!

You know, I am one of these guys who doesn’t know of them, and often I have to do my homework, but I sure do appreciate you sharing your knowledge because it has lead me to discover more avenues and genres of music in a curated way. Also one of the reasons I love the OBC. I know what you mean about the dynamics.. especially with this kind of music, it can be easily overlooked if you haven’t heard the originals. I do appreciate you reviewing this aspect because it’s something I take seriously. One of the reasons I love analog music is the extra dynamics, the soundstage, that allow you to feel completely immersed in the sound. I also respect that you consider past reviews and update us to your thoughts if they change. It sounds to me that the reissue is a good alternative if you can’t afford the OGs, although sound wise they might be in different leagues. Excellent comparison mate!

I agree. The original pressings do sound better to my ears too. I had tracked them all down a little over a decade ago. I was happy when they repressed them and quickly scooped them all up as well. It's nice to have them, but I still throw on the older pressings in most cases. If I'm traveling with them for any reason I bring the reissues. BOC is a band that definitely rewards repeat listening. It can sometimes take some time getting used to their "musical language," but these albums have layers on layers to dive into. In some cases, I think it might be difficult for people hearing them now for the first time to understand how unique they were and in some ways still are. Their influence shows up all over the place at this point. Still, nothing sounds quite like BOC. I'm hoping they release more music.

Did you look up who cut the lacquer for the OG’s vs the reissues? Maybe they do use a different master. They’re great, along w/Autechre and Aphex, Massive and others they pushed the boundaries back in the ‘90’s like few could.

Thanks Michael need to check this band out. Sounds like it’s in my wheelhouse . Unsurprisingly originals hard to come by,that goes for a lot of 90s vinyl, Take care cool title Michael 👍

Always enjoy your OG reviews! Could you do a comparison between an OG of Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda" and the recent Acoustic Sounds release?

Even my friends not into IDM appreciate BOC are special. Damn now I need to find the originals.

ideally and philosophically----for someone like you who loves their music; it is special to get the originals of any 90s pressing. I do it myself for records of that era. BUT realistically ALL of this music was digitally recorded, mastered, processed. There is no real difference in the quality of different vinyl when it comes to the mastering. What WILL be different is the quality of the pressings and production. Masters-wise, there is 0 objective difference here.

I wonder about the need for first pressings from this era, after all they are all digital so the re-issues should be just as good / bad as a first press.

I think Michaelmoon2342 above is on to something: I don’t think the difference between OGs 1990s and today’s reissues is source, digital vs. analogue, etc.. I’m now inclined to think it’s because of the mid-2000s to today’s ‘compression wars’. Engineers have now grown up with using lots of compression, reducing dynamic range for the sake of loudness/volume. So that’s what they’re used to. So today’s reissues just sound ‘smushed’ even cf. 1990s stuff.

Interesting. I have not heard this music. I will check it out. I have discovered lots of new music from both you and Stunty. I buy the records and enjoy them.

Luckily I was into all of the bands from this era back in the day and still own them all 😉 There are tonnes of albums that I can recommend. LFO - Advance, Orbital - Snivilisation, or In Sides, FSOL - Dead Cities, The Sabres of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall, etc....

I've loved Boards of Canada for years and I'm hoping they will put out some more music. This is what I'd call "digital era" music so I'm happy enough listening to my FLAC files ripped from CDs. Surprising to hear there's such a difference between the original releases and the more recent reissues.

Interesting analysis as most vinyl in the 90s was cut from 16/44 files. Maybe they were cut flat and uncompressed? I have some of 90s hip-hop vinyl that falls into this category and I can’t quite explain it either.

Lotta good 1990s memories with the BOC

with albums made in the 2000's (esp. electronic) you can rarely tell the difference between an OG and a current reissue. With albums from the 90's, usually the reissues sounds better IMO. OG's for the most part are just status symbols. They have historical and collectorl value an d I guess and are closer to the original source chain and many people often convince themselves that they sound better for that reason. But it's not like BOA were using an analog recording process to begin with. Sure they use some analog synths but there music for the most part is digitally conceived and recorded, so the difference between the pressings is mostly negligible. It's like a car speeding past you at 100 MPH vs 101 MPH. Tell me which one is faster without a speed gun?

Hi Micheal - You know that Success is not always about how innovated someone is ;) .... in due course I hope to create a POOR MANS version of your success :) I've been working on this for a few years now, but watching you made me reconsider AUCTIONS (not that I doesn't have its place) - Selling though without Risk by not owning the stock I sell was inspired by you though ;) -- Peace - m. :)

Hi Michael thanks for another great vid, I’m new to vinyl so sorry for the basic question but how do I know an original from a reissue. Your passion has made me want this album I love Kraftwerk so look forward to this too, thank you.

Hey man where do you get all those plastic sleeves for gatefolds?? Damn those are cool

the camera quality is so high are you sure this isn't AI

You obviously weren't buying records in 1998. :) Stuff like this would generally only show up in specialized stores catering to the electronic music scene. They would only get a few copies, maybe 2-3, and once they were gone they were gone forever. Press runs were very small and a lot of them are probably either in the hands of DJ's who won't give them up or are in a landfill. I always have a hard time getting into IDM; in 1998 I was playing stuff like this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nqyAltOe2LapcXk.html Pretty much all the electronic music from this era was recorded to DAT. I still have my DAT's from the 90s and they've held up fine so differences in sound between the OG's and reissues should be down to the mastering. I'm sure the metal work of the originals is long gone so a remaster was necessary.

I tried to listen to it but couldn't, in most cases there is no beat, rhythm or song structure. The sounds used were very repetitive and uninspired. I think you need to have a past emotional connection to the music to appreciate it. At least i discovered a band i would have otherwise never found.