How many lps before you like it

If you get really obsessed - decades of listening and research, and thousands of dollars have yielded this for me (yes, I really have listened to this music and vinyl over and over):

Moodies -
Days/Passed - mediocre all around; UK original
Threshold/Dream - Nautilus and MoFi vinyl
Children's Children - MoFi is the best, but not great; all others are pretty bad (original recording is horrible)
Question - UK original
EGBDF - UK original
The recent SACD releases are better than any vinyl, unless you are a near-anal purist for the original mix. "Children" is a revelation.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears - MoFi and SuperDisc

Beatles - UK originals on ALL, with alternate choices of the German DMM of "The Beatles" (White Album) and the Japan Pro-Use of "Abbey Road."
The White LP is gritty; the DMM reduces grit, without being bright. "Abbey Road" Pro Use is wonderful.
(The MoFi pressing of the Beatles' lp's are quiet and sound good, but are NOT what the original mixes sound like.)
If you have unlimited funds the original mono "Please Please Me" with the gold lettering is the group's only recording that puts them in your room.
"McCartney" (first solo LP) on Japan red vinyl is stunningly good
... uh in terms of sound quality ;-)

Elton John -
For all LP's through "Yellow Brick Road" get the original UK pressings, as a rule. They are on the DJM label with virgin, dark translucent vinyl.
However - the DMM "Madman" is arguably better than first UK pressing, although it's hard to tell which is more accurate. The first Japanese pressing of "Elton John" is the only pressing of the LP that has a claim to sounding good, but getting a red vinyl copy is tough and $$$$$$. First Japanese pressing of "Captain Fantastic" is the best.

Stltrains -

Glad you at least were entertained! A life's work is behind all that. :-)

The MoFi "Children" is indeed lifeless (good word choice). I was just trying to say that it's the best vinyl out there - at least in my experience. The two UK pressings I have owned and heard (original and repressing) were worse and the Japanese was almost unlistenable. If you have a UK pressing that is better then good for you - and what in the heck is it?!?

With regard to the Beatles - a very good alternative is the Blue Box set of the basic LP's that was released in the late 1970's. The earlier boxes had pressings that were excellent - better than other (earlier) repressings of the '60's LP's. There was/is a Black Box of the mono versions that is even better-sounding.
Both boxes are pretty available, and the blue/stereo box is pretty reasonable in price - more than the less-collected single LP's but FAR less expensive than obtaining original pressings in acceptable condition.

You could spend hundreds of hours on this, you know ...
;-)

Stltrains -
There are about three pressings/runs of the "78 UK set" if that is what you mean by what I referred to as the "Blue Box." There was the initial run of a few thousand. When EMI found out how popular it was even at the initially high price, the company produced at least two additional runs. (Which of course instantly devalued the high prices we over-anxious idiots paid the first time through :-( ) The subsequent pressings weren't as good overall for some reason.
Glad you like the MoFi product. They do sound excellent and are preferred by a lot of people, including hardcore Beatles collectors. My UK preference is based upon the fact that the MoFi pressings do not sound the same as the UK pressings. But they are a LOT quieter!