So I finally opened and played my Cowboy Bebop record from the cowboy bebop collection and I want to give my review.
Ok so first of all I want to preface this review with i own both the official vinyl from the Cowboy Bebop collectors edition as well as the Bootleg version and that my review will be comparing both, so here we go:
Packaging/Cover art: for the Cowboy Bebop 2X Lp colored vinyl and imo it’s not quite up to par in comparison to the Bootleg which uses the artwork from the CD Soundtrack release. The artwork I’ve seen before in various cowboy bebop art books and it’s very generic. The Bootleg artwork gave the impression that the Seatbelts was actually a Jazz Band from the future and the Soundtrack was one of their releases, the Collectors edition artwork on the other hand feels like they just wanted to present it as the Cowboy Bebop OST only and nothing special. I prefer the Bootleg cover art a lot better. I want to add that upon opening the record, I was greeted to 2 black envelopes holding both records. Nothing printed on them. It’s very sloppy imo. This leads me to another gripe....The colored Vinyl sucks! So you get Red Vinyl with the crappiest looking sticker in Black and White that looks like it was copied using an HP printer at someone’s home. Nothing exciting or Appealing about it in any way. It’s really inexcusable for a release that many like myself have been waiting for and that deserves much more love than was given by Funimation.
Music: Okay here’s the meat of the review. So I put the first record on and listen to track 1 which is Tank or what many know as the opening theme to Cowboy Bebop, and I’m greeted by way too much bass. Now keep in mind I’ve listened to not only the Bootleg record but the CD as well and I don’t remember either being so bassy, so after I listen to Tank, I go grab the Bootleg and put it on and I was correct, not as much bass. The thing is with the Collectors edition vinyl is that the Bass is so intrusive that it muffled out a lot of the other instruments on the song. Now of course I could adjust my EQ on my receiver but I find it odd that of all the records I’ve played since buying my Marantz, that I haven’t had to adjust my EQ ,But Cowboy Bebop is the one I have to do that on. Even worse is the Bootleg has been mastered it seems better than the official release. I know it’s happened before but again Cowboy Bebop is known for its great music and for Funimation again to just rush out a pretty crappy sounding vinyl release for an anime which is beloved for its music is insane. I’m sure they’ve been getting request for years about a vinyl release of the Soundtrack and it seems they just wanted to shut everyone up with this release.
Overview and score: In The end while fans finally got the official Vinyl Soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop we always wanted, the pure laziness from Funimation totally ruins it for me at least, especially when you have a Bootleg floating around that sounds better, and it’s presentation is better in almost every conceivable way. As a matter of fact, if the Bootleg wasn’t missing 1 song (Egg & I) i’d Probably sell the one from the Collectors edition. As it stands i’ll Probably swap the records from the Collectors edition into the Bootlegs jacket and call it a day.
Overall I’d give this a 5/10 rating, mainly because everything about the Cowboy Bebop Collectors edition Vinyl screams laziness and Bebop doesn’t deserve that.
. I'm really glad you gave it another chance, it is next on my list of albums to order. To me vocally it just sounds like David Berman! 
. I really like all those bands but have a hard time comparing any of them as similar.
