Haircut One Hundred – Pelican West

The good: Sounds great; dynamic and engaging. Noise levels were fine on mine, and my copy is also flat.
The bad: Cover and insert feels thin/cheap, mine had a minor scuff on side B, although not significantly audible.
Overall: Definitely a keeper

My label matches, but mine is a Terre Haute by the T1 in the runout.

Really? Nobody reviewed this properly? Ok I'll go ahead:

This is a very good sounding record. Judging from what I heard on streaming before buying the record it is also a very good recording to begin with.

Nonetheless, you get a lot of bang for the money: This is AAA, has a great separation, a ton of detail and an impressive "band" feeling. My only complaint would be that it sounds a tad sterile and that it could have a bit more punch considering dynamics. However, it might just be due to the "new wave" way of doing things back then.

No surface noise, flat vinyl as well.... Probably the prior reviewer got a bad copy.

Overall, a very good pressing. Since they are very easy to get and quite cheap though, I will do a comparison with a UK original soon.

This box is currently only £34 on Amazon delivered. Bargain.

Nice little deluxe edition. 4 CDs in one of those book style covers. If you’ve got an aversion to packages where the discs are slipped into a slot then you might not be so keen. The cover is about 5” x 5”. I was expecting a 12” sized release but this is neat, and obviously won’t take up much room.
Someone below asked about the flexipop version of Nobody’s Fool. That’s not on here but you’ve got the album, the singles and B sides, plus 12” versions. Theres a 14 track live show from 1982 which I’ve not played yet, and another disc of unfinished tracks, which I gather are for a second Hayward fronted album that never happened.
The books ok. Glossy with a load of photos and some brief chitchat with the band.
Overall, really well put together. A band like H100 don’t need a big boxset like, say, King Crimson. This is compact, and does what it sets out to do. It reminds me of my favourite of this year’s 80s reissues - Fun Boy Three. Their complete collection set is on similar lines to this.
SQ ? If you read the comments below 50% say they’re happy with the mastering, and 50% aren’t impressed. So, Im going by my ears here - it sounds fine to me. I’m not hearing any clipping or loudness. I’ve certainly heard worse.
Anyway 4 out of 5. It drops a point because I wouldn’t say I was a big fan of the band, and occasionally the songs can veer into tweeness a bit too much for me. If you’re a fan though, and you have been dragging your heels about getting this, I would think you’d love it. Maybe could have had a DVD ?

This sounds tremendous and I found it in a local shop (Augsburg, Bavaria) for next to nothing!

Tremendous amount of surface noise. A/B test vs a $1.00 original copy and the $1.00 version was better.

Just dusted this off after a 30 year hiatus. It was surprisingly clean and quiet. The dynamic range was also great. Deep bass. Lovely!

I recently picked up an original UK copy (as listed here) and gave it a spin, it really sounds nice, open, dynamic, like Nick & The Boys having a party in your living room. I highly recommend this pressing! It's a shame they (all) did not make more records together, and don't let the preppy look fool you, they were actually a real solid group, I'd say a bit like The Smiths on Prozac.

Excellent album, underestimated or too forgotten in the rankings, an instrumental slap! This Japanese edition is exceptional in sound