RSD 2021 6/12 (pressing/overall quality review) *first drop*

Not so nice.

Just listened to Side 2.

Same issues as before. Green Book had at least 6 or 7 instances of non-fill - mostly on the left channel.

The title track also featured this in as many spots, if not more.

These non-fill issues are in the EXACT same spots as the previous two copies as well.

I’ve lost out on $60 CAD and now own two lame duck copies - although this one is better and “tolerable” than my last replacement.

I hope this gets redone properly and those who have defective copies get first-pick before it goes on sale

There just is no reason to have an audiophile band, audiophile mastering and then to throw it all away for non-fill or scratches.

 

My Robert Palmer Sneakin Sally arrived US to UK in pretty quick time.
Grateful to have no warping issues with my copy which a couple of unfortunate owners reported a few pages back.
The sleeve had sustained some split damage along the top edge however and a slight bump to a corner.
It is indeed quite a dense slab of vinyl. Cracking colour. Some light sibilance at points but a nice sounding pressing to add to my ever expanding RP collection. Warm and inviting and worthy of a few plays, in fact I’ll sneak it on shortly.
More RP RSD please.

 

Did anyone buy and play the Golden Gate Groove album, the 2LP set of the live '70s TSOP concert?

 

Interested in hearing impressions on this one also. Local store still has a copy.

 

I have heard some online clips. This was issued in 2021 on CD. I wouldn't be surprised if the RSD set were from digital. But from the clips I heard, it's absolutely worth getting. Nothing seems mailed in. There are some empassioned vocals, and a large band/orchestra was used behind them.

 

My Kevin Gray cut RSD Kinks Percy is dismayingly crackly, but it's one of the coolest looking picture discs I've seen, so I'll live.

 

Anyone have Jon Anderson’s Olias of Sunhillow?

 

I don’t know where you’re getting “it sounds like a pressing issue” from what I wrote. I have lots of records - pretty much like this one - which will skate to the next intro groove if I set the stylus down a little haphazardly in the no-man’s land between grooves.

If anything, I was saying it’s likely a hardware issue, if it’s really any issue at all.

 

I just listened to Orange Goblin "A Eulogy For the Damned". Pressing was good, flat and the Orange vinyl was clean. I know this is heavy metal/stoner rock, but the vinyl version was as compressed sounding as many CDs over the past few years. Everything was the same volume, and turning it up just made my ears bleed (not in a good way - LOL).

 

Update:

I have heard back from Rhino about the THREE defective copies I have encountered for Steely Dan’s Everything Must Go.

They have “no plans” to re-release this title in the future despite being aware of the pressing issue.

I - along with many others - are all out of luck on this title. Money wasted. :-(

 

Bummer.

 

So I emailed them back and they got back to me asking for proof of the defect and an address for return or refund etc. I emailed them a picture of my receipt and video footage of the defect. Now I get this reply:

Thank you for your email. I am sorry for the confusion and miscommunication.


Unfortunately, since you didn't purchase from our store, we're unable to manage an exchange/refund for the item. You'll need to contact your point of purchase for refunds or exchanges.


If you have any questions, please let us know.


Best,


Rebeca WMG Store Support

 

I’d reiterate that it IS a manufacturing defect, send them links to this thread as well as the reviews on Discogs. Ask for Dr Rhino himself and make it clear how upset you are (politely of course!)

 

Thanks yea I had replied back already saying some similar things. They're looking into what they can do and hopefully finding the right people. Fingers crossed.

 

I just cleaned and played Golden Gate Groove, the Sound Of Philadelphia live set from the first drop.

I'd say that if you're a fan of this music, this is an excellent set on numerous levels. Is it a 'must have'? No. Get yourself individual albums by the artists on this 2-LP set.

But the music is great, a few of the performances are beyond what's in the studio versions. Overall, it's a really fun, and sometimes riveting record.

The sound is excellent, though not absolutely perfect. This album, although recorded analog, was mixed digitally. It's a bit tonally on the grey side, but it's quite big and dynamic.

Vinyl was quiet, and fairly flat.

 

I believe that you were the very first person who gave a thorough review of this. Thank you very much!

 

Yes. I was surprised that NO one had written about this, the Golden Gate Groove set. And this was something that flew under MY radar for the 1st RSD drop. I was combing through the still available RSD titles on the Bullmoose website and saw this. I love TSOP, but didn't know about this release. And Bullmoose had a ton of them, yet I believe that only 2100 were released. It seems that this flew under a lot of people's radar.

It was mixed and mastered by Mark Wilder, who did the 2-track mixdown of Kind Of Blue from the 3-track session tapes that Bernie Grundman cut for Classic Records releases (and which Acoustic Sounds is using for their UHQR release). So Wilder has some audiophile cred.

For $25 for the 2-LP set, it's sort of a bargain, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Took a long time and many back and forth emails, but finally they are sending me a replacement for the Flaming Lips. Fingers crossed it sounds OK when it finally arrives...

 

The many pressing issues are why I don't buy a lot of new records (I did buy all of the Beatles mono records when they came out).
Just make a quality product, and quite wasting everybody's time and money.
Records are too expensive to put up with such nonsense.
Don't reward companies that make a lousy product, just do without it.

 

For various reasons, I didnt get to play my copy of Kristin Hersh: Wyatt at Coyote Palace (Fire 2LP, gold col. vinyl) until now.

It has some of the worst non fill I've heard. I've messaged the company.

Anyone else purchase this one?

 

So here’s a belated update on the pressing issues that plagued Warpaint’s The Fool RSD release.

The label finally got back to me a few weeks ago to tell me new releases have been made (!) and that I should receive a new copy soon.

Fast forward to today and I get a lovey package from the UK.

Boy was I nervous putting it on, but I was pleasantly surprised! The first minute or so of Side A was perfect and silent and then....
BOOM! The tell-tale signs of nasty non-fill quickly filled the room for the remainder of the side.

I thought to myself, “how bad can the repress be compared to the original “swooshy” sounding pressing?” - and I was quickly proved that the replacement is even worse.

Side 2 had a nasty 2.5 inch raised scratch (!) that makes my stylus quite uneasy and produces a horrible click through the majority of the first song on Side B.

End result? Totally unlistenable. A total waste of time (nearly 6 months of back and forth with the label) and a total waste of money ($40 CAD that I will never get back)

Did anyone even bother to listen to the repress to make sure there was no issues? Such a waste of resources.

I will admit that I may think twice or thrice before buying anything else put out by Rough Trade Records.

Take that for what you will.

 

That sucks! Definitely let Rough Trade know - that's just ridiculous and unacceptable.

 

That stinks. Here's what happened for me.... They had sent me an email at the end of July stating the new records would be available around the beginning of August at which point they would be sending them out. By the end of October I hadn't heard or seen anything regarding the new records, so sent a follow-up. No response. I sent them another follow-up mid November and someone finally got back to me and said they were getting some copies and would send one to me directly and worst case I would be getting 2 replacement copies. I finally got my replacement directly from Rough Trade a couple days ago, the other copy, if ever sent, is still MIA.

My copy was a full replacement including jacket, which was unexpected, I assumed they'd just be sending the records only in plain white sleeves or something. Makes me question if this copy was a repress or just an extra they had lying around from the original press. In any case, listened to the new version and overall it's slightly better than the original but not perfect - sides A,B and D are fairly quiet. Main main issue with the original was the non-stop surface noise on Side C and still getting a lot of rice krispy noises at the end of track 2 on Side C, which is unfortunately one of the quieter tracks. Not as bad as the original though. Oh well. I appreciate the effort on Rough Trade's end to send another copy.

 

Well I can finally say, almost a year later, that I managed to get a solid copy of this title.

Rough Trade sent me a replacement from the new pressing and it was loaded with non-fill. Luckily they were able to track down another copy which was listened to before sending out.

It is perfect. Flat and dead silent. What an incredible mastering as well. Definitely happy now.