The White Stripes – The White Stripes

Just picked up a copy for cheap, but it skipped bad before a cleaning. After cleaning it only skipped once on Jimmy The Exploder so far. It’s a little noisy with pops and crackles, too.
Edit: Sugar Never Tasted So Good is unplayable due to skips. The rest of the album is listenable, but noisy. Walmart won’t do a return due to copyright laws?

Bad-ass mastering & pressing of this bad-ass LP. Get a bottle of ripple & crank it. LOUD.

WARNING: This CD was mastered using lossy MP3s. ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

I will echo others here. This is a disappointing pressing. No skips on mine, but side 1 is pretty damn noisy, even after wood gluing. Mostly, the songs drown the noise out, but it is a distraction, for sure. Side two isn't all that bad, though. I don't know if I have ever seen such a difference in quality between two sides of the same record before. I bought mine at the Third Man store in Nashville, but I'm not sure where it was pressed.

I’ve been looking for a compromise between the 2002 SFRI press which I feel is fatiguing and the 2010 press which I feel is anemic (De Stijl and White Blood Cells from that run are great) and this is it. I’m a big fan of the mastering on this pressing but as others have stated, Third Man Records has some serious work to do on their quality control.

This sounds alright. Compared to the next few titles, this recording is pretty bad. However, this is usually the case for most debut albums it seems like. It’s better than the 2022 reissue but not by much. Considering both are of the same price, use Stoughton for the jackets, and have the same inserts, just pick this version up. It’s AAA.

Bought this and never listened due to me finding the WG cut days later. Listened to it today to compare, and I found out that my copy is misprinted! The labels for sides A and B are switched, so side A begins with Broken Bricks instead of Jimmy the Exploder, and vice versa.

In the comparison, I think although Meg’s drums sound a bit better on this 2022 pressing, it still is just “ok”. Same with the WG cut, but it does win extra points for the better bottom end. So, the WG cut wins. It’s still cheap and relatively easy to find, I found my copy for $14 at Twist and Shout.

Stay away from this pressing. It is harsh, too bright, a bit compressed, and generally unpleasant sounding when cranked. In a direct shoot-out with the one released by TMR in 2010, this one loses BADLY. The 2010 reissue is natural, full, and sounds great. By contrast, the 2010 version sounds closest to the original SFTRI CD, but without any of the limiting or compression. Pick that one up instead. Third Man Records should repress this album from the metalwork from the cone cut by WG at NRP. Pass on this!

From the looks of the inner sleeve, the record appears to have been made in Europe. I wonder if that record came from GZ Media

Absolutely terrible pressing. First copy had tons of noise and even a few skips. Reported it to Vinyl Me Please and as is standard with their great customer service they sent me a new one - nearly as bad, but at least copy 2 doesn’t skip. Crackles, non-fill whooshing, just an awful product. At least it’s in a high-quality jacket; maybe if a better pressing comes out the cardboard will come in handy.