John Prine – Aimless Love

Pressing is clean, meaning no surface noise (once cleaned with an ultrasonic, to be fair). However, John's vocals just sound muffled. Enough to make me move my first listen of the press from one turntable to another. I don't have the '84 press to compare to, nor am I doing a rigorous A/B test with a clean digital source (i.e. not streaming). BUT while it doesn't annoy with noise from a new press like many new press do (looking at you anything from United pressings) it doesn't sound energetic either. Perhaps it's the production or the mastering but it all just sounds like it's singing through a wet paper sack from a distance. That said, I love John Prine, so I had to have this.

Just noticed that the track list for Side 2 on the back cover has a misprint with two track 5's listed. Whatevs, great pressing and music!

Fyi...I emailed Oh Boy Records and they confirmed that these reissues are pressed at a new facility called The Vinyl Lab.

Does anyone know how to differentiate the colored and the black? I know it’s the first “batch” but is there a different barcode or is it random?

This sounds ok. I have a NM original and it smokes this. New pressing sounds flat and a little lifeless.