Cocteau Twins – Victorialand

This 33.3-rpm reissue/remaster pales compared to an original 45-rpm UK pressing. The original is extraordinarily detailed, with a great sense of space and depth. By comparison, the reissue sounds less detailed and somewhat narrower and flat. This reissue also has some strange distorted artifacts here and there, sometimes in the form of a melody panned to one channel immediately followed by a delayed trail of distortion in the opposite channel, which to me sounds like a result of poor mastering/cutting. There was a reason they cut the original at 45 rpm, and this reissue really highlights that. My copy also had some fairly bad surface noise on some tracks, with one track having a squiggly scratch across it causing persistent and very audible ticking throughout a big portion of it. Needless to say, I sold the reissue.

I dare you to find me a record that sounds better than this. You probably can, but I’m sure it would take some time. This is pure perfection on wax, almost as if every part of this recording process from the studio to the vinyl was blessed by some divine spirit… ok ok I’m getting ahead of myself but it really is that good you have to hear it to believe it.

Just got this (without having seen the horrifying cases below) and am very glad to say that my copy is fine, no scratches, no noise, crystal clear etc.
Perhaps there was a dud batch. Great record.

Found this original pressing in Leeds on Saturday for £30 in lovely condition. Worth every penny. Absolutely gorgeous!

This 24-bit 96kHz reissue, coming 33 years after its debut, reveals the tiniest of details like a dream come true. I found myself playing this at a surprisingly high volume without any hint of fatigue. The clarity and dynamics are excellent. It's like listening directly to the master tape.

This is an absolutely shockingly bad pressing, among the very worst I’ve owned. The first copy I purchased had a deep scratch end-to-end across the entire side A. On top of that, side A is marred by obtrusive noise throughout - to describe it as surface noise doesn’t go far enough. This pressing is defective IMO. And this is after an ultrasonic cleaning.

So I returned my first copy to the store and they agreed to exchange it for another copy. Well the second copy has almost the exact same scratch across the entire side A, and it has the same obtrusive noise issue throughout the side. Somehow side B is much better, completely silent.

Overall I think the mastering is fine, what I can hear of it through the unforgivable pressing. And the source music is of course incredible, which makes this pressing all the more painful. So 5 stars for the music, 1 star for the pressing (or 0 stars if that’s an option).

If I was in QC at 4AD (if any such position exists), or at the pressing plant, I would be mortified.

An impossibly beautiful pressing of an impossibly beautiful record. Perfect.

So glad I got the OG. My pressing sounds absolutely sublime.

To my ears, this pressing sounds just as brilliant as the UK original. Lush and holographic in it's presentation, with a noticeably wider soundstage than the CD. And maybe it's just my copies, but the NZ vinyl has less surface noise than the UK, even though they are both in similar condition.

In terms of the sleeve, the contrast is slightly blown out on the NZ pressing, which hides lot of the fake creases and aging/wear in the white parts of the artwork. This might actually look better depending on your tastes. The main image on the front is also slightly washed out, with the blacks looking more grey, but it's only noticeable in a side by side comparison.

Overall, a fantastic edition.

I was worried thanks to reviews like the one saying "absolutely horrible pressing" but I'm glad I took the risk. my copy is crystal clear, no pops or surface noise, the music sounds well mastered, can't really ask for more.