Antigravity

Thanks again for everyone's help - I may try to contact Mike, not a bad idea.  If the matrix etchings on mine match the 3rd pressing however, it seems like that must be the answer.  Maybe I am too picky about quality, I wouldn't rule that out, ha ha.

10 minutes ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

How else would they know it was the same pressing...?

 

Like I said before, you probably got a bunk copy of the 3rd press.

Just making sure - your use of the word "assume" and the fact that your pressings sounded great, made me want to confirm.  Still shocked about the quality issue on mine I guess.

Do your side A runout etchings match the one I posted at top?

Thanks!

5 hours ago, twelvetwenty said:

Listening to the 180g version from this pressing right now, as I'm assuming that's the one you have? Sounds great... No strange background tone here.

 

Third pressing standard weight black has the same matrix as the second pressing. Threw that on and it also sounds good. I can't comment on any pressing after that because I stopped catching them all.

Thanks for the comments so far everyone.  I am extremely interested in someone else confirming that they have the same runout etching as I posted.  Does anyone else have this same pressing positively?

To answer some questions:

- Yeah, I was looking for an older pressing, as I generally go for first pressings.

- Mine is definitely not 180 gram, standard weight black.

- Huge vinyl nerd of 22 years, w/ quality setup on 1200 mkII's, Ortofon, etc - The noise between tracks is not my setup positively (I even double checked b/c it was so weird), and the noise isn't from overplaying/wear either - It's clearly from the equipment that cut the lacquer for this pressing, I can't say I've ever heard that so blatantly before - it really jumps out on headphones.  It's mechanical tone from equipment - and it's really blatant

- I'm still weirded out by the white "pits" about 1mm diameter on each side - also have never seen that before.  It's not white vinyl, it's "papery" looking

- Thanks for helping to rule out first pressing, It's possible it's a later pressing, but I would love to know which - and mostly, is it really this bad of a pressing?!

- I would like to enter the matrix numbers into Discogs if we can determine the pressing.

Thanks again

Oh, and Hi!  Happy to become a new member here :-)

I finally grabbed a copy of this LP online, listed as the original 1999 pressing, Black vinyl.  Yay?  Not so much...  I am hoping that some of you AT fans may be able to help me solve this issue.

The main aspects that are killing me:

1) It sounds pretty bad - strange background tone all the way through, highly noticed in between each song, into/outro, etc - sounds like a really janky unprofessional cut.  Could this be normal??!

2) Strange defects, one per side - they appear white - as if the "vinyl" was a coating over some other material - the white parts are definitely indented, as is material is missing.  Never seen this in my life (and I'm a pretty serious nerd)

3) Referring to #1, the mastering was supposed to be done by John Golden - but he is actually really really good, and this cut is pretty bad.  As well, his famous GOLDEN stamp is not in the wax

4) The matrix numbers/etchings do not match what's on Discogs for the original pressing ( but no other pressings have their numbers entered on Discogs)

5) The cover art, esp noticed on the back cover, is pretty fuzzy - the text & logos specifically - and the labels are kind of fuzzy and dark.  But looking at photos, this may not be far from the normal release.  Usually fuzzy print is how I would spot a bootleg

The record contains the inner sheet, which would be over the top for a bootleg... And I've never heard of a bootleg of this LP.

So it's super weird and I need to get to the bottom of this so I can return it or figure out what to do.  If this is truly the first pressing, then yikes!  It's pretty funky.

Here are the Side 1 etchings in the wax, I would seriously appreciate it if anyone with any Black vinyl pressing of any year, could please check your etchings, so I can figure out what I'm holding here.  I really would like to figure out if this an official pressing of some kind, or something unofficial.

1089-AM055-1A  5  S-65692, and an unintelligible squiggle

Does this match any pressing?  Even if you have a colored pressing, your comment would be helpful.  For instance, do these etchings match the Orange version of the first pressing?  Any other pressing at all?

Please help Vinyl Wan Collective, you're my only hope!  :-)   THANK YOU!