Rufus Wainwright – Rufus Wainwright

I thought my needle was broken.

Apparently the album has been remastered, but it was never originally released on vinyl. Throughout this pressing it sounded obviously like a very lazy digital transfer. I think they downloaded a copy through Limewire at 128kbps and didn't bother mastering it for vinyl or making any test pressings to check it. There are some nasty artefacts in the top end that made me question my own tinnitus.

The flat and poorly balanced sound picks up after a couple of tracks but it is baffling how they managed to do such poor service to a richly orchestrated album that cost over a million dollars to record, which was produced by Jon Brion and Van Dyke Parks, and mastered by Bob Ludwig. If they had the tapes to remaster, why does it sound so bad?

I found a review/response on the Steve Hoffman audio forum which reassured me my system wasn't broken and my hearing hadn't gone:

"[...] The first few tracks sound a bit thick and are lacking in dynamic range, but then "April Fools" starts and it's a big leap forward in sound quality. Fortunately most of the album sounds better than the first few tracks, though it's a mixed bag overall. [...]"

They add that the CDs sound much better.

Bitterly disappointing. I love this album, L-U-V. Love it. Baffling treatment. Gay shame! </3

Good pressing. Not amazingly detailed but it doesn’t sound compressed to me at all.