eryKahBadu* – Mama's Gun

Great mastering! Deep bass and smooth vocals. Just wish the vinyl wasn't noisey on side 3 where the right channel has scratchiness the whole time even after a good wet clean and anti static gun.

Really surprised at just how good this sounds. Seems the repress was better than the original run. Fair play to Barry Grint, he doesn’t get the kudos of Kevin Grey and RKS but this is upper tier VMP quality. Packaging is glorious too.

Deeeeep bass. Erykah’s vocals so sweet. Mostly quiet vinyl but not dead silent like a QRP VMP pressing would be which is shame but that’s GZ. Still, pretty magic

Just got my copy from the recent 2022 repress and sounds soooo good, shocked by how well the bass comes through

Side 2 Disc 1 skips all over the place. AT-1240 properly set up. In the year and a half I've owned it I've never had a new record skip. This one is the first, replacement is exactly the same in the exact same place. A shame - Side 1 Disc 1 sounds great.

Got a copy of the 2022 repress from VMP. Minimal pops after clean, not terribly distracting. No skips. Sounds very good.

Maybe someone has some additional information to supplement my comment. All the Companies and Credit information noted above matches up with my pressing except two things:
1) There was no hype sticker on the front, as pictured above.
2) It was definitely not pressed at RTI. I have hundreds of RTI records and this ain't one of them. Looking at the flat vinyl in the deadwax shows a cake batter type texture and the edge profile is completely different from all other RTI pressings. Also, the use of generic paper inner sleeves is not typical for RTI as they usually have plastic sleeves. It actually looks like a URP pressing, but there is no U with a circle marking in the deadwax; however, I've heard that they don't do this on all pressings so perhaps it is.

Also, and probably most importantly, side one is very off-center. Enough to be very audible. There's a lot of pops on the first 30 seconds of the first track too. Due to the defects, that's about all I could listen to.

Maybe they started pressing at a different plant for reissues, using the same stampers?

I guess my advice would be to make sure you get a copy that you know was pressed at RTI. The hype sticker on the front may be an indication that it was or was not. Perhaps someone else can contribute additional information.

Restocked on VMP, ready for members to purchase at $40.

For a sealed copy some skips throughout and a bit of a warp to the vinyl along with knicks and marks along the outer edge. Sound quality is still amazing with the exception of the noticeable skips. Still an enjoyable listing experience but not what I expected.

Mastering is incredible. The pressing... not so much. I expected more from a record pressed at RTI. It also could be the paper sleeves, but mine has a decent amount of surface noise and probably some non-fill at the beginning of side C. I still need to wash it, so maybe I'll try that and update this.

That said, the sonics are awesome. Great dynamics and punchy bass and the vocals are perfect. Esses sound how they should. If it wasn't for the pressing defects, this would be perfect.