John Denver – Back Home Again

The second copy of this 2024 Anniversary release I received was absolutely perfect. Thick heavy vinyl in comparison to my 1974 Dynaflex first pressing. Surprisingly, this pressing was flat, and completely silent. Slightly brighter than the original, but great sound quality. But I need to mention the first copy I received of this pressing came warped. But I wasn’t a bit surprised, due to the shrink wrap being so tight, it caused an actual bow in the album. So this is a packaging quality control issue, not necessarily representative of the actual product quality.

Just horrendous, muddy / veiled, noisy and warped. The copy to buy is the 2006 Speaker’s Corner edition. https://www.discogs.com/release/3111812-John-Denver-Back-Home-Again

Earliest release year for entry https://www.discogs.com/release/13859046-John-Denver-Back-Home-Again must be 1988 because it has this date on the label. Cheers.

Very nice pressing! Much heavier vinyl than all the Dynaflex used copies out there. Sounds like it always should have, not the muddied mess of Dynaflex.

This is by far the best version of this record I have found, and I have tried several

Great pressing, although the mastering isn’t quite right - poor masters. John’s voice is quite muddy, in comparison to the instruments, which sparkle and shine through the whole record. A bit of a missed opportunity here, but definitely better than any other pressing to date.

This was it. Denver's unstoppable hit album. Production, songwriting, and Denver's performing all merged together to form that magical mix of artistic expression and time and place. It's a hard album to fault. Songs are excellent, including a No1 hit and a hit album to go with it. I don't think he ever hit these heights of quality in production and material again in one album but it doesn't take away from the fact this is a genuinely fine album. My vinyl copy was an original UK pressing which was okay but suffered ticks and noises that detracted sometimes. The original CD seemed lifeless to me but at least clean but, by all accounts, the Speaker's Corner edition is something special. I have the CD from the RCA Collection Boxset as well and it does sound a bit brighter and more 'present'.

There is a Taiwan 'unofficial' pressing on black vinyl with a red label (First Record FL-2476 STEREO). It plays admirably with very little surface noise. The cover, a copy of RCA's, is printed on paper and is wrapped in cellophane.

This is a superb recording of the album. No surface noise and clear sound. Highly recommend. ( I also purchased the 2016 rerelease and it is a subpar recording. )

Not sure if I got a defective copy? There is a lot of surface noise during a few of the songs, and it really effects the listening experience. I also own the 2006 version from speakers corner and it has no surface noise and sounds beautiful. I would recommend picking up the 2006 version.