Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd is widely considered one of the best-recorded, best-sounding albums of all time. It doesn’t hurt that the songs and performances are absolutely magnificent as well.
Since 1973, there have been more than 600 different pressings of the album, on vinyl alone — not including discs, 8-tracks, reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes. Most of the pressings are excellent, with a few people saying some of the recent remastered versions on 180g vinyl are noisy. The one I have is the 2016 edition (PFRLP8) which was remastered at Abbey Road from the original tapes, with vinyl cut by the legendary Bernie Grundman. It cost $28 brand new and sounds fantastic. I also have the 1974 U.K. quadraphonic pressing which is a personal favourite — not only because of the quality of the pressing, and the fact that it’s four-channel, but also because it’s a slightly different mix of the album.
You can hear this mix of the album by picking up a copy of the 1979 East German pressing by Amiga, who used the mix from the 1973 East German quad pressing by Intershop. It’s a bit of an oddball, but one you can add to your collection as a conversation piece for under $40. Generally, you can narrow down your search for the best pressing by searching for the numeric value of the pressing’s dynamic range.
OK, nerd — what’s dynamic range? No two vinyl pressings sound alike, but simply put, DR is a measure of the difference between the smallest and largest audio signal. The softest to the harshest, quietest to loudest. The best vinyl records have a dynamic range of up to 70 db, in theory. In reality, most are somewhere between 60-70 db. Cassette tapes can be higher — or lower. Typically, a manufactured cassette tape has a dynamic range of 50-75 db. If you heard Dark Side Of The Moon on your favourite FM station, it’s unlikely the dynamic range would be more than 50 db. The original analog tapes have a dynamic range of up to 77 db, while a 16-bit digital version (CD, DVD, BluRay, FLAC, wav) has a dynamic range of 90-95 db — not that this matters if it was recorded on tape in the first place.
Anyway, the DR of the 2016 Dark Side Of The Moon that I have is exactly the same as that of the first U.K. pressings from 1973. You can get higher, though. The U.S. pressing of the 20th anniversary edition of the album — the one with the die-cut sleeve — has the highest DR of any vinyl pressing of Dark Side. The only DR exceeding this one is the one on the BluRay included in the Immersion box set in 2011 — specifically, Alan Parsons’ original 1972 mix of the album, before the spoken word bits were added.
Generally, the vinyl pressing Dark Side enthusiasts and audiophiles seem to agree is best was the Japanese 1978 Pro-Use edition. You’re probably looking at $200 for one in VG+ with the inserts, OBI and booklet. But just imagine all the action you’ll get!
Anyway, I thought I’d do a little roundup of some vinyl pressings you should perhaps avoid due to quality issues — records where there are multiple pressings, and you don’t want to foolishly buy a dud. I’ll also give you a suggestion of a much better-sounding version to add to your collection instead. So many things can lead you to coming home with an album that sounds awful — regardless of the music, the studio or the producers and engineers who captured it. Issues with mastering and press can ruin everything. Let’s examine some desirable pressings to avoid:
The Rolling Stones | Beggars Banquet (1968)
There was a mastering issue when the album was first cut, leading to the music to be slighter slower than intended. If you want the record to sound the way the band intended, get a copy from 2002 or later. It’s nearly 30 seconds faster.
Cat Stevens| Teaser And The Firecat (1971)
Avoid the 1986 25th anniversary Island Life Collection pressing. Any of the ones from the ’70s sound much better and are probably around $5.
Rolling Stones | Sticky Fingers (1971)
Steer clear of the 1994 limited-edition remaster by Bob Ludwig — it was done using the Apogee Super CD, but this particular pressing has issues. Ludwig oversaw five different ones in the ’90s, and says this one sounds nothing like what he created. There are all kinds of decent copies of this album, but it’s fun to find one with an actual zipper.
Supertramp | Breakfast In America (1979)
The folks at ontherecord.co have this in their “audiophile hall of shame.” Specifically, the 1979 “Audiophile Series” one with the stamp on the cover. It’s a Canadian edition, but pressed in Japan. There’s another version with a gold border that gets better reviews. Essentially, you’ll probably be happier with a bog-standard $5 copy.
Genesis | A Trick Of The Tail (1976)
The Mobile Fidelity edition from 1981 gets a lot of grief for being overly compressed. It seems like most people are aware of this, as even pristine copies are rarely more than $50. The Analog Productions one from 2024 is gorgeous — comes on two discs at 45 rpm for around $60. Way better deal. But, regular, vintage pressings can be had for around $10 and sound great.
Pink Floyd | A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
The 2019 Record Store Day mono mix on heavyweight vinyl is a debacle. It sounds bad in a variety of ways — and unlike Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, the mono mix is not better than stereo. Stick with any other pressing. If you want it in mono, the 2022 version sounds amazing. Probably cheaper, too. That’s the one I have.
Cannonball Adderley | Somethin’ Else (1958)
The $125 MoFi pressing of this bonafide classic, which only came out in 2023, should be amazing. It’s split onto two discs, at 45 rpm. I find it to be overly compressed and the trumpet sounds weird. I actually prefer my $10 U.K. reissue from 1979.
Anything on Bell Records (1970s)
If you happen to be a fan of Terry Jacks, Bay City Rollers, Gary Glitter, Melanie, David Cassidy, The Partridge Family, and Tony Orlando & Dawn, get ready for a slew of cheapo pressings. If indeed you are a fan of Glitter, you deserve this. Everyone else, look for represses on anything other than those tell-tale silver labels. They’re kind of up there in the realm of Ronco and K-Tel, except those two were usually pressed by Capitol, Columbia or RCA. Jacks albums were pressed on Bell everywhere except in his native Canada, where they appeared on his own label, Goldfish Records. Look for those, ideally. You’ll have joy, you’ll have fun.
Pickwick & RCA Camden (1970s & ’80s)
These were budget labels with simple, single-sleeve packaging and floppy vinyl. The first copy of Elton John’s spectacular live album 17-11-70 was the Pickwick version from the ’80s — with a stupid cover photo from 1976. There’s a load of Elvis records with this kind of mistreatment, as well — on RCA Camden. I avoid these.
MCA reissues (1980s-’90s)
Those glorious albums of Elton’s from the ’70s got the budget treatment by MCA starting in 1980. They still sound fine, but do you really want a version of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that doesn’t even have a gatefold, let alone a tri-fold? Do you really want a Honky Chateau with no buckle? A Madman Across The Water with no gatefold or booklet? Captain Fantastic without the books and poster? Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player with no booklet? You don’t, and the proper versions are easy to come by and no more expensive.
Tom Waits’ Elektra albums (2010)
Rhino reissued Tom’s Elektra albums on replica white labels, which include hype stickers professing them to be from the original analog master tapes. Instead, these are remasters cut by Ron McMaster at Capitol using defective 96/24 FLAC/wav files which were produced from the original master tapes. Later remasters fixed this issue, and actually used the original master tapes.
Some Reissues on Simply Vinyl (1997-2018)
Some of their reissues are stunning, and appear to be from the original analog tapes but others are clearly from digital sources. The problem is, Simply Vinyl usually doesn’t reference the source material. I try to stay away from remasters which don’t reference the source. Simply Vinyl did, however, make gorgeous replica packaging. I have some Nick Drake on Simply Vinyl, and I find them to be excellent.
Some Reissues on 4 Men With Beards (2001-present)
This label gets a bad wrap due to the quality of some of their reissues, but I have a copy of their 2009 reissue of Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop, and it seems fine to me. I’d put these into the same category as Simply Vinyl — they might be fine, but buyer beware. I had an original Westbound copy of Cosmic Slop, which I sold in favour of this one, because my copy was trashed. It still fetched more on Discogs in G+ than I paid for my NM copy on 4 Men With Beards.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
