45rpm pressing of Fleetwood Mac Rumours

Love this album and I have several versions of it. Original, japanese pressing, nautilus 1/2 speed and the 45rpm. All of it sounds great I would have to rate the 45 a bit ahead of the japanese pressing.... a bit more air and separation I think Hoffman did a great job

I heard the 45 rpm version on a great system and was not impressed with it.

I like the sound of the chain box cd set better

I have both the original and the Steve Hoffman pressings and actually listened to both versions yesterday, back to back. The Hoffman pressing has a more robust bass and perhaps a bit more seperation bewtween the musical elements. The original pressing has much more presence and punch in the upper-midrange. The original is a great, great sounding recording.

On balance I will take the original as I assume it consitutes the sound the band wanted. And it is a great sound. The Hoffman pressing is a fun variant but I miss the punch and presence of the original (I assume this is a function of the master-tape deterioration, and not any choice that Steve made).

I have the new 45rpm version and I think that it sounds very good. I also have an original copy from the 70's. I haven't actually compared the two versions yet but once I do I will post my impressions...

I'll have listen to my original to compare, but I played the 45 rpm last night.

Overall, I think the new version is the one to have. There's no question that it's got much more bottom end going on. That being said, I think the improvements are much more prominent on certain songs, like "Secondhand News" and "The Chain".

And from what I can tell, there are many varying levels of quality on an "original", so one dude's 1977 pressing could sound like garbage compared to the Hoffman version.