Queensrÿche – Operation: Mindcrime

I’m happy with mine. It sounds great. Absolutely zero noise, clicks or pops. Great pressing of a great album.

Here we have a great rock album and this Europian / Holland pressing sounds great too.

Well… here goes

Firstly, I don’t have an OG vinyl to compare this to. I might try to find one, but have yet to decide which kidney to sell. My previous experience has been limited to a first issue CD and, later, Tidal. I have known this album since the early 90’s (was introduced to it a little later in the piece - not sure how I missed it in ‘88, but it wasn’t a commercial success in Australia and we didn’t have the instant, everything at once access to information like we do today .. better times indeed) Point being, I know the album well and appreciate its overall magnificence.

I think it’s important to keep a few things in perspective. Firstly, I think we can all agree that this album is a bone-fide masterpiece despite its glaring shortcomings in terms of overall production. I could only imagine how ridiculously incredible this would sound if someone with the right talent and skill got their hands on the original multitracks and did a complete remix/re-production from the ground up. The original multitracks generally don’t have the affected individual tracks on them, so this could be an incredible thing. Even though it has been done (Pink Floyd did a ground up remix of both Momentary Lapse of Reason and Delicate Sound of Thunder and they are incredibly good - Coverdale did a ground up remix and partial re-recording of a number of Whitesnake songs on a recent Greatest Hits compilation. I’m sure there have been others) - but I’m not holding my breath.

The second thing to keep in mind is that mastering is the application of EQ, compression and gain on an already mixed stereo track to suit a particular medium. It cannot change the mix and it cannot make up for poor production. This album is particularly tricky as the mix and production on the individual songs vary significantly. Some are compressed to within an inch of their lives and sound quite narrow (eg: Revolution Calling), some sound like the vocal is great, but everything else is a background, dull nothing (Spreading the Disease), one or two are comparatively good (I Don’t Believe in Love, Suite Sister Mary and the first part of Eyes of a Stranger), others range from OK to ….. frustrating. When you master a recording, the processing you apply is applied equally to all tracks - they don’t remaster individual songs. Again - it a reMASTER not a reMIX

So … with all that in mind, how does it shape up?

For me, personally, I will always go for an OG when it comes to older albums. I’ve never heard a reissue of any album which sounds better than a mint condition, well pressed OG. There have been some decent reissues - Pink Floyd catalogue being the best IMO - also the recent MoFI of Brothers in Arms and Love Over Gold (unfortunately, the self titled Dire Straits misses the mark with a ridiculous amount of sibilance) - anyway, I digress … again, I have not heard a vinyl OG of Mindcrime, so I can only comment on what I hear in this reissue.

I do have the 2008 reissue of this album - single disc … it’s blahhhhhh … so, that lives in my reject cupboard. This one is significantly better.

There seems to be a general consensus that an hour long album can’t possibly exist successfully on a single LP. I don’t agree with that. Case in point - Def Leppard’s Hysteria. I was obsessed with that album in ‘87 and know every tiny nuance intimately. My OG Aust press was used and abused back in the day, so it’s long retired. I bought the 30th Anniversary double LP and had high hopes. Sounded fine …. but …. It simply wasn’t the album I knew so well. Got my hands on a still-sealed US first press …. Glorious …. 62min 30sec pressed onto a single disc and it sounds incredible…. No IGD, plenty of dynamic range, gain is perfect, no surface noise … it’s a delight. They knew their craft back then, which is why an OG is always better.

So, we now have the obligatory double LP - does it provide more dynamic range than an OG? A vinyl OG? I can’t comment - a CD OG? No … no more dynamic range. Why? Because the album was produced without a lot of dynamic range … you cannot uncompress a compressed track. So, does the double LP make a difference? I would say that if there were issues with the OG vinyl in terms of IGD, gain and reduced dynamic range, then the double LP would likely be better. If those issues don’t exist (like the Hysteria example), then doubling the discs has probably not provided any benefit and has only caused problems with the flow of the album - especially ripping out I Don’t Believe in Love from its original connection to Breaking the Silence - quite jarring.

This issue to me sounds like I know this album to sound. I rarely listen to CD’s anymore, but I find this LP to be easier to listen to - the CD is harsher (as CD’s tend to be), so I do prefer this LP to the CD.

Does this issue make me go “wow, that sounds sooo good” - no. But, again, only a brilliantly executed ground up remix would have any chance of getting that reaction.

Is it worth the very wrong feeling of chopping Don’t Believe in Love from Breaking the Silence? Only if the single disc OG has the aforementioned issues - I would be interested to hear people’s opinions on that.

I think that if you’re expecting a remaster to fix a flawed production, you’ll always be disappointed. If you don’t have an OG and you want a vinyl copy, I think this will do just fine. Again, nicer to listen to than the CD IMO.

So - in summary. I think this is a good sounding LP and well worth the relatively small investment.

If I end up with in OG, I’ll be sure to do an update……

I bought a brand new set and discs 2, 3, and 4 all had various marks or scratches on them. Either due to the terrible slots in the book or some error when the discs were pressed. I got them to send me another set and, while the discs are in better shape, they're still not without flaws and throwing errors in my CD Ripper.

Anyone have a set that isn't scuffed or scratched up?

Not sure if this is the one I got today or not. The etched runouts have the "232278E#" but a different second number. No Czech Republic sticker. Sounds really great (a few random pops and crackles never hurt nobody).

Compared this re-release to the original 1988 dmm version and the re-release sound sucks. It sounds like it is behind a blanket. I prefer the original by far. Much more open and enjoyable.

I also have the original cd and the 2003 cd remaster and without doubt prefer the original cd and lp compared to the remasters.

Just heard original and this is fast better..a lot more dynamics, volume and bass .. Don't think about it

This had to be cut at a lower volume due to length of the album so it would fit not sure why this wasnt 2xlp but that being said Robert Ludwig still nailed it ! as long as you have a fairly clean copy all you have to do is turn volume up and dynamics explode !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the same matrix but the band name appears on the disc in normal letters and not in the form of the logo as shown here in the picture

Anyone got the original vinyl sleeve for sale? From any country - especially Euro edition
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