Yeah it could be I am going to take some pictures this weekend of some of this unplayed brand new vinyl. The worst defects already went back, but i still have some pretty bad examples.
Maybe 5% of the new vinyl that I've purchased has been defective. As what's been said previously-do research on the pressing, where the record is pressed, etc. After reading about defective US pressings of the Pink Floyd reissues, I decided to buy them all from Amazon.uk and they were perfect. Just do the research.
I have a few recent Rhino reissues from that era, come to think of it - Smiths, Dinosaur Jr. All were top notch.
I've recently bought a 20 or more through Amazon , mainly pressings from the EU . Pallas ,Optimol and another german factory whose name passes me by, also a few from Gz , they're all clicky , most have been transformed with a thorough scrubbing . There's a couple of PF records that I couldn't get up to scratch , my buddy has cleaned those , sound fantastic now. For what we're charged they shouldn't need anymore than a quick wipe with a brush. The records I bought back in the 80's were of a better quality in the respect of dirt in the grooves , than anything coming out of mainland Europe at the moment. The records I have sent back to Amazon have all been to do with quality of the sleeves , marks and creases in the cardboard, at £25 a pop, they need to be pristine. Amazon have never questioned what I've returned and refunded me. I've a US pressed AP/Sony RW album as yet unopened. I hope that's perfect as I've had it too long to send back if it's iffy. The TT I'm using nowadays is one I've been using since the 80's , so no change there.
Yeah, it happens to me too, but that won't stop me from ordering from Amazon. It has nothing to do with them. I had to send back Bowie's "Black Star" LP four times before I got a good one. Amazon paid for me to ship each one back and even sent out another copy immediately with rush shipping. They never gave me an issue the entire time. I also got a defect with Dylan's "Shadows In The Night" and they sent out another one with no problem. I just called them and let them know. By the way, this used to happen in the old days too, where a large batch of pressings were defective. I remember my Mom having to return Lennon/Ono's "Double Fantasy" for this reason back in 1980. You just had to take them back until you got a good one. If not the store will refund you, no big deal. It's just part of buying records, really. I wish it wasn't, but it is.
One of the problems with new vinyl is the 180 gram thing. I have no idea how that got started but it has only increased the likelihood of a variety of defects. They really shot themselves in the foot on this one because, one, pressing plants are seriously backlogged and don't have the time to properly press a 180 gram record because, from my understanding, they require more time to cool than standard weight vinyl. Two, they really can't go back to standard weight can they? Oh, this reissue is on 145 gram vinyl! So much better than 180 grams.
The Beatles stereo reissues have terrible quality control, and as Samson7 noted, the 180 gram records I think have some issues being manufactured with equipment that may have different tolerances or manufacturers that don't have the correct training. This is all 100% speculation, as I have no education in the process of vinyl pressing, but something has to be wrong if all my Beatles stereo remasters have problems including: unfinished edges, the edges are flat, jagged, not smoothed and rounded; warps, less of an issue, but certainly present; holes not punched cleanly, or as some have reported not centre; surface noise, crackly, dirty vinyl, finger prints. Having said that, most of mine sound great, but I wish for the money they were better finished.
I've had pretty lousy luck with new vinyl over the past decade. I've come to accept that quality control at many pressing plants has gone down the crapper, and that navigating the world of new vinyl is a gamble. That often means more purchases through Amazon, since they have a lax return policy. Out of the last 66 newly pressed LPs that I've purchased, over 2/3 of them were defective in some way, with a whopping 40% of them being off center. Only 22 of them were flawless (more or less). Of those that were defective, roughly half were what I'd consider to be serious, while the rest were mild enough that I could live with them (albeit still kind of frustrating). All I know is that I never encountered this many defective new LP pressings back in the 80s, and I was buying even more new vinyl then!
Amen. I think about 10-15% of the vinyl I order from Amazon gets returned with seam-splits and or creases. I've had to order four copies of Peter Gabriel's So 45RPM until a copy without creases turned up. No questions asked, as long as the item is returned on time. Beats those companies who are selling via Amazon who are only willing to offer a partial refund when an item gets delivered with a crease. As you said - at 20-25 pounds each I expect mint copies.
Yeah, my current vinyl experiences mirrors most here; - Brand new releases are usually good - re-issues are good only about half the time - if pressed in Europe, especially Germany, it's almost guaranteed to be a quality pressing My main issue is how dirty/filthy a lot NEW vinyl can be fresh out of the shrink-wrap. It's like they left them out in a sand-storm before putting them in sleeves.
Personally speaking, I find the so called vinyl revival aimed at perhaps a younger (ish) generation (the so called millenials parhaps?). It is marketing genius because it has worked. the level of quality control on a lot of modern day LP's is pretty dire. The amount of dissapointing pressings is staggering. Bowie's 'Black Star' (the initial batch anyway) and Nick Cave's last LP to name but two. For Artists of that status to have Lp's released in such a sub standard way is astonoshing. I have 4 copies of Black Star but have resigned myself to listen to it on CD. 2 copies later, I can get through 'Skeleton Tree.' I recieved the new War On Drugs box set on the day of release and it was returned back to the warehouse on the very same day (I'm still wating for a replacement) as it was just an insult what I found inside. I find myself being quite fussy these days as to what I buy. This forum helps a lot with that but sometimes you just get a bad copy. Music Matters, Analogue Productions, MFSL, all tend to be excellent and done with care and attention...but it doesn't mean the odd dud can slip through but just not as frequently. The one good thing about Amazon is that you can reutnr with no questions asked and only hope the replacement is better. There are people doing good work. It just takes a bit of homework.....but I agree, it can be utterly infuriating to buy LP after LP, only to be dissapointed and feel like you have been had. Ps: Neil Young's 'Hitchiker' sounds great.
For scuffed and visually imperfect vinyl, I agree - Amazon can't really be he culprit. However I recently went through a particularly bad run of every single LP I ordered from Amazon being delivered quite warped. I began to wonder if they store their vinyl in a somewhat climate controlled environment or if it's just in a hot warehouse.
Because it happens one at a time. Often a replacement copy is perfect, problem solved. When you have to keep searching for a good copy, it gets frustrating. My experience is that 10-25% of copies have some issue, just enough to get annoying, not enough to stop buying completely. Like others have said, knowledge can help, if you know where something is pressed, buy knowing where it came from. My biggest complaint has been warped and dished pressings, many from Optimal in Germany. But i avoid some labels completely so the sample isn't representative.
Surprised OP bought all of those titles new, as they are almost dictionary definition of titles you can always find used just about any and everywhere.
All the records that fell on the floor are sent Amazon. With new vinyl its mostly safe to buy from a good remaster label and known good pressing plant. All else has a high chance of being defective or sounding like crap. Also, buy from a place that will replace it. Chat with the sales dude and open it at the store before you walk out. Most new vinyl is GARBAGE. You have to be very careful what you drop money on IMO. Plus used CD's are dirt cheap. Time to buy them up.
That's just rank bad behaviour on the part of MoFi. You should contact Jim Davis directly and I am sure he would sort this out. I would not accept treatment like that having shelled out $50. When you say you contacted MoFi, are you sure it wasn't Music Direct in Chicago? Both are associated and under the same ownership but MoFi, to my knowledge, does not sell directly to the public. An Audiophile label just has to stand over its product or risk losing all credibility.
Funny enough - right after posting about Amazon, I opened up my new copy of MB20 yourself or someone like you which was shipped from Amazon. Flat as can be however it has a nice scratch all the way across side A.
Actually it's called a "dimple". It's created by a piece of dirt or other foreign matter under the stamper. It means that the pressing plant didn't give a squat about quality.
I must be honest even though im convinced its down to manufacture. I have wondered about how Amazon stores this vinyl Very good point
The VERY first pressing of Blackstar was fine - mine is absolutely perfect, and most forum members who got it on day of release seemed happy. They rushed back to press immediately because of his death, and the next batch were riddled with problems.