After a friend played the Reissue in 33 RPM format I was convinced that this piece of music is essential to my listening collection. First copy I heard had light occasional ticks and clicks nothing that overpowered the music. However, my experience was less than satisfactory after purchasing a copy of the 33 RPM re-issue. Mine has much louder obtrusive pops booms and clicks. This led me to purchasing the limited edition 45 RPM issue. Upon receipt of 45 RPM double vinyl, Edgewarp Was present on disc one. issues experienced on 33 RPM are more apparent and obtrusively distracting on the 45 release. music throughout all songs sounds off on the 45 release. Further, distortions and muffled sections made me cringe on the 45 release. Also, led me to A/B compare. the 33rpm copy is the better play for my two copies. For issues noted I cannot recommend either format. Strongly considering buying a third copy of 33 RPM format. If similar experiences occur,the CD will be my final attempt to enjoy this release.

Forget mastering, mine came with a deep scratch on the A side, anyone else?

I have listened to this pressing (2x12") 3 times now on a VPI Scout & Nagaoka carts (MP110 & MP200).The pressing has a large amount of pops and crackles that are very intrusive. The audio has a muddy quality that seems to smother the whole recording. Dynamic range is also somewhat curtailed. I have digital records that sound better than this which only goes to show just how critical mastering is.I do not recommend this LP even if it is AAA. It is listenable but honestly, that's not what we buy vinyl for

We all buy vinyl for our own specific reasons. It's not usually wise to generalize and speak on behalf of others and their motivations.

Great 2x12", The sound of both records is perfect. Nice reissue.

Yeah, I agree with the last two posts. This reissue is a very good job, the remastering is proper, it's definitely worth getting the 45rpm version and no, not all the stuff that's being printed right now is garbage, this is an excellent proof. It's amazing to get the chance to get such a good reissue of this masterpiece. Just play it on a good sound system.I have been buying vinyls for a while and 10 years ago, reissues were generally much worst, I have to say. Aside of a few company everyone worked with digital masters. Nowadays, things are changing, this is a good proof.The best reissue of 2017!

A minimal ambient Masterwork. Highly recommended. The Audiophile 2 LP 45 RPM addition sounds wonderful. There seems to be a current fad to trash vinyl these days ... specifically 45 rpm versions. Not sure what is up with that. The fact that there are 75 copies of this record on discogs is a mind blower to me. I'll be glad when the hipsters bow out of the "vinyl craze". Hats off to the amazing labels for taking the time to do reissues right. A must for any fan of ambient and minimal music.

People on here are nutters. This is a bloody amazing sounding record. 2lp version highly recommended.

Agree - this is a great release. Very happy with mine.

Pretty simple, you have a lot of demand and not enough pressing plants, and don't get me started about good pressing plants with any sort of quality control. I can't even imagine how bad it is today with all the lame major labels flooding the plants trying to cash in on the fad. I have visited record pressing plants, they are basically the size of a one car garage with 2, maybe 3 underpaid, under-appreciated people doing all the work, and with demand today they are probably over-worked. Basically if you are buying records today don't expect a pristine product, I am not sure that has ever existed, unless you have a billion dollar band like the beatles with gallons of money to make it happen. At this point it's a bourgeois hobby, forget a $3000 sound system, why invest in a system thats just going to bring out everything that sounds bad about a pressing?

I doubt this record was pressed in one of the plant you visited - which you did not say btw - and I do not think we need more pressing plant. Most of the newcomers plants have eventually good communications skills, certainly daft company names (it's subjective) but cutting lacquers, doing the galvanic and pressing records is not something you do learn with cash and paid facebook ads but time and experience. And still.Companies like MPO, Pallas, Optimal, RAND are long lasting and trustable. They treat both their employees and customers right - even one is giving the friday off, whatever the demand. Pressing records is not a stable process and as for everything else, you get faulty products. If so customer should act accordingly (replace, refund, exchange) but shall stop the unconstructive (hate) discogs comments mentioning all the set up they have home, who cares.

I am very pleased with my copy. The vinyl came in black poly lined inner sleeves and the sound is very good. A few clicks at the beginning of side A but the rest is very quiet. A slight distortion occurs in the high frequencies , don't know if intended on the original record or not, but to me its sounds nice and enhaces the naturalness of the music. This edition includes an interview that lets you know more about the musical ideas she had during the creation of the album and the recording process. She was very much inspired by African music and minimalism. Her purpose was to disengage herself from expression and create music that could help build the inner self. This is exactly what I feel when listening to this beautiful music.

I purchased the ''audiophile'' version of this with the hope of having a better sounding experience on my audio system. Played on a rather high end system with a a power amp at 120 watts and an audio technica 440 catridge working with a head amp, my copy is featuring a complete lack of dynamics, weak highs and a noise that at high volumes totally covers the quieter parts of the recording. To be honest the whole vinyl resurrection is nothing but a hype. My high quality mp3s of Midori Takada's masterpiece sound inconceivably better than the vinyl version. As with many other cases of re issues. Vinyl as you might have noticed is overrated and I'm happy that in most occasion I have skipped buying re issues. I can live with flacs wavs and so on. The sound quality is way better. Disappointed to say the least.

You possibly mean "talking shit on a classic" here right?

Right.For this type of release you should prefer CD format, not only it would give you full satisfaction guaranteed but also it will be quite cheaper, no frustration for sure.Of course in this case it will be ADD not AAA as for the vinyl.But can you really tell the difference?I mean we all listened to the YOUTUBE RIP and never complained.Also, did anyone listened to the original vinyl? Dude, this is not a very good one, just saying.

we will have a date as soon as we are 100% pleased with test pressing. Vinyl and CD will come out at the same time.Milan records on Akira re issue. Makes more sense right?

Have an even higher end system than yours - one copy sounds bloody excellent but the other was pretty much thrashed with non-fill issues. However excellent the label said about its mastering and cutting, doesn't matter if the pressing and QC is shite. Why not press at Pallas at least? I've been sticking to CD reissues since ever, and several crap vinyl reissues like these in the recent years just affirmed my decision.

Phew! Good thing I checked here before buying this, I already got my fair share of bad pressings ruining great releases.

There must be copies without any issues out there. Mine came perfect as well!

I was lucky and got a perfect copy, no pops, no clicks, no nothing. Amazing record in an amazing repress.

As with others here my copy has many pop, clicks, scrapes and distortion. Sides 2 and 4 are the worse. Pressing defects are clearly visible on the vinyl. I wasted my money on the "audiophile" version. Surely the 33rpm version cannot sound any worse!

I'm noticing A TON of grooves on my copy, which, when an amplified needle runs through them, creates sound. Anyone else having this issue?

Check again and see if it's a ton of grooves as you said or whether it's just one long one kind of coiled round on itself on each side. If it's the former then you definitely have a problem, if it's the second you should just be able to put the needle near the outermost edge and it will travel slowly toward the centre, stopping before it reaches the paper disc in the middle.. You may hear some sound being produced as this happens but that's pretty normal for these kinds of things and there's not much you can do about it. If there is more than one groove on each side see if you can remove the extra ones and deposit them on any blank discs you have lying around, that's the best way to get rid of them (I usually use the tip of a scalpel to gently pry up and lift away one end of the groove and the rest should follow like a long black hair, just don't pull to quick as you might snap it and have to find the end again, good luck!)

Shit dude, return it asap your copy is totally ruined

Has anyone found out how many "limited edition" copies were pressed? Seemed to be available a really long time on the WRWTFWW Bandcamp page.

Now says both vinyl editions now sold out at the label

My copy has some bad coaxial flutter, not happy with the flutter rate on this unit. Sad.

Seriously have to question the wow ratio on the bandwidth of my unit as well

My copy definitely shows signs of perpendicular crosstalk on side C.

My copy has quite bad distortion where the bass undertone enters in 'Crossing'. No noticeable issues with any other tracks.

Same here, pretty shite. In general there is a lot of distortion on 'Crossing'

I was worried about the quality, but mine sounds fantastic! To bad so many represses nowadays are either (very) good or horrible... If your copy is bad it's worth the hassle of sending back bad copies until you get a good one :-) If you buy on discogs, ask about the quality first before buying!

Pretty disappointed with this release. The music is incredibly gorgeous, but this "audiophile" version has some pops and distortion that really shouldn't be there at this price point. Gatefold sleeve is not well-designed; it's difficult to get the records in and out and mine arrived in fairly poor shape from Forced Exposure. Overall, I'm happy to finally have this on vinyl and it sounds pretty good, but I kinda wish I'd just bought the basic LP edition instead of the 2LP.

I ordered mine from Forced Exposure as well and the jacket arrived in very poor condition. Not happy about this at all.

Any noticable differences between the two reissues? Please enter three more words.

A fair bit of pops and crackles on Side A, and more throughout the rest of the album, though not as much. Really, considering how much a fuss they made about the 'Audiophile' quality of this upcoming release, the result is disappointing. I've almost given up buying new vinyl these days.

Mine is mint, and the sound is great. Still available here : https://www.aguirrerecords.com/products/copy-of-midori-takada-through-the-looking-glass-lp-2xlp.Check Aguirre label too : great stuff.

Same her, flawless copy and a joy to play (2x45 rpm 12")

Anyone else have pressing issues? I've got non-fill on sides A and D with noise, and D pressed off center with resulting noise for minutes in the middle of "Catastrophe". Waiting to see if Forced Exposure will send a replacement. Sounds really good in the spots not affected by these pressing issues.EDIT: Recieved replacement of both discs from Forced Exposure, aside from a few pops and clicks the first disc sounds great. Second disc also had non-fill with noise and distortions for half of side D. Waiting to see if they'll replace just the 2nd disc. The mastering on the record is solid, it's a really great sounding record apart from the terrible QC at Optimal. I would not suggest buying 2nd hand if you cannot visually check it before purchasing, and if it's sight unseen make sure to check the return policy.

My copy arrived yesterday and fortunately doesn't suffer from those non-fill issues. It isn't flawless but comparing to the majority of ambient pressing I've bought lately I can only be relieved it is properly listenable.

mine's being held in reserve at redeyerecords..... very tempted to get another copy from somewhere else to better my chances of a good copy! (living abroad without a deck atm, at will be for sometime).

KDSutherland is it visual under a strong light? white dots in a line - a string of pearls as it's referred to? I believe. That's the thing. I've found those will almost always be audible, since there is no groove information where they appear. They can appear in a line or multiple lines or manifest in a spotty cloud.

That's the thing. I've found those will generally be audible, since there is no groove information where those appear. They can appear in a line or multiple lines or manifest in a spotty cloud.

is it visual under a strong light? white dots in a line - a string of pearls as it's referred to? I believe.

few non-fill too on 2 sides for me as well ...

mvns Optimal Media pressings have a higher chance for non-fill issues for some reason. Pretty much a symptom of pressing the records too quickly, i.e. not letting the vinyl to heat up and cool down sufficiently. Yeah definitely, I have a number of Modern Love and On-U sound reissues and I think they're all pressed at Optimal. I've had to generally return each album 2-3 times before getting a copy not full of pits. I think the 10 out of 12 records I've bought pressed at Optimal since 2014 have had this.

Optimal Media pressings have a higher chance for non-fill issues for some reason. Pretty much a symptom of pressing the records too quickly, i.e. not letting the vinyl to heat up and cool down sufficiently.

Aside from the odd feint moment of surface noise mine played through fine & sounds great.

thathat hmm this is worrying...i was thinking about getting this premium version because the LP version has a lot of surface noise and crackle, despite obviously being brand new and sealed. For what it's worth, on the 45rpm version the unaffected areas sound great, very clear, with no noise. All of the noisy areas all have defects that are visually confirmable, and in general non-fill and how the pressing is centered seem to vary from copy to copy. The problem is with the pressing plant and quality control. I've found that with these specific pressing problems on a copy of a record, there will generally be some good copies out there but also some more bum ones too.

All sounds good here, got no complaints about my copy. Sounds lush.

let's see what others say - I pre-ordered a copy and wont be opening it for a while, so I find it a little trouble too!

hmm this is worrying...i was thinking about getting this premium version because the LP version has a lot of surface noise and crackle, despite obviously being brand new and sealed.

Anyone chopped and screwed this version at 33rpms yet? Pretty excited to hear what that sounds like

Heh, I actually forgot it was 45rpm and listened to the first disc at 33. Actually sounded great, I got through the first half of the album without noticing that I was playing it at the incorrect speed : )