Green Day – Dookie

Green Day is not my favorite band by any means but this is one of the best sounding albums and remasters you can pick up for 20 bucks.

Sounds AMAZING! No pops or cracs, and the sound is just perfect. Literally 10/10 album on a 10/10 record.

Pressing - 3.5/5
I'm used to seeing heavier vinyl coming out of Pallas, but my version has the Pallas runouts so it seems it was pressed there. It's a solid press, nice flat and centered. A few complaints - there's some sibilance in places (Longview and Basket Case are where I most noticed it) and some inner groove issues (not horrible distortion but definitely a dropoff of dynamics and sibilance). This album is just long enough that it could maybe benefit from being pressed on three sides. That being said, I upgraded from a 2009 press of this, and that press was flat and lifeless - so this press improves on that one significantly (and I believe they were pressed from the same plates, so it was a pressing issue)

Mastering - 4.5/5
Yes, it doesn't sound as good as the Chris Bellman Insomniac reissue, but Dookie has never sounded as good as Insomniac in the first place. I'd be shocked if we get a version that is significantly better than this Kevin Gray cut, unless we get a full remaster from the original tapes. Overall, it sounds really good. Very balanced, although the highs are buried a bit behind the lows and mids. That being said, the highs emerge more at high volumes.

Packaging - 3.5/5
Standard single LP packaging with insert, nothing special. I wish the insert had more of the art from the original CD booklet to accompany the lyrics - but I only notice that because this was the first CD I ever bought and I looked at that booklet about a million times.

Overall - 4/5
As I said above, this was always one of the less dynamic sounding Green Day recordings in the first place, and I think it's quite well reproduced here. It's nowhere near the Insomniac reissue, but given the source material, it sounds great.

Like most people are saying it is a little flat, but with a little EQ magic, it sounds Amazing. Also had this on CD and Cassette as well, and they were all a little flat in 1994. This album from the start was a little flat. You always had to turn the bass up or EQ V pattern. I was 12 when this came out and had the original's. I played them on a pioneer SX-780 with pioneer cassette deck CT-1170W and a generic Aiwa CD player in the mid 90's. now I'm playing the album on a Pioneer PLX-1000 with a Ortofon bronze 2m cart. on this vinyl.

Pretty good sound over all, especially for the price. Distorts near the end of each side a bit, but otherwise I'm happy with my purchase

I've bought this three times online and received the wrong album each time. I can tell without opening because it isn't a tip-on jacket as advertised (Stoughton). So it certainly isn't pressed at Pallas either. The issue is that the label used the same bar code as the ubiquitous one. So warehousers have no idea there is any difference. I wouldn't buy another unless I had pictures or saw it in person with my own eyes. BEWARE.

According to the respective release pages, the runouts on this release match those of the colored variants (KPG@ATM, etc.). The reviews for those pressings are stellar, but the reviews on this page call the sound of this standard black vinyl release "flat". Shouldn't all these releases sound exactly the same due to the identical deadwax etchings? Am I wrong about that?

Sounds great! All the instruments sound seperate and distinguishable, everything sounds clear and crisp and there isn’t much noticeable inner groove distortion!

Everyone has Dookie. The Green Day album, that is. If you were in your teens and 20s in the 90s, you had a copy of this album. All of your friends did too. The band sold 20 million copies of this album, so its possible everyone on your block did too. The band manages to sound huge despite being only a three piece. With at least five charting singles on this one, it was going to have staying power. Even listening to it today, it feels fresh and at the same time, nostalgic. These songs are just fun. The pressing by Pallas is very solid all around, with good dynamics and very punchy. It is generally quiet and there are no major complaints. I did not have the debris issues others did, but I always clean my wax before playing it anyway, so it is not a big deal. You had the cassette or CD of this one, you probably still do, so you may as well get the vinyl as well. You won't be disappointed.

This record was plenty dirty, and even then, there’s a lighter spot that just won’t clean off.

That said, Dookie is a fantastic album and there’s no real noise floor on this record to speak of. It sounds pretty darn clean, though the mix itself is a bit flat. That’s not a problem with the record mastering, though, as Dookie has never sounded as dynamic as some of the later Green Day albums.

This album also hasn’t been given the same remastered treatment that Insomniac got, for some reason, at least not on vinyl (as far as I’m aware).

Green Day fans should add this to their collection just to have it, though a remastered effort somewhere down the line is inevitable. If you can wait, it might not be a bad idea. If you just want this on vinyl though, this is as accurate a pressing as you’re going to get.