I spun my RSD copy yesterday and I will spin the 2017 today. I got the Optimal pressed EU versions but the US are MPO, at least the last 4 were. Both places are usually very good as far as pressing quality shouldn't be a difference. Can't wait to spin AMOLAD !
Bellman initials on the 3 I got last week (all but BNW that I bought on RSD).... they all sound great, imo. No noise. Been happy with this entire second series. Bought a few from the first series, the ones that came w the box & "Live" - filled rest of box w originals.
There seems to have been some sort of problems with getting the vinyl from their supplier (as I was told from the store I preordered all the reissues). But for what I know now, I suppose I should get the batch#2 (BNW, RIR, DOD & AMOLAD) during this week. Last friday was national holiday here, so Im not actually sure what went wrong as usually I have gotten almost all of the releases in time (be it preorders or normal orders). Well, things happen but Im confident that I get mine soon. So definitely looking for and waiting to hear how these finally sound.
Have you heard the CD? The Book of Souls LP sounds way better, it's not even a contest really. I'd say it's the 2nd best sounding 00's Maiden album (with the LP mastering), 2nd to BNW. It's not saying much I know but then all the others are worse imo.
Aha, so just got message from the record store that my 4 reissues (from the batch#2) have arrived. Anyways, Im gonna pick them up tomorrow and then can have little listening session during the weekend.
So the only issue I had with these last 4 was a warped side on AMOLAD which amazon UK was gracious enough to replace. The rest were pretty flawless. GO OPTIMAL ! Comparing my RSD US BNW to the EU optimal pressed CB BNW .... The rsd seems to be somewhat more holographic and 3d maybe.. While the 2017 is less holographic and maybe a little more mid centric sounding I guess. Could be down to different pressings.. They are both good, I want to say the 2017 sounds slightly more compressed while the RSD needs more volume than the 2017. I have no idea if they are in fact different somehow besides the obvious. Nothing wrong with either but I prefer the rsd as of one listen to the 2017 but I can't say anything negative about it either...
They sound awesome and vinyl is perfect and flawless! Here I made a video of The Legacy... Check out my channel, I've uploaded more of this album and Dance Of Death...
Hm, not really but it's too early to say really. Im just most happy to finally own these albums on normal color-vinyl instead of the pic-vinyl (which shall remain in my collection) and they just sound great.
Problem for me is...I have been away on vacation until yesterday, so no chance for critical listening since release day. I listened to BNW last night....all 4 sides. I would say this one sounds way better than the CD and the other revelation is - this is a GREAT album! I recall being a bit lukewarm in regards to this one back in the day. I think it's a BIG album that needs to be listened to and digested and in 2000 - I just did not have the patience. I got through side one of "Rio" and fell asleep...not due to the content....due to Mr. Sandman. I mentioned earlier that my copies are noisy - translation: this sucks! I noticed many of you have flawless copies so I guess "luck of the draw" was not in my favor this time. DOD is the worst, side one in particular. The intro of "No More Lies" sounds like a 50 year old record that was stored out of it's sleeve. I looked at that passage under a bright light and there is some type of anomaly in the vinyl. It looks like what a hard water or lyme stain would look like (it's not that.) It doesn't wash off so it's there to stay. I am thinking this one goes back to Amazon for an exchange. Hopefully I can get through the rest of these today/tonight. JQ
The US black vinyl reissue of A Matter of Life and Death sounds great to me, although I remember the picture disc sounding even better despite the surface noise. The black vinyl itself has some crackle to it. Side three has some weird wavy lines near the outer edge, like it wasn't given time to cool properly before it was pulled, but doesn't seem to cause any audible issues. I'll have to dig out the old original picture vinyl and compare at some point. The Dance of Death black vinyl has phenomenal sound. Mostly a really nice pressing - flat, solid, clean, and quiet, except for some super bumpy cruddy vinyl scrap before the music starts on side 3 that I cannot seem to remove. I feel like I can finally crank this album and truly enjoy it. So good! These are the only 2 I bought from this wave of the campaign. Already have the RSD Brave New World and absolutely love it in the same way I do the new DoD - I can finally really crank it and enjoy.
Let's hope that those of us who love the new DOD, feel the same way about Final Frontier when it's released this month. THAT one needs a miracle to sound good....
FF on CD sounds way better than DoD imo. DoD is as bad as death magnetic to these ears. I can finally listen to DoD though, I would imagine FF would sound even better on vinyl.
Really? I thought FF on CD sounded decent enough, certainly a lot better than DOD and better EQ than TBOS. I'd personally rank the 00's albums in this order, going by SQ alone: 1. BNW 2. AMOLAD 3. FF 4. TBOS 5. DOD EDIT: I'd be interested to hear comparisons of the pic disc and the black reissue of AMOLAD. I am certain they will sound quite different, for reasons I mentioned in a previous post.
Is the consensus opinion that we should absolutely go with U.K./ European pressings with these? Specifically I am thinking of Brave New World, Rock In Rio, Dance of Death, Matter of Life and Death, and possibly En Vivo. Too bad to hear about the quality control issues and noisy pressings.
I think FF has great production but it suffers from over-compression although they do seem to let the music breathe a little more in the second half of the album with the more proggy tracks. I really like FF and rate it second only to Brave New World in the modern day Maiden discography. Regarding the EU pressings I can tell you that the two I have bought so far have been excellent and DOD was almost completely silent.
I'm pretty excited for FF also, all my optimal EU's of the last 4 were perfect except one side of AMOLAD which was pretty warped. It is being replaced thankfully but the rest were perfect and dead silent.
