I think I bought mine from eBay when it came out, and it appears to be a Chinese counterfeit CD.

Purchased a copy of this second hand and have to say it sounds fine to me.Little to no surface noise present - I did clean it on a Project VCS before playing.There’s a couple of points where there’s a small bit of vocal distortion; other reviews mention the EU pressing being cut a little hot so that’ll explain that. Maybe not the most wonderfully dynamic pressing, in truth a little dull on my set up, but by no means a disaster.

US pressing; hesitated for nearly 5 years but finally succumbed and nervously put vinyls to platter today. So relieved; sounds clear and beautiful. The odd small tic but nothing disturbing. What I did notice though, was the amount of gunk that came off on my stylus after each side played through... phenomenal for new vinyl! I cleaned each side before playing too ! The purple colouring is exquisite. No printed inner sleeves; just gatefold with couple of small pics and some text. Considering all the negative comments I feel very lucky to have scored a quality copy.

Lucky you ! My copy sucks ! It has a lot of "scuffs noise" but the vinyl is pristine new. So disappointing.

I think this pressing sounds pretty nice actually, and the vinyl is particularly beautiful - violet swirled on clear vinyl. Played on AT-LP5.

DISAPPOINTMENT!! Yes the music is good, it would be much better without "the noise" I have a US pressing, mint never opened (until an hour ago) a very nice system and well.... Like many have commented, this is a horrible sounding record. Funny too because they did it right, only a couple songs per side to allow for better sonics etc... Again, great music lousy pressing.

I have two US versions-- both are absolutely terrible pressings. After cleaning one of them half a dozen times (which is way too much time and effort) I have reduced the constant surface noise enough to barely tolerate it. Virtually all Mazzy Star vinyls from the year 2000 forward are pressed by someone who I'm sure would prefer to remain anonymous given the overall lousy quality-- which brings me to another point -- "Plain Recordings" -- WTF?? Do you deliberately source the cheapest dirtiest vinyl you can buy and is your pressing plant in some dark and smokey Romanian prison being operated by a Leper? I have bought a least a dozen of your releases and nearly all of them are flat out crap. Plain Recordings should be ashamed of turning out junk product like this!

Right! But they did the reissues and many other reissues... all crap... which this one reminded me of... but you're right. This was a URP mess. Just wish I could get good pressings.

Plain Recordings never had anything to do with the release or pressing of the record my dude

EURO pressing = terrible sound quality !!! very much in the vein of the new hope sandoval (until the hunter)

EURO pressing = terrible sound quality !!! very much in the vein of the new hope sandoval (until the hunter)

THX for this fantastic album, makes me goose-skin!!!...whatever the vinyl quality is...

I bought the vinyl for this in 2013, it sounded horrible so I thought there was a problem with my system. I ended up replacing it as I wanted a new one anyway. I bought this record again recently and it still sounds terrible, the worst sounding vinyl I have ever bought, so much distortion.

I have both EU and US vinyl versions. The EU version is cut much louder than the US, which gives distortion occasionally. The EU is pressed on a little bit thicker purple marbled semi translucent vinyl. My EU copi is flat but a bit off entered, which makes the pitch go up and down a little. The US version sounds better with no distortion. It is pressed on thinner more translucent tortoise shell patterned purple vinyl with more compressed groove spacing, leaving a longer runout groove. Mine is however slightly warped and has more background noise than the EU version... So no perfect vinyl version I am afraid. Both include wav files, not mp3 as stated on sticker, so that is good news.

Can someone add the EU version to discogs? the matrix/deadwax info is all different? I did hear some background noise on the EU version, but all that noise is gone if you add some weight to the needle!! Just runned the whole EU press record again.. no noise or crackles anything.. RUN the record once or twice with heavy needle and then it will run fine after that ! Some dirt on the surface only! NO PRESS problems! Confirmed from a big distributor in EU no complains what so ever

Thanks for your hint. You are right -if one puts more weight on the needle, the record sounds just great !

What's going on here? Can't believe all these negative comments! The album sounds brilliant, strong and clear, and it's pressed on 2xLP with high sound intensity.If you want to talk about bad pressings, please check out "So Tonight That I Might See" (plain118).

You just have been lucky. Most of the pressings are not good at all.

I too have the UK issue and it has plenty of distortion. So disappointed.I did manage to get the Rough Trade limited 7" (black vinyl) with Seasons Of Your Day / Sparrow which plays a lot better. Perhaps they released it to try to make up for the terrible quality of the album pressing?

Just bought a UK copy, mine is distorted in places too :( Such a shame as the music is so good!

I got the EU version and it's not a pretty sounding record. The heavy needle run sounds a good idea though

So USA pressing = great quality and Euro pressing = bad quality

Not my two US pressings. The vinyl quality is pretty awful-- constant noise and very difficult to clean.

I'm actually quite pleased with all the comments about the horrible sound quality of the LP. It is so bad that I was worried something was wrong with my system. Luckily it is just the 25 euro wax ;-(Worst piece of new vinly so far (European version). Bought it during a trip so no chance of returning it. I even tried that Knosti thing to improve sound quality. No chance there allthough the labels are now ruined as well!

Just bought the US version of this album in Purple vinyl. No sound issues on any parts of the album. Using an acrylic platter with a Music Hall cork mat.

My copy (purple) is hopelessly distorted, never had a worst piece of brand new wax.Marking says 'Greg @ Masterpiece'

My purple USA vinyl sounds great. Zero issues across all 4 sides. Beautiful album! The "mp3" download was actually wav format which is cool.

my.vinyl copy sounds great.maybe some copies are warped.

My vinyl copy is so distorted in places I can't listen to it, and will be buying the cd, unfortunately.

This vinyl version (probably the EU pressing) has got a really bad sound quality. Especially during "Sparrow" Hope's voice is partly distorted. Not worth the money imho. But because there is no other vinyl option at the moment, I won't send it back.