I already own this classic album in 3 forms, LP CD & remastered CD.
Having purchased this on the strength of the live gig, I'm afraid it's painful listening. The band sound great but the vocals are out of tune & I've found it unlistenable. Why would the band (Mac?) authorise this, there must be better gigs to release?
Stick to the remastered Ocean Rain CD & save your hard earned....

This group have lived in the shadows for over 30 years

They should have been massive, bigger than U2 and Simple Minds.

But then Nah its better the way that it is.

Listen to this in the dark and dift into another realm

Just wonderfull and the Live CD is the best ever, But then I'm biased I was there.

Actually this is a two disc version with the original 1983 RAH live show(s) on disc two...

CD1 - Ocean Rain [Expanded]:

1. Silver
2. Nocturnal Me
3. Crystal Days
4. The Yo Yo Man
5. Thorn Of Crowns
6. The Killing Moon
7. Seven Seas
8. My Kingdom
9. Ocean Rain
10. Angels And Devils - B-side
11. Silver (Tidal Wave)
12. The Killing Moon - All Night version

CD2 - Live at The Royal Albert Hall, 1983:

1. Going Up
2. Villiers Terrace
3. All That Jazz
4. Heads Will Roll
5. Porcupine
6. All My Colours (Zimbo)
7. Silver
8. Simple Stuff
9. The Cutter
10. The Killing Moon
11. Rescue
12. Never Stop
13. The Back Of Love
14. No Dark Things
15. Heaven Up Here
16. Over The Wall
17. Crocodiles

I nearly didn't buy this. I already own the shorter so-called 25th anniversary edition (anniversary of the band, not the record, I take it?). This new one looked to me like a cash-in - and it probably still is. But something compelled me, maybe sixth sense.

I hate Amazon reviews that harp on about mastering - they're always rubbish however I'm going to talk about mastering. The vinyl release of "Ocean Rain" was not a loud enough pressing. The subsequent CD, perhaps surprisingly, was still too quiet and even more surprisingly so was the aforementioned "25th anniversary" edition. The sound quality was never bad enough to spoil the music of course, just slightly puzzling given the semi-classical feel of the album and the many quiet passages. Miraculously, on this edition, that problem has at last been rectified. The sound is amazing. So good in fact that I noticed bits on the record I've never noticed before and this is a record I know inside out, back to front, all the way round. Sorry, had to get that one off my chest. Anyway this is why this edition of Ocean Rain was worth the price of admission (shop around though - you'll get it for less than a tenner, maybe not now, but in the post-Christmas sales almost certainly).

Moving on to the music, well this is really a five star LP, no doubt about that. One of the greatest LPs of all time etc but it's easy to understand why a fan might not feel it's a worthwhile edition to his collection. However anyone new to the Bunnymen would do well to start here: you get their best LP plus the live disc gives you the full flavour of what the band sounded like pre-Ocean Rain - bearing in mind that O.R. broke the mould and was not really a typical Bunnymen LP sound-wise. (Note: this release most assuredly IS a 2 disc collection - at time of writing Amazon's tracklisting makes no mention of the bonus disc.)

Call me superficial, but it's also the best packaged of any of the previous editions, even the original vinyl edition. In these days of MP3s it's still nice to have a proper sleeve.

That's the last time I'll talk about mastering.

May the cool refrain of ocean rain echo off your head for many years to come.

At the time of my initial review, the product information simply indicated that this was a 1 cd, featuring the original (need I say wonderful) album) plus 3 additional tracks already available.

The product information at the time of re-writing this refers to the band's concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 16 September 2008 thus implying that this is a release of or including that concert. Although product information is surprisingly scanty, it appears that this is fact a 2 cd re-issue, the first disc of which is as appears on the Amazon product information while the second disc features the legenday 1983 Royal Albert Hall concert (and the reference to the 2008 concert being a complete red herring).

Now there is a very good reason for purchasing this, namely the ability to acquire in one fell swoop one of the greatest albums ever and one of the very greatest ever gigs ever (THE best according to Gary Mulholland, writer of "This is Uncool: the 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco"). Extracts from "The Lay Down Thy Raincoat and Groove" concert appeared on the VHS compilation "Pictures On My Wall", the phenomenal "Do It Clean" was on the b-side of the original 12 inch of "The Killing Moon" and an increasing number of tracks are available on youtube.

So, this "Collector's Edition" is a reason to rejoice...but also to despair. Why annexe the live stuff to a further version of "Ocean Rain" only two of whose songs were played live at the previous year's Royal Albert Hall concert and which was given away recently with the Times? Why not put out a single cd and/or dvd of a concert which I have only seen bettered by the Talking Heads in Rome in 1980? Does a release called "Lay Down Thy Raincoat and Groove" not have sufficient cache especially as the fans who will pay double the price of the previous re-issue will only be doing so for the live material?

So, in summary, purchase, rejoice and curse.