Issues with the US vinyl edition of Chinese Democracy?

[jarmo]

How many of you that bought the US edition of the Chinese Democracy vinyl have issues with its quality?

I've read comments about skips, distorted sound, fingerprints and so on about the LP sold by Best Buy.

So if you have have experienced something disappointing in the quality of the US pressing, please post here and we'll see if we can forward the comments to somebody.

Please post where and when you bought the vinyl.



I only opened one of my US vinyls:


Pre-ordered vinyl, with delivery. Not store pick-up.

Came with smudges/finger prints.

Side A: Street Of Dreams multiple skips
Side B: Cather In The Rye: skip
Side C: I.R.S multiple skips


The last track on each side seems to sound distorted (?). The first two tracks on each side seem to sound nicer.





/jarmo

[LittleFly]

I have yet to play mine.  I need to get a record player.  From what I could tell, mine are in perfect condition.  I had mine delivered, though, so it wasn't shipped to a store first.

[russtcb]

I ordered mine from bestbuy.com and had it delivered to my house. Everything seems in good shape except side 2 of the second LP. It came out of the sleeve looking extremely scratched.

[russtcb]

I ordered mine from bestbuy.com and had it delivered to my house. Everything seems in good shape except side 2 of the second LP. It came out of the sleeve looking extremely scratched.

edit: I just saw the "when" part. I pre-ordered it and my pre-order arrived the Thursday before release.

[Jono]

I bought the the vinyl online from Chapters.ca, around the end of November. The packaging was in good condition, but the vinyl had smudges, scratches and fingerprints on it. Side one of the first vinyl plays fine, and side 2 plays somewhat okay, except for some skips at the end of If The World and the inner groove issue with Catcher causing the end to sound distorted. Side 3 is the worst of them all, Scraped and Riad skip incessantly, with IRS and Sorry only skipping a few times. Side 4 has a few skips as well in This I Love and Prostitute.

I know you say the US edition and Best Buy, but the version sold in Canada seems to be a US import by Universal Canada. So this issue would affect Canadians as well.

[adman2374]

I bought 2 US vinyls. I left one unopened and opened the other one. The ENTIRE first side is full of scratches!

[Moonlight J]

I bought mine at Best Buy in Wisconsin. Anyways, mine had prints and scatches. When I returned it, I opened another in store and it had the same problem. Funny thing is, when I told my local indi shop owner about it, he suggested that the master might have had the flaws and it to be an issue of poor quality controll. Perhaps. Thanks, Jarmo.

[axlrosegnr]

I bought mine about a month after release at a Best Buy in Las Vegas, NV. Mine was perfect, sounds great. I know this is a thread for defected ones, but I was thinking maybe since I got mine a month later, it was just the first batch that was messed up?

[slashsbaconpit]

Mine is just for showing support for the band, hanging on the wall and looking at since I don't have a record player, so I can't bitch!

[jarmo]

It's great that some of you have bought copies, but it's not really helping if you haven't listened to them.....

So, please, only those that have listened to their LPs, reply from now on.

Thanks.




/jarmo

[Shackler]

It's great that some of you have bought copies, but it's not really helping if you haven't listened to them.....

So, please, only those that have listened to their LPs, reply from now on.

Thanks.




/jarmo

If you dont mind me asking, y do u wanna know?

[jarmo]

If you dont mind me asking, y do u wanna know?

From my experience, people who buy vinyl to listen to, expect certain things like good sound quality.

If it turns out the vinyl version of Chinese Democracy, or a batch of the release, is low quality, maybe it can be fixed in the future.

The album deserves it.




/jarmo

[Shackler]

O, cool.

I agree, If I cud afford it, I would have a top of the range surround sound system to listen to albums, bt unfortunately I cant...

But when I grow up!

[Dr. Blutarsky]

I bought it the day it came out. Finally got a turntable again & listened to it 2 weeks ago. There is at least 1 skip on each album side, looks as if something was spilled on one of the sides of the album and there is some odd distortion noticeable on Prostitute, or it may be easier to hear the audio issue on the string section of the song.

[Hatts]

My vinyl for sure came with some smudges and all kind of skips in If the world.  I was really bummed!



Thanks so much,
Hatts

[hitmanhart408]

I bought mine at the store the first day. I dont remember complaining about any skips but I do remember seeing finger prints and being annoyed by it. I should listen to it again to see if there are skips.

[JuicySwoos]

First I would like to say thank you Jarmo for starting this thread.

I have purchased three copies of the US vinyl and listened to all three.  I purchased two at the Oakdale, MN store first day (one was a pre-order in store pick up), and the 3rd one I purchased at the Maplewood, MN store 3 weeks after the release (hoping I would get a good pressing).

All three copies had the smudges and finger prints, all three are distorted on the inner tracks. I did not have issues with skipping.

SOD, Catcher, and IRS are all distorted, (inner groove distortion).  Inner groove distortion is common and inherent to the vinyl format, because the innner grooves are much smaller so it is more difficult for the stylus to pick up the information.  However it should not be to this extreme, as a decent turntable with a decent and properly aligned cartridge will solve this issue.  I even purchased a new cartridge known for solving inner groove distortion and it only mildy reduced it on chin dem.

I also emailed BB and advised them that they should contact the company that pressed the LP's and let them know of this issue.  There are even customer reviews on the BB website that mention these issues. 

I also spoke to a couple of people who work at indie record stores that sell vinyl and was told that some new releases are substandard because of the limited number of pressing plants and the high demand for vinyl.  It is sometimes difficult to meet release date deadlines and as a result quality can suffer because they pull a rush job (that would explain the finger prints).  This is why many re-issues are often pushed back, and some new releases often come out on vinyl well after the initial release date.  If I were to speculate, I think Chin Dem got the rush job and at least some of the LPs are just poorly pressed.

So when I do listen to Chin Dem, I always skip SOD, Catcher, and IRS...Prostitute sounds ok but you'll notice that it is not as close to the middle of the LP as the songs that are distorted.  

I would gladly purchase another LP if or when this is corrected in the future, because Jarmo is right, the album deserves it....it is an album that is perfect for vinyl.  

[Albert S Miller]

Yes I also have purchased 2 here in WA, yes mine also skips.  I haven't bitched about it as I also purchased a new turntable setup just for this.  I felt like maybe if I bought a better quality needle, it would possibly fix the problem, but have yet to do so.  When we were kids and the records sometimes skipped we would tape a penny on top of the needle arm for added weight, and it would stop, those were the days huh?  Anyway like some of you mentioned I have only opened one of the albums.

[user FKA webmoster]

I bought mine at Best Buy in Vauxhall, NJ.

There were skips on Scraped, Rhiad, and Madagascar.

I returned it, and got another.

There were skips again on Rhiad.

[nonlinear]

i bought a copy in canada.  the release was several weeks later than the US vinyl release date, so I expected that it was a different canadian pressing, but when i got it, it said it was a US pressing on the back.  like everyone else, there were fingerprints all over both vinyls.  there are also a lot of skips, as well as a lot of distortion on certain songs that aren't on the CD.

I exchanged the vinyl thinking that i just got a bad copy, but my replacement copy suffers from the same problems.  that sucks, cause I like to listen to most of my music on vinyl.  oh well, i just listen to the CD but am looking forward to an improved pressing.