Although SHM disks are made from different material then regular CDs, they look, feel and play identical. The strange thing is though, that there is indeed a sound improvement over the same music (the Brick remasters) on the SHM disks. I have no idea how they did it (it's still a laserbeam reading ones and zeros from a plastic disk), but the SHM's sound clearer, and you don't even need super fancy audio equipment to hear the difference. If it's better sounding is up to the individual listener (I like my music muddy and full of bass), but it's strange to experience how different material can make a difference in a digital proces.
But the best thing of the Japanese re-issues is the artwork : All six original Warner releases are available in cardboard replica's now - I got "The Name of This Band", which is packed exactly like the original vinyl in a non-gatefold sleeve with photo strips on both innersleeves. The CDs contains all the bonus tracks from the CD-edition.
Highlight of the series is "Speaking in Tongues", which comes in an almost exact replica of the Grammy award winning Rauschenberg package. Although there's only 1 spinning disk (in stead of 3), the effect remains the same with the yellow and blue disks present but not spinnable. The CD has "Two Note Swivel" and "Burning Down the House (Alternative version)" as bonus tracks and also comes with an extensive lyrics booklet with everything in both English and Japanese. The booklet was done in the design of the "Crosseyed and Painless" promo 12", lightblue/white. And talk about detail: the package includes a replica of the original sticker that came on the shrinkwrap of the 1983 vinyl.
The copycats at Warner Japan messed up at only one point - there's a sticker on the outer plastic saying "songs of david byrne and brian eno"
Anyway, get it if you can - if you thought the Brick editions couldn't be topped, think again.
