Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair

I compared this to an original UK and in my opinion the mofi is several steps above it with bass, sound stage, and was more engaging. The UK pressing was very nice, and sounded consistent with other band's 80s pressings.

I think the UK may get a lot of positive feedback due to a nostalgic factor that is not there for me, I only listened to it on cassette in the 80s. So without expecting to hear a familiar production value, I'd go with the mofi.
Cheers.

Being that this is one of my favorite albums of all time (like #1 for desert island disc), I originally bought this particular Japanese pressing in an era where I thought that Japanese pressings were superior to every pressing out there in the world, including UK, German, and U.S. pressings. However, over the years and upon listening to other pressings on vinyl and CD (including the latter of the ‘98 MFSL gold disc), I’ve come to realize that this is actually not an end all pressing and personally not my favorite choice to listen to this classic.

As what FrankHardenbol mentioned in their review, Japanese pressings tend to have “bright EQ” where it tends to have a “reverse smiley”, the mids and highs tends to get boosted. This album has a bit of a bottom end especially on the bass/synth bass that you hear on songs like “Everybody” that, on this particular pressing, sounds very “soft”. This gives it a bit more of a “digital” sound to the experience whereas on other vinyl pressings I’ve heard (for context, I’ve heard the U.S., UK, and South African pressings), you have this bit of warmness on the lower end of things that just clicks.

Also to mention, yes there is sibilance present on this album as it was recorded, however Japanese pressings tend to bring this out a bit more compared to others.

Would I say it’s a trash pressing? Heck no, and in fact there are certain albums in my collection that I just so happen to have their Japanese pressings of that I much prefer to their U.S. pressing or elsewhere internationally. But for an album that I can listen to front to back and pinpoint every instrument in the mix and note how much emphasis is there, the Japanese brightness that we come to know doesn’t vibe well with this album.

On a positive note, like all the Japanese pressings, the discs themselves are dead silent from using pure virgin vinyl materials, so that will always be a plus on these pressings.

(Testing was done on a Pioneer PL-630 turntable fitted with a Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge, through a McIntosh C28 preamp with Beyerdynamic Amrion Home wired headphones)

Playing this pressing now, and wondering how they got so much sound packed into this album? Apparently, the original master was cut from 1/2” analog tape, but using a digital compressor that could cut frequencies beyond the usual 20hz range heard on most analog recordings. So, a little bit of both worlds, I guess?

Either way, I think it sounds great: the high frequencies have a warm shimmer about them, but are not overly bright. Low frequencies are dialed back a bit, but turn it up, and it really packs a punch!

Flat pressing, no depth nor soundstage. This is the only record i have ever bought and regret buying. It makes no difference between playing this on a turntable or directly from streaming services

Couple of good well known songs, but the rest can be tough to listen to.

A stellar pressing of an essential part of 80’s music. Seriously this pressing could be one of if not the best one I have heard.

This is one of the best sounding records I own, absolutely essential!

Mastering is not so great on this one. I was listening to this last night and thought there was some fuzz or something on my stylus. Overall a flat sound and the sibilance on the inner tracks is very noticeable.

Can’t beat this version, sounds huge can’t imagine any other presses are better than this

A very good pressing imho. In my instance, this is flatter and quieter than the 2014 black vinyl edition ive also got and on which this is based. The sound is the same on each copy without doubt. It definately sounds better than the CD ive got once level matched. There is no baked in inner groove distortion so playback on my old Pioneer/Shure elliptical combo is excellent throughout. I still feel the og UK has a slight edge to my tastes but this plays so much quieter and i will likely reach for this alot more because of that!