LPs revisited...

[Moonlight J]

I was down in Madison last weekend, and stopped in at the Exclusive Company. They had a copy of Chineese Democracy that was opened, and had the same problems as the one I got before. Anyways, they had this also, and it made me think how cool it would be if the GNR catalog, or at least CD would be released like this.  http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=439133&from=GBUS

[russtcb]

speaking of the vinyl. Does anyone know if there are any good copies in the US? Even if you get one without all the scratches and marks, are the songs still distorted?

I ask because I was at a Best Buy the other day and they had plenty of vinyl on the shelf. If I knew that one without all the scratches would sound undistorted, I'd gladly buy another copy. Plus I'd have the bonus of making a Best Buy employee lift a finger and open a couple copies until I found one without marks.

[Rainfox]

I just realized, that the vinyl edition (mine anyway) is 180-200 grams.

Is that standard? And is it standard now - all new vinyl releases come out on 'heavier' vinyl than in the old, vinyl days?

[russtcb]

I just realized, that the vinyl edition (mine anyway) is 180-200 grams.

Is that standard? And is it standard now - all new vinyl releases come out on 'heavier' vinyl than in the old, vinyl days?

Yeah 180 is pretty much standard these days. It's truly a shame that not one person involved with CD has done anything to rectify the terrible vinyl issues.

[burnz007]

I have the vinyl edition of ChiDem... but I only got to play it on an extremely old record player and it sounded awful... but I figured it was the record player.  so you're saying that there problems with many of the vinyl records that were released?  Is there a refund/exchange program ?

[wadey]

im in UK but not played my vinyl yet. is it just the U.S versions that sucked or all of them?

[russtcb]

I have the vinyl edition of ChiDem... but I only got to play it on an extremely old record player and it sounded awful... but I figured it was the record player.  so you're saying that there problems with many of the vinyl records that were released?  Is there a refund/exchange program ?

There's no way to get any information on if all the US ones are terrible or not. There was some hint of hope for a while but that seemed to all go away. If I knew that I could get one that didn't sound like shit on the inner songs, I'd gladly buy it again.

[jarmo]

I think everybody who needs to be aware of the issues are aware of them.

We can only hope that the vinyl edition will get a proper release in the future.




/jarmo

[TomFriend]

im in UK but not played my vinyl yet. is it just the U.S versions that sucked or all of them?

Seemingly all of them. My vinyl was unscratched, unmarked, sounded like utter shit just as described by others, and as a nice little extra kick in the balls, the European edition has no Free MP3 album promo code. Unless you're getting it as a display item, avoid.

[russtcb]

im in UK but not played my vinyl yet. is it just the U.S versions that sucked or all of them?

Seemingly all of them. My vinyl was unscratched, unmarked, sounded like utter shit just as described by others, and as a nice little extra kick in the balls, the European edition has no Free MP3 album promo code. Unless you're getting it as a display item, avoid.

Damn. I was really hoping someone could confirm that the Euro pressings at least sounded better. I'd gladly pay to import it if I knew for sure it at least sounded good.

[Moonlight J]

Perhaps we should ask Bach where he got his, sice he claimed it sounded so damn good. Perhaps he was just stoned as fuck? Then again, so was I when I played my copy, and it didn't help a bit. 

[russtcb]

Perhaps we should ask Bach where he got his, sice he claimed it sounded so damn good. Perhaps he was just stoned as fuck? Then again, so was I when I played my copy, and it didn't help a bit. 

Some tracks did sound awesome. Case in point- Better. I try to listen to that vinyl as much as possible because of that track alone. However SoD is so bad I cannot stand it.

[sandman]

the first time i listened i only noticed problems with RATB. everything else sounded great. i haven't listened to it in months though, and now that i am TOTALLY familiar with all the songs, i'll have to give it another listen and compare.

did most people notice issues with several songs???

are there any US versions out there where people have noticed issues on only one or two songs?
 

[Rainfox]

I'll know soon enough - as my record player arrives next week.

As far as I've been told (and learned here through this thread and others), it's only an issue on the last songs on every side (inner groove distortion).

Can't wait - regardless! 

VINYL!   

[russtcb]

I'll know soon enough - as my record player arrives next week.

As far as I've been told (and learned here through this thread and others), it's only an issue on the last songs on every side (inner groove distortion).

Can't wait - regardless! 

VINYL!   

Does you copy have all the scuffs and stuff on it? I've heard that either way, the inner songs sound horrible but I'm just curious.

[Rainfox]

Scuffs and stuff?

The albums look as they are - brand new. No smudging, no nothing.

There was no free digital download BTW. But that's not a given with every vinyl. But I believe this will be addressed in general terms soon. Notice how the late talk shows in the US (Letterman, now Conan) hold up vinyl covers when introducing bands 

I'm sure this will be commented on soon enough. Saw it with Chickenfoot and saw it with Phoenix.

As for CD; I'm curious now about that "inner groove distortion" issue.

[russtcb]

Scuffs and stuff?

The albums look as they are - brand new. No smudging, no nothing.

There was no free digital download BTW. But that's not a given with every vinyl. But I believe this will be addressed in general terms soon. Notice how the late talk shows in the US (Letterman, now Conan) hold up vinyl covers when introducing bands 

I'm sure this will be commented on soon enough. Saw it with Chickenfoot and saw it with Phoenix.

As for CD; I'm curious now about that "inner groove distortion" issue.

I sincerely hope yours isn't cursed with it. Did you get yours in the US? If not, I may go ahead, roll the dice and import one.

[Rainfox]

Russ, I'll get back to you on this.

Getting my vinyl player on Tuesday, will set it up and blast some Chinese Democracy, Led Zeppelin II and .. to begin with now... my original Thriller vinyl LP from 1983. 

RIP, moonwalker! 

My CD is bought in Denmark.  Jarmo (and others) have already reported in, that the albums bought here in Europe haven't suffered from the scratches, marks and bludges. But inner groove distortion is an issue still. Unfortunately.

I'll get back to you.

 

[jarmo]

I wonder if they could've just postponed the vinyl release a few weeks in order to fix the issues....

It's not like the whole release was gonna be postponed.

Maybe it wasn't possible to fix it since it was a double album and the fix might've required them to make it a triple?



/jarmo

[russtcb]

I wonder if they could've just postponed the vinyl release a few weeks in order to fix the issues....

It's not like the whole release was gonna be postponed.

Maybe it wasn't possible to fix it since it was a double album and the fix might've required them to make it a triple?



/jarmo

Maybe so. In the end I'm happy to have it on vinyl because it'll mostly hang on the wall anyways. But when I listened to it I was blown away by how much better I really thought it sounded so I was disappointed when the inner songs sounded terrible.