Paul McCartney Archive Collection Vinyl - Sound Quaility?

Reviews of the Archive Collection vinyl is far and few between, especially when compared to other vinyl editions, in their respective threads. I see the questions get asked and then ignored in favor of deluxe CD discussion. I’m in large part wanting these to have the bonus material on vinyl and there hasn’t been many if any reviews and comparisons. Can anyone give their opinions on these and say if you feel they are worth getting or not for sound? Or are they underwhelming?

McCartney
Ram
Wild Life
Red Rose Speedway
Band On the Run
Venus and Mars
Wings at the Speed of Sound
Wings over America
McCartney II
Tug of War
Pipes of Peace
Flowers In the Dirt

 

So far for me:
I have BOTR. It is good but marginally inferior to a 1st UK pressing, which is livelier and more natural sounding.
I have McCartney II. This is a remix and inferior to a 1st UK, which are abundant and dirt cheap to get.
I have bought the reconstructed RRS. It is a novel listen but ultimately not as good SQ as my 1st UK. Not much in it, though.
I prefer the 1st edition UK CD's and American DCC's to Archived editions in the digital realm.

 

I have all of them on vinyl except for "II", POP and FITD (and Wild Life and RRS which I will be getting). I have a number of different pressings of most of the albums including all the original U.S. releases well as some of the U.K. versions, Japanese and also a couple of 70's German pressings. i can honestly say that I'm extremely happy with the way these have been remastered. Ram, Venus and Mars and Speed Of Sound sound especially good. "McCartney" sounds somewhat "cleaner" but still lacks some of the low end of the original. My favorite sounding vinyl version of BOTR WAS the U.K. 25th anniverssary double album version but the Hear Music remaster outdoes it for a lower level of sibilance towards the end of each side. But even so, the improvement isn't as striking to my ears as it is on the initial three I mentioned. Tug of War sounds good but keeping in mind that this was actually a remix, I prefer the original; sounds like a bit too much compression with the new mix. I hope I've helped.

 

Yes, you’ve helped. Thank you very much!

 

I have Speed of Sound, and it is far better than my original Canadian.

 

Any other views on them?

 

Bump for more reviews.

 

..well...I know you're specifically asking about the vinyl re-issues but for what it's worth, I can tell you right now that Wild Life sounds superb on the CD archive set...I'm awaiting on my vinyl copy...likewise, RRS.

 

Thanks! Good to know!

 

I'm interested as well in finding out more about these reissues. I have McCartney and Band on the Run and I'm very pleased with them, so this should bode well for the Venus & Mars and RAM I'm mostly interested in.

I wonder why London Town was not part of this reissue program. Anyone know?

 

McCartney II is not a remix. I think you have confused this release with "Tug of War."

 

You are absolutely right! Age is getting the better of me.

 

My thought has always been that "they" try to stretch out the 70's re-issues (since these are the ones most fans are interested in) to maintain ongoing interest in these so-called archive sets. That said, we may be seeing another post-70's re-issue before seeing London Town or Back To The Egg.

 

What DK Pete said and I don’t believe the reissue program in done yet so let’s not rule it out yet.

Thank you for the vinyl reviews. I’ve been debating on getting these to have a nice consistent collection with the bonus tracks on vinyl.

 

Does anyone have any more reviews?

 

The Band on the Run sounds great.

 

My Red Rose Speedway (2LP-McCartney's original plan) has some really distracting crackle.
Looks flawless, I have cleaned it. The crackle is still there. I should have returned it really.

 

My copy of Thrillington is flawless. Sounds great. Highly recommended.

 

My copy of Chaos and Creation easily beats the CD although I did note one timy flaw in the vinyl which affects about a second of play.

 

Pipes of Peace is great, as is Ram (both stereo and mono). Chaos beat the CD but still sounds pretty marginal. I was disappointed with RRS.

 

I just got a copy of Wild Life, sound quality is great

The sleeves on the other hand - they have pressed 180g vinyl and used the thickest outer jacket I have ever seen - but the result is the vinyl doesnt fit inside the sleeve at all, it was a real struggle to get it out.

My work-around for now is to stuff everything inside a Blake sleeve, but this is a real bodge of a packaging job.

 

What about McCartney II? Is a good sounding vinyl?

 

So I just finished listening to III and thought the perfect thing to do next would be to go back to II. I am listening to the archive vinyl now. I found it new on clearance in a local shop for $14, picked it up and never played it. It sounds fine but of course was never an audiophile release to begin with. My question is how they doubled it to two albums and managed to not include the "Coming Up" b-side "Lunch Box/Odd Sox"? Was it from earlier sessions and is on some other archives release or is this just a puzzling oversight?

 

The double Red Rose is a fun listen but be forewarned that the mastering is all over the map. The new additions I’d say are 10-15% louder than the original albums tracks. It’s really noticeable after Country Dreamer. You will physically turn up the volume on Big Barn Bed, I promise. Disappointing.

My vinyl is clean but whomever assembled for vinyl mastering was asleep at the wheel.

 

Band On The Run’s quite good but a UK 1st is better.