Melody's Echo Chamber – Bon Voyage

Had to clean my copy a few times, was really noisy throughout. The mastering has such extreme treble. There are times where I had to EQ the album just to make it sound listenable. But some songs like Desert Horse sound pretty great as is once the record was clean. The CD sounds great and is definitely the way to go with this release.

With echoes of yéyé and shibuya-kei and lyrics in three languages, the second album from French psychedelist Melody Prochet makes for dizzying listening. It would all seem so joyful and carefree were it not for the occasional to-the-bone lyric such as “so much blood on my hands/and not much left to destroy/I know I’m better alone”, made all the more poignant by realising it was written while she was recovering from a brain aneurysm after a car accident.

The sound on this pressing I would say is almost perfect. Great record, a mix of Dungen sounds and Jane Birkin vocals.

Psychedelic slipstream. Brilliant recording. There is a special thing happening in France.

The record sounds really great, except for the first 10 to 20 seconds of both sides. There is this consistent skip that occurs throughout these 10 to 20 seconds that has perplexed me greatly. I cleaned the record and even increased the tracking force by 0.5 grams. Increasing the tracking force reduced the skipping slightly, but the skipping was still present; however, after these 10 to 20 seconds, both sides play great with no issues and sound much richer than the digital release. Overall, I would recommend as it wasn't an overly expensive pressing, the color looks great, and when it's not skipping it sounds excellent.

My VMP version does not come with a colour-in poster.

I believe the following entry is the correct one:
https://www.discogs.com/Melodys-Echo-Chamber-Bon-Voyage/release/12236644

No surface noise on this pressing to report. Great stuff, and what a great album. Dungen and MEC: what a combo!

My pressing is pretty clean, as far as pops go, but it's definitely on the quiet side - surface noise can cut through softer parts of the record. This wouldn't be a problem except that the included download is MP3, meaning that if I want lossless digital recordings, I'm dealing with surface noise or buying a CD.

As for the content, all of the songs on this record are amazing, but it feels like very little work was put into transitions/ordering here, which is a minor detail that makes a huge difference for me. Transitions between cuts are abrupt. Still a solid record. Unfortunately mine did not come with a coloring page. I am very sad about this.