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Supertramp - crime of the century on vinyl - which one please?

Rug Doc

pfm Member
I fancy a vinyl copy of this album. Doesn’t need to be the rarest, most collectable, just a decent sounding one.

which one should I hunt out please?
 
Can’t go wrong with an early UK pressing. Easily identifiable by the high gloss laminated sleeve which often has a couple of bubbles around the spine by now. Should have a lyric insert too. A superb sounding record, but it may take you a couple of goes to find a really quiet one. The original issue CD with black text on a plain silver label is superb too, a great example of an early natural and dynamic CD, I assume a flat master transfer.
 
I’ve got a well played MFSL copy of this. Probably wouldn’t be good enough condition for the Hoffman crowd, but nonetheless a reference record for me. Top 10 album for me, great from end to end.

Must get one of those early CD’s this week.
 
I had an MFSL pressing years ago, which I recall sounded excellent, but I went off the band, and sold it.

From £21 on Discogs, up to the factory sealed original at £890 ...
 
I realised I only have an old and beaten up copy so this thread was a good push to grab another. There is an MFSL incoming from the States - once the taxes were added it wasn't such an amazing deal however.
 
The late 80’s German A&M pressings are great. No need to look elsewhere really. Mobile Fidelity (overpriced) do nothing better than a good standard pressing.
I’d avoid the recent remasters that sound dreadful.
Or get the CD :D
 
Thankyou all. I have a mint original copy arriving tomorrow from a Discogs seller, hopefully it’ll be a quiet one. Looking forward to spinning it!
 
Mobile Fidelity (overpriced) do nothing better than a good standard pressing.

:D
All Mobile Fidelity or just this one? I'm very careful to look into real life reviews of pressings before I spend more than a tenner or so - especially for MoFi. The reviews are universally excellent for the MoFi Crime.
 
The MFSL vinyl is superb imo, I certainly preferred it to the Speakers Corner release from 5 or 10 years ago or whenever it came out.
 
All Mobile Fidelity or just this one? I'm very careful to look into real life reviews of pressings before I spend more than a tenner or so - especially for MoFi. The reviews are universally excellent for the MoFi Crime.

I can’t comment on this one as I’ve never heard it, so best to ignore everything I say as records always need assessing on a case by case basis. Anyway, I’m really not a fan of the MFSL I have heard from that era. The DSOTM and Aja are pretty awful IMHO. Lovely quiet pressings, lovely covers, but the EQ is just plain weird to my ears. I remember putting the DSOTM up against the bog standard mid-70s UK copy I had at the time (which is probably better than the one I have now… long story) and I didn’t like it at all. Mid-scooped. It just sounded like the loudness button on a cheap receiver, all the punch was gone. Aja the same, and that was against a UK copy which is very nice, but ultimately rather warm and dull (I now have a Japanese 1st press that certainly betters it). All the MoFis I’ve heard have had this kind of sucked-mid and boosted top & bottom character, a ‘smiley face’ EQ in mastering speak. It is not for me.

PS I’ve just dug my copy of Crime out. UK, fully laminated sleeve, insert, A5/B5 matrix, and the vinyl looks pretty much mint, not so much as a hairline under strong light. It has been wet cleaned more than once. Sounds great, very dynamic, maybe a little blunted at the very top, but 1970s prog drum EQ is always pretty odd. Very good from a hi-fi perspective. I do think you’ll struggle to find a quiet one though. Mine is good as they go, not quiet, but not intrusive. I just don’t think A&M used very good vinyl at this period.
 
@Tony L I think it's fair to say that the MoFi output of that period was patchy, but there are some little gems - I have Al Jarreau - All Fly Home and Joe Jackson - Night and Day which both sound excellent. As you say though, Aja just sounds unbalanced. Lets see how Crime sounds, but going on the reviews I shouldn't be too disappointed.
 


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