180g … It’s All Hype !

My first record store job was in 1970-1, and let me tell ya, we had to return a LOT of defective new release LP’s that year, whole batches of them. LP pressing quality has ALWAYS been an issue. That’s one reason I and others started buying import LP’s in the late-60’s/early-70’s. British pressings ALWAYS sounded better than their U.S. equivalents. German ones too. Japanese LP’s were very well made, but sometimes suffered from odd equalization.

"Pure junk from otherwise respectable audiophile company"? For instance? I’ve never received a junk LP from Acoustic Sounds (Analogue Productions), Speakers Corner (made in Germany. I think junk is illegal in that country ;-), MoFi, or any other audiophile company. Yes, sound quality varies, but that is more a matter of the original recording than the pressing. Again, for new LP’s, look for those pressed at QRP, Pallas, Optimal, and RTI.

"...junk records of bad quality will rarely appear there." (the used market). You cannot be serious! I don’t know where you’re looking for and/or finding used LP’s, but LP condition grading is a major---no, THE major---element in the collectible LP market and business. Near Mint condition records comprise maybe 5% of all the LP’s listed on Discogs, VG+ another 15%. Below those grades, all bets are off. Most used LP’s are "junk":, but that’s because of user abuse, not pressing quality. When I peruse the bins at my local used LP shops, for every one record I find in condition good enough to consider buying, I see and reject about ten.

I need to dig it up. I have one record where the Coltrane sax on one track was severely distorted. And it is a definitely pressing issue, because I’ve got a different one and it sounded good.

I will clarify, junk records are on the market. But first, unless the seller is a scam, they will not put it as NM if it is junk. Second, amongst all those poor graded records there is no way to tell if it is poor because of the original quality or because it was abused over the years.

And this is where this bias is - people assume that older records were of a much better quality while we can't easily tell this based on the used market.

Where was the Coltrane LP pressed? Yes, there are bad new LP pressings, so consumers have to be discerning. You don’t buy a McDonalds hamburger expecting it to taste good, do you? ;-)

For a great Coltrane pressing look for the reissue of his Lush Life album that Craft Recordings did a while back. They did it as a 1-step pressing (if you’re unfamiliar with what that is, a search will explain it all), making only 1,000 copies and selling them direct-to-consumers for $100. It sold out in 20 minutes, and unfortunately now sells on the second-hand market for $500. :-(  Still, do you know what an original first pressing in Mint condition sells for?

I never really considered this question until I started to get back into vinyl a year or so ago. Couple points made were:

1) Back in the day when it was ALL analog there were good and bad records.

2) Many reissues come from a digital source! Yikes. Doesn't that defeat the whole analog thing?

3) Even today there are good and bad records so to speak. Crazy prices, and sometimes even reputation won't ensure that you will be happy. 

4) I am starting to think that taking the chance on a well cared for original may be the best bet in more cases than I first thought.

It will be a mixture of labels, price and hunting. I mean that you may have to buy multiple records of the same music to finally get the best for you. I think that I might be lowering my standards a bit.

@bdp24 Another: The original Tea For The Tillerman LPs were mastered with Dolby noise reduction engaged in the chain.

Better not tell this to Tom @ better records! He sells original tea for the tillerman at a pretty hefty price!