Question on The Cure Vinyl(Vinyl Lovers Brand) (& all current vinyl in print)*

26 pounds

 

Yeah $41 on Amazon, only reason I'm considering it is I have gift cards burning a hole in my pocket



Edit nevermind found a proper link for it at $28.

 

It seems I have an UK first press of KMKMKM, but the sound is really "tinny," which might come down to the recording itself, since this is how I remember the original CD sounding too. Very little low end, mostly higher mids and a weird brightness all over the record. This was a used copy, so maybe the original owner just wore this record to death?

 

Regardless, it's possible your system and your ears will like the new one.

 

I think there actually is a 1 X LP version by Vinyl Lovers that is half the price almost. I'm actually thinking about buying it and that's what brought me here. I'm glad to have found this thread in general since I wanted to try and pick up re-issues of all these records everybody is talking about here. I was thinking of also buying the UK pressings of the Disintegration re-issue (label is listed as Universal) and Seventeen Seconds (label listed as Music on Vinyl). Are there any reasons to avoid these pressings? The UK pressing of Disintegration is about $4 cheaper than the US pressing it looks like. Also, I noticed people here talking about having bought the Vinyl Lovers pressing of Faith, but didn't notice their reports back. I might have missed them. Did they fair well? Thinking about getting this one too.

 

I picked up Head on the Door reissue and it sounded ok, waiting for the Kiss Me reissue to be delivered tomorrow. Read some of the other threads on disintegration, there are a lot of quality issues with some of them, cant recall which is the better release Uk or US

 

From what I've read here, the hit or miss pressings of the Disintegration Remaster Reissue was the US pressings. Not sure if I have heard of that particular issue with the UK pressings which is why I was considering getting that one, though I'm not sure if there are issues maybe with that pressing. It's cheaper by about $4 or $5 i think.

I'm actually about to pick up KMKMKM at a local store here this weekend I hope.

 

As for the reissues, I think the UK Disintegration is pressed decently. The first US pressing was absolutely terrible. I understand they have corrected the problems for subsequent US pressings. So, you may want to purchase a US. If there are problems you can write Dr. Rhino for a replacement.

 

If anyone recalls or quickly can find a thread with an answer on this, I'd be appriciative. Would like to get Disintegation on vinyl but I've heard such mixed reviews. I should have my copy of Kiss Me today and will post a review later. I had the DMM US version and I thought it sounded so bad that I sold it off.

 

I don't recall reading about issues with the UK "Disintegration" 2LP. Cheaper than the US? Go for it, definitely!

 

You should be able to find the US reissue of Disintegration for around $20.

 

As a follow-up the Kiss Me reissue sounds great...sourced from digital is my guess but still played well as the music is very dense and held up track after track. I cannot say it is substantially any better than its digital counterpart but it is very listenable and has a warmth and range that I recall from many years of knowing this record from beginning to end. If you are in a situation like myself where your analogue front end is much better than your digital setup, then I would recommend the purchase.

 

I prefer my old US compact disc over the UK 2x12 (GZ press) for Disintegration

 

Do you know who mastered this re-release of Kiss Me x3? I thought I read somewhere that KG mastered the Record Day Release version in 2013, so is the re-release also a KG Master? Any way of knowing where it was Pressed?

 

This release is only two records but very thick 180 vinyl. The letters CB are etched into three sides of the dead wax. No other indication who or how these were created are posted on the covers, inner sleeves, no download codes included and Rhinos website doesn't say anything relevant. Not cool in my opinion, they need to be a bit more transparent on this stuff.

 

No, Chris Bellman mastered the RSD

 

Then that jives with the letters CB etched in the dead wax. I did a rare sit down between the newly remastered digital Kiss Me and the vinyl reissue, side three completely song for song. Volume levels were a challenge to match but did my best to really crank things up on both formats.

I'm pretty sure it's the same source between formats, the vinyl has more headroom...I can turn it up to a respectable level and still enjoy it....the digital becomes edgy and too forward to listen to very long. I believe this is because the vinyl has more dynamic range but I'll let others chime in to verify what they think.

It's dead quiet and flat enough to not need serious clamping. But no download codes (even though I have it in FLAC) is disappointing for others. Overall a good purchase but not blown away OMG run out and get this now reissue. It doesn't suck, if that's any help

 

Thanks. That is good enough for me, since in my new venture into Vinyl, CB seems to be one of the better people out there, according to several SHF Members, on mastering re-issues. I wonder why he did not do the Rhino version of 'Disintegration', although the mixed reviews on that album seem to be a problem with Pressing, as thought I read it was Pressed at Rainbo.

Makes me wonder where the Rhino re-issue Kiss Me x 3 was Pressed. If it is Rainbo, will would rather order a copy from Amazon-UK. I am trying to learn as much as I can on Vinyl re-issues(Mastering Gurus along with the Host, KG, CB & BG, and Pressing Companies along with Pallas, Optimal & QRP and Vinyl Re-issue Companies along with AP, MoFi, & MoV) during my first year on this site. I did see a list of other Music Engineers(in addition to the 4 I listed above), on a prior thread on this site, who are well respected for their Mastering work, but need to locate where I copied that list of names for future reference.

 

Has anyone heard the Vinyl Lovers pressing of Pornography??

 

I just ordered the single LP version of Pornography from Vinyl Lovers. I also ordered the UK pressing of the Disintegration Remaster, as well as the single LP pressing of Seventeen Seconds on Music On Vinyl (listed as an Import), and the Vinyl Lovers pressing of Faith. I'm not much of an audiophile and don't really have anything to compare these pressings to other than the original cassette tapes which I haven't been able to listen to since I don't have a functioning tape player at the moment, so I probably won't be a great gauge for quality, but I might be able to tell you whether or not they are absolutely horrible (like surface noise).

I can appreciate the whole audiophile thing, and I am glad that there are people like that out there, but as a professional musician I really just go on feeling more than anything. I think that's why I can appreciate Robert Smith's approach on recording Disintegration. That record never sounded bad to me when it came out. It sounded the way it was supposed to sound. I think a lot of musicians tend to crave the sound of their rehearsal rooms, which is often saturated, loud and even muddy. We are used to being crammed in small spaces with sound. Then you get on a big stage and it's depressing because of all the realities of playing on a big stage in a big venue, and the bigger the venue the worst it is. I played in a few stadiums before and my thought the whole time was "man, how do bands do this all the time?" It's horrible. You basically rely on monitors ( sound checking is nightmarish too because of all the latency while they tune the house system etc.). I prefer the small to medium club sound. Too much clarity can be like a curse to my ears. But I guess there is a balance of course. When a lot of my friends started buying CDs in the 80s I thought they sounded horrible, while everybody was going on about the clarity, the clarity....... Anyway, sorry for the rambling rant.

 

It is actually very helpful to lots of people just posting the physical qualities of pressings in forums like this. Are they flat? Delivered without damage? In paper or plastic inner sleeves? Is the vinyl clean? Are there a lot of pops or clicks (typically called fill issues)? Were they scratched or look like a car drove over them? LOL

There are a lot of properties to a vinyl record that don't require an audiophile "ear" that can be reported on these forums. So feel free to contribute if you want to share, and don't feel like you have to have the best system or trained ear to voice your opinion.

 

Thanks! I did start listening to the copy of KMKMKM that I picked up locally here in DC. It is the 2013 Rhino pressing, and it indeed has quite a bit of surface noise and a few pops, especially on the first side, which may be just because there are more quieter sections on the first side. I haven't listened to the second LP yet. The packaging was just a single outer sleeve outer cover, not a gatefold, but the inner sleeves for the records had the lyrics and color graphics printed on them. The packaging is nice. The record looks flat and I don't see any scratches, but I am pretty sure i hear those fill issues. I am guessing that means it's not a pop that goes away from cleaning the record? Honestly the surface noise and few pops aren't bothering me really. I'm used to old records sounding like that anyway. I guess it would be great to have a completely clean copy though too lol. Anyway, we'll see about the second LP later when I get some time to chill with this.

 

Just curious, since you do not list your setup, what type of TT do you use? I am only planning to get an entry level TT(as of not most likely the AT-1240 for $400 last time I checked, or might even go slightly less for one of the Orbit TT Models), so just trying to get a sense of your review based on your TT(and if you would like to share other info, like your Cart, Stylus, Amp, Pre-Amp, Speakers, etc.).

Also, have you played it again after a cleaning, and if so, do you still hear surface noise(pops)? One thing I learned, since joining the SHF in the past year, is that even new Vinyl needs to go through an initial cleaning(so I will also plan to get the Spin Clean, as the price is right for around $70 and the reviews seem good overall on Amazon, when I get a TT).

I assume since this is a CB Master, that the sound quality is more of a Pressing issue. I wonder if the re-issue of 'Kiss Me x 3' in Europe is better assuming the use of a different Pressing Plant, which I assume would be better(like the comments on the past Radiohead Vinyl on Capitol in the US being worse-Pressed a Rainbo?, than on Parlaphone in the UK before the upcoming switch to XL for re-releasing their albums on Vinyl)? Or even the current thread discussing the upcoming Pink Floyd Vinyl Re-issues and the expectation that the Europe versions will be pressed at Optimal versus RTI for the US Pink Floyd Vinyl Re-issues.

 

The EU "Kiss Me" from 2013 is worst of both worlds. No CB Master and pressed at GZ. It just shows that all Universal care about is a quick buck. Why make the effort and get the CB plates over here when you can order a cheap in-house mastering at GZ?

 

Good to know. Appreciate the reply on the EU version. It would be great if MoV would have done other CURE albums besides '17 Seconds'. Actually, it would be awesome if Steven Wilson would do his thing on their entire catalog(assuming he gets around to completing the Roxy Music catalog-a band I just discovered 2 years ago).