Big Heavy Stuff - Size of the ocean

Limited Edition 2LP (translucent blue and yellow) album, with gatefold sleeve

In late 98’, Big Heavy Stuff hit the studio to record their 3^rd album, Size of the Ocean. With legendary producer Wayne Connolly at the helm, the band produced their most commercially successful album to date. “Size” saw the band refine their sound with “subtlety and restraint’ but still paired with their trademark guitar riffs, Greg Atkinson (Vocals, Guitar) took his melodies and lyrics to another level, at times the songs are paired back to enable them to come to the fore.

The album was recorded and mixed to tape on one of the last Neve analogue consoles (as mythologised in the Sound City documentary) to operate in Australia’s golden era of sound engineering. Whilst these tapes are now lost to time, fortunately prior to the album release in 2001 (via Jebediah’s label Redline Records), a flat transfer of the analogue tapes was made to digital audio tape, preserving them for the future.

Fast forward to 2023 and Big Heavy Stuff has made this available to produce a remastered version of Size of the Ocean. Chris Hanszek (Hanszek Audio) has taken the original transfer and remastered the album to suit the analogue formats of vinyl and cassette (for the first time) as well as a digital download. As a reflection of the quality of the original recording and mix, the album only required minimal intervention to update it for the 2023 release.

To maximise the fidelity of the new vinyl release, the album is now split over a limited-edition double vinyl (one disc in translucent blue and the other in translucent yellow), which allowed space to include some additional tracks on side D. 3 tracks, originally seen on the “Mutiny” EP (2003), now close out the last side of the double album. A very limited-edition cassette version of the album will also be released, featuring the original album tracks only.

Mark Gowing (formist), who originally designed the artwork for the CD release has updated the original art for display on a gatefold cover.

The vinyl album release will be pressed in Australia by Suitcase Records. Both physical formats include a download card.

Size of the Ocean received critical acclaim on release and was nominated for best alternative album in the 2001 Aria awards, and the track Hibernate made the JJJ hottest 100 in the same year.