I'm getting really tired of defective lp pressings

Trying to listen to the new Jackson Browne, and record 2, side C has horrible defects in the grooves (as opposed to across them) leading to abrasive static over the music at various places in the music. Is this just my copy, or are others having this issue?

Fotheringay 2 (ordered from England) comes with some impressed scratches on the run-in groove of side two that carries over to the record for the first four or so passes. Very noisy.

HIM has a slight warp and a pop carrying through much of one track.

Of my most recent purchases, only the new AC/DC was the quality I expect from new vinyl.

 

There's a thread going here somewhere about the Jackson Browne. Supposedly, they're mailing out replacements. I haven't received mine yet.

I didn't know Fotheringay 2 was put out on vinyl. The cd sounds pretty good (but I've only played it in the car).

Quality control nowadays is nonexistent. The music industry is a mess.

 

Its not nowadays - I'm from the UK and bought hundreds of LPs, 7" & 12" singles from around 1975-1988, when CD was taking hold and I moved to the USA (not because of the CDs, by the way!)

In the 80's, I got so defective copies (scratches, surface noise, even records that were cracked on the edge, and my all-time favourite, a copy of a Robert Fripp/League of Gentlemen album that had a piece of cigarette butt in the pressing - I touched it and it fell out leaving a hole!) that almost all my friends at some point ended up exchanging records for me, as I didn't have the time to do it all myself!

I went through 4 copies of The Joshua Tree. Everyone offered delightful audio fry-up during the album intro, as the synths came in. Pathetic. I never got a decent copy, and ended up with the MOFI CD.

When CD appeared, as well as the promised great sound quality, I was excited at the prospect of less faulty product. Whatever your opinions of CD sound, at least they took care of the crappy vinyl pressings issue that was my life in the 80's!

 

That's a shame, such a great record marred by a bad pressing. Is this the recent reissue on Stamford Audio/Fledg'ling? For close to $40 you'd hope for something better. I was thinking of ordering a copy, but I might just stick with the CD.

 

That is one of the realities of the lp era I do not miss. Lp was never a great mass medium for that reason. When pressed in the millions, quality suffered. Cds suffer from their own problems, but poor pressings are exceedingly rare.

 

I was getting tired of defective LP pressings back in 1974. God, the oil shortage back then really, really wreaked havoc on LPs during that era. And the amount of recycled vinyl that was used... noisy, nasty stuff.

I don't miss that decade, at least for audio.

 

Yes, and add cross Atlantic shipping, so a return is really not feasible. Though I wouldn't call this a reissue. It's where Jerry Donahue completed the rough tracks for the never completed second Fotheringay album.

Other than that defect, it is a nice pressing, and it doesn't look to be the type of thing that is necessarily on every pressing. But buyer beware, try to get a look at the vinyl before taking it home.

 

I have bought more defective records in the period between the late 70s to 80s than in the last 5 years. As a matter of fact I think that the situation now is much better.

I agree that when you get a bad pressing is a sad thing, it destroys the whole experience but then again when you get a nice pressing is like nirvana.

In any case, I think that this is a risk that you are willing to take if you listen to vinyl.

 

This brings back memories for sure. I only use CDs now and I think the uncertainty of buying LPs got to me after a while and that is why I gave them up. The best LPs sounded better than my CDs but many did not.

For me the deciding factor became an issue of time, as someone mentioned above. Buying different copies of things, making exchanges, etc. Life is too short.

Joe

 

Let's blame the greedy music industry. (easy target) No quality control. It has been a progession from the 60's.

They are going to get what they have done to themselves. Play "It's Over" by Roy Orbison for them in tribute ...

If you think it's bad now the quality was 10 times worse in the LP Era. I spent days returning LP's in the 70's. I welcomed the CD's for that reason. Little did we know their liabilities and what the industry did with remastered versions.

I bought one new vinyl release this year. Meet Glen Campbell the vinyl quality was just OK....the mastering was the same as the CD.

 

Are vinyl manufacturers pressing album at or above capacity?

 

I returned a copy of John Lennon's Shaved Fish FIVE TIMES back in 1981 because of horrible groove distortion on "Instant Karma!", and never did, at that time, get a satisfactory pressing.

Evan

 

Sorry to hear of the bad luck with certain pressings ... 'tis a bit of a consistency trade off ...

Vinyl obviously has a different hit/miss ratio due to the complexities of pressing, composition, etc ... but for the times it does hit, my oh my ...

 

With the few plants active pressing stuff at maximum capacity i can see why the issues with defective product have risen. If someone wanted to get into it i guess they could start a pressing facilitiy. it seems the demand has overwhelmed the industry.

 

Trust me, the original 1975 pressings were not much better.

The British CD sounded far better.

 

Japanese vinyl

Here's something to ponder....throughout the entire history of the vinyl era, most if not all Japanese pressings are near perfect. I'm refering to the actual vinyl and pressing. Why is it near flawless in Japan and not anywhere else?

 

I have the same issue with the reissue of 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica. The damn thing is definitely going back!

 

Why is Honda's quality control so much better than GM's? Different philosophy about quality.

 

It's stories like this that (is just one) of the reasons I don't want to venture back into vinyl.I'd rather pay $40 for a Japanese SHM cd than roll the dice on a vinyl copy of the same title.

 

barely do I buy new LP¡'s for that matter, whenever I got a defective pressing it's really frustrating as sometimes it's not that easy to return the defective copy, instead I buy mainly 2 hand as I have been amazed at hoow good some of them sound despite having been really mistreated.....

new LP's are expensive and the lack of quality controls are not acceptable any more.....

I can live with some imperfections with sundazed as they priced accordingly but it's not acceptable when you pay 30 + $ for each LP.*

other thing that I can't really understand is why they don't mention is a pressing is pure analogue or not , something very common these days with the major labels mainly.....

 

They want to keep us in the dark, because they think we are stupid and besides no one will be able to tell the difference, according the them.

After hearing the difference between the all analogue Axis Bold as Love and the much more expensive digital Japanese pressing, I want all recordings that have tape masters to be all analogue vinyl. The half as expensive all analogue pressing absolute kills the digital versions.

 

I find these kind of threads rather amazing - or odd - or something. I've been buying vinyl over several decades and rarely ever ran into any defect problems, whether in the 70's or now. I have yet to buy a defective new vinyl. Maybe there's a vinyl angel watching over me.

 

Well, every time one of these threads comes up I feel obligated to voice the other side. Both Rauncnroll and myself almost never have problems with new vinyl. I'm not saying it never happens, or that I've never had to return LP's on occasion, but in fact it's rare. I have over 7,000 LP's from the 50's through the 2000's and they continue to bring me great pleasure and sound wonderful.
I just bought the newest LP from EmmyLou Harris-"All I intended To Be". Great sound, plays perfectly. Coldpay's "Viva La Vida" plays perfectly as well. In fact, I've been rather irresponsible buying up so many new releases, but I'm not sure how long the vinyl craze will last so I buy more than I should. I have over 200 new releases purchased within the last 2 years. I have had to return 4.
Again, I'm sorry some folks have had problems with defective vinyl, but it's certainly not the norm. If a newbie were to read this thread it implies all new vinyl is worthless, which couldn't be farther from the truth. RTI has been pressing some of the finest LP's ever made-specifically the 45 RPM's from Music Matter's. I would put those records up against any in my collection for spectacular sound and quality.

 

It was an oil embargo, not an oil shortage.

 

I try to get Japanese pressings of all the LPs that I am chasing, apart from the reissues that come out of the United States. It is mind boggling that even for an LP that could be 30+ years old, the quality is superb after a good cleaning on my VPI. I like Speakers Corner product that is pressed at Pallas in Germany and again there are no qc issues with Pallas product. Just last week I got 4 new LPs from the US. My new Emmylou Harris LP was scratched on Side 1 and the discs themselves were off centre with the the paper label wildly off too, a typical RTI problem that has not been addressed. My Wilco 2LP of 'Yankee Hotel ..' had a small amount of non fill on the first track and had hairline scratches because of the inner sleeve type they used, more typical of European manufacturers. My two Van Morrison LP were ok with 'Astral Weeks' being slightly dished .. which I managed to fix on my Disc Flatter.

No, the Japanese are a really extraordinary people. I have never got a bad record ever that was pressed there. I only buy NM or M- LPs. I wish that Warner/Rhino and the others just transferred their pressing work to Pallas and be done with it, or to Japan. There would be zero, or very few at most, complaints from consumers.