Interesting Article

Speaking of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore... ;^)

If you can get hold of a rare curiosity of an album called "Consequences" (the full 3-LP set) you'll witness a work of genius. Peter Cook does all the voices in the drama with the exception of the receptionist and Mrs Stapleton, from Jewish accent to posh inebriate lawyer. It's a grower so the full magnitude won't hit you until you've heard it a few times.
"Quote :
Cool Voiced Receptionist : "Mr Hague, may I have the rest of the afternoon off? My niece is on fire..."
Hague (inebriate lawyer) : "Alright (muttering) same bloody excuses every time..."
It was true btw! There was a global disaster going on outside! :D

The musical background is analogous to one of those massive oil paintings with a cast of thousands. If you were to snapshot one tiny bit of it there is always an incredible wealth of detail, sound effect, and subtle musical accompaniment going on in the background at occasionally near inaudible levels.
So, it'll come in handy that you've proved you're able to play older albums without interference ;^)
All the best,

Dweller,
Cool name. I have about 3000 vinyl records, many dating from 60's and 70's, plus a few hundred 45's. No RCM any more. Just use a good brush. I listen to vinyl quite a bit. I listen to rock, classic rock, indie, pop, etc. I hear NO pops! NO Noise of any kind! I only hear what's originally recorded on the record. I do not know your complete system. I would suggest you don't tell others to get their hearing checked. I would also suggest you take a hard look at your system. Most likely your phono stage. If you do your research you will find the phono stage is the most common cause of pops and other noises.
I'm just sayin ✌️

Whatthe: After 45 years of listen to records, seriously, I'm pretty sure I can tell the diff between defective vinyl and defective equipment. One type of distortion I kept noticing last night is something I call "groove lettuce". This intermittent sound is kind of like an amplifier clipping and is probably "my bad" for not knowing how to dial in my cartridge to perfection.
While we're on the subject, how could my phono head-amp (Ayre) be causing click and pops? I'm using XLR out to my BAT and XLR equipment is usually pretty quiet.
Please explain.

Moonglum - I didn't recall Peter Cook's contribution to Consequences. I enjoyed it very much and played the heck out of it back in the day. Persons looking for it now might do well to search under Godley & Creme as they were the creators.

I buy a lot of used vinyl, much of it collectible now. I'll usually hold out for minty condition records, but given the subjective nature of record grading, not all are in the high level of playing condition I prefer. For the records I truly care about, I will sometimes be forced to buy multiple copies of these old records to get a dead quiet one. Sometimes, I think this is simply the result of abuse, not of defective manufacturing; in many cases, the older records clean up extremely well after a serious cleaning.
I don't tolerate pops and clicks, and for the most part, the records I listen to are very quiet.
I occasionally buy 'new' vinyl, but those purchases are limited to newly released music or the occasional remaster of an old record that is very hard to obtain at a reasonable price. My experience with new vinyl today is probably about the same as it was during the 60's and 70's- some quality control problems, including bad pressings, bad masterings (which I didn't know much about 30 or 40 years ago), off-center spindle holes or other defects that a good cleaning won't rectify.
I'm not going to wade into the digital v analog quagmire- I think, like politics, you rarely convince somebody of the opposite view once they have made up their mind. But, I do think you can achieve quiet noise free vinyl listening- it takes some time to sort, I have relied on outside expertise to help me (though I've gotten pretty good at dialing in my arm/cartridge). I also agree that some cartridges and phono stages may emphasize surface noise more than others.
Whether the current vinyl 'craze' is a fad or not, I'm pleased that there is renewed attention to the manufacturing process. I don't know much about sourcing raw lacquers, but the neglect of the rest of the vinyl manufacturing "infrastructure"- from presses to cutting lathes- sounds accurate. It does seem that the article was Euro-centric.