A fantastic player of ballads too a skill that many of the fastest, most intricate players do not have Miles had it the skill of holding back and leaving space to illuminate the music as did Chet Baker.
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Mal Waldron - Mal/2, Prestige/OJC (2023)
A cracking record with incredible line up now available for £32.99 quite a reduction on it’s original UK price.
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Sadly it was a gift so I don’t feel comfortable complaining. But the disc had a ragged hole, was warped, and the grooves were so shallow it nearly looked like a blank disc. I’m actually surprised it tracked correctly.
Personally, I never buy new vinyl.
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That is a fine plan if you want older material. Unfortunately not an option for me as most of the vinyl I buy is recent releases and whilst more than forums would have you believe are fine some are not that good. Probably because people rarely post to say they bought a good copy of an LP whilst most posts about quality are complaints.
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You are correct. I think the saying is, “misery loves company”. The perception might be skewed.
I’ve only ever had 3 new albums, so in that respect the failure rate looks like 33% but I’m a few albums shy of that being in any way significant.
All my second albums are great, albeit some are worn and played to near death but they still have a certain magic to them. But therein probably gets to the heard of what you are saying. The second hand dealers I deal with are reputable and they will have already pre-rejected selling defective stock. So really I have no idea what the defect rate is over the past 80 years because I’m shielded from it.
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Agree on the 50 year old bin, sleeves a bit tatty but then inside you find a beautifully clean and well looked after piece of vinyl that plays just superbly. I have just picked up early pressings of Band on the Run and the very excellent Me, Myself, I from Joan Armatrading and after a good scrub sound superb not a pop or crackle to be heard.
But a recently pressed copy of Who’s Next sounds as though it was pressed in mud with most of it left in the grooves, it went back and the replacement was no better.
On the other side of the coin, a lot of new pressings I have picked up recently have sounded very very good, whilst a copy of a Roberta Flack vinyl from 1972 was unplayable, but a £3 I couldn’t expect much more.
Led Zeppelin ‘Presence’ - continuing my exploration of LZ records beyond the first four.
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Hi there all you vinyl lovers. How do I check if I’ve brought home the good pressing? It’s complex and hard for me to know what to look for
I agree with Richard Dane that the reissue of Steely Dan “Can’t Buy A Thrill” is disappointing. As far as I can see, it’s published by Geffen, which is usually good quality. I have a vinyl from SD “The Royal Scam” from 1976, MCA Records. It sounds much better.
Most recently, I had a disappointment with the new release from The Rolling Stones “Hackney Diamonds”. Printed in Czechoslovakia, as far as I could find out. Already the first track on the record was problematic, and the sound was almost turned up as loud as on a CD release, strange experience
Are there any hints, ground rules here. I don’t think you can count on anything here. But when even Richard can be unlucky, the chances of getting it wrong with a new purchase are high. It’s disappointing
Peter, Denmark
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Hi @Peter63 unfortunately there are no general rules for Vinyl Remasters nowadays. Very often there are strange digital files used and also the pressings are inconsistent, even some new ones from QRP. But there are three things that could help:
- follow this thread intensively and you would get some good recommendations
- choose a retailer who doesn’t make problems when you have to send back terrible records (incl.
free retours) - The name of the original Record Co. is no sign of good or bad pressings/Remasters. It depends on
the Remastering process and who made it (e.g. Bernie Grundmann, Kevin Gray or the guys from
Acoustic Sounds)
All the actual cheap Steely Dan Remasters are rubbish, I also tried Can’t buy a thrill and it was awful. Of course the actual Analogue production products are excellent but this depends on your budget, they are very expensive,
I can recommend the Aja 2008 edition, made by Bernie Grundmann and pressed at Record Industry (NL). Pressing and Remaster are excellent, bought 20 EUR or so some years ago. You can get one at Discogs for 30 - 35 EUR. It could be that there are more 2008 editions from other Steely Dan records. I am not the biggest SD lover on earth, maybe others here have some affordable recommendations as well.
Cheers
Michael from Germany
P.S. Today I ordered at imusic.dk for the first time 
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I generally check Discogs and look at the review of the album before buying, if the general consensus is positive I buy or sometimes I just take a chance and more often then not I get a good pressing. I also check the Hoffman music forum which also provides you a general feeling if the pressing is any good. Most mainstream music I buy from Amazon as the return policy is so easy but other respectable companies like Juno are also easy.
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Presence and Houses of the Holy tie for the most played Led Zeppelin studio album here. However, the original TSRTS soundtrack trumps them both for my most frequently played LZ album.
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Hi Michael
Thank you very much for your nice and informative answer. I will try Discogs
Best Peter
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Thanks for the reminder, I’ve just dug out my original vinyl of this and what a delight it is. There’s no doubt that vinyl from that era is something else.
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And so vinyl is from this era also Mike
If one chooses wisely mate
Over the last few months I’ve purchased more vinyl than CDs by far
Mind you before before I went out this evening with a few friends for a quick italian and a few reds I did the test
Vinyl vs cd vs streaming- on a great album by Shelby Lynn
In order of final SQ and really holding me in there
- Vinyl
- CD
- Streaming
I was very surprised re CD number 2 - streaming was HiRes
Maybe NDX2 not quite up there ???
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I agree, some of my new vinyl is delightful. But some is short either in the quality of the pressing, or defects such as surface noise, dimples, not flat etc, so a bit hit and miss. But a good recording on a new quality pressing and it could take the edge.
I loved my NDX2, but I think it takes a ND555 to challenge a good vinyl set up. Putting aside the question of the cost and variable quality of vinyl, I think you can get a better vinyl set up than streaming for a lower cost 
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On vinyl / if you can find it
Shelby Lynne - “Just a Little Lovin”
What an album came out I think early 2000’s - I think I got the last vinyl copy in Sydney a few months ago
Inspired by Dusty Springfield
Try it on your ND555 - I reckon quality will blow you away
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This month I bought on vinyl:
New releases
Sprints - Letter To Self
NewDad - MADRA
Older releases
The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
Eels - daisies of the galaxy
The Weather Station - HOW IS IT THAT I SHOULD LOOK AT THE STARS
EPs
NewDad Banshee
NewDad Waves
I also bought a couple of CDs and downloads.
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