Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

Quick cleaning and this one’s great. No issues with pops or clicking here.

Whoever has copies of these (and who is reading this), youtube backup, please!!

So, I was a bit bemused by the ratings here so I tried playing the 24bit/192khz version alongside my copy. There was not much difference, if anything I’d there was a touch more high/mid detail in the lossless but it sounds colder. GZ is typically junk but this one isn’t as bad as all these posters make it out to be. My system isn’t high end either (Ortofon 2M blue). My only gripe is the shit paper sleeve. It’s 2023, this shit should be standard.

Not a great pressing, sounds pretty flat, and it’s noisy throughout, certainly between tracks… and that’s after putting it through the Degritter 3 times… it’ll do until I find an original pressing! But it is one of my favourite LP’s of all time!

I’m perfectly happy with this pressing. I’m not a die hard fan of the band, so I’m not expecting perfection. I understand where those die hard fans come from, but for me this pressing is perfectly fine for $20-$25. I enjoy it. If you want perfection spend big bucks on other pressings or other formats even. $20 is not a lot of money and not worth mass complaining over IMO.

Well, I ordered a second copy because my first skips. I thought this was a new resissue when I ordered it from Amazon but it is just another 2018, which would be fine, especially since this one doesn't skip as much (only one skip this time in a minor place), but now this one also has periodic surface noise and non-fill. Disappointing. But it is GZ, I should have known better. When it comes to GZ it seems like you are just better off buying the CD and calling it a day.

My copy is dead quiet, but volume needs to be cranked. Details not exposed as well as high quality digital. Love this album, glad to have it, but not essential to have the vinyl as it does not provide a superior experience of this great album. (My star levels rate the music, not the pressing - Pressing is a 3 out of 5)

Omg, avoid. Like the CD. stupidly flat, even low at volume?! . Put the record after listening to AJA (steely dan, anybody) and its an absolute joke. Just rock it on Spotify, I swear

No popping, skipping or cracking on my copy. Sure, the record was covered in paper scraps from the inner sleeve, but you just gotta clean the record properly before you play it, right?

Sonically awesome, silent between tracks, this is an amazing pressing of an amazing album. This sounds the best with a good bit of volume, but is also such a treat at lower volume. Can't recommend more highly. Buy it, clean it, and enjoy it!

Put through a 10 minute wash, then a 15 minute autocycle on the HuminGuru before being played on a Pro-ject DC Evo with Ortofon 2M Blue, through the MM phono stage of the Cambridge Audio Evo 150, to my ears though a pair of Klipsch Heresy IV.

Dead flat, no skips or pops.

It did come properly stuck to the inner sleeve, but there were very few particles/bits stuck to the actual record and a quick clean got rid of those.