Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over The Country Club

In my opinion this version sounds MUCH better than the target red pressing- its more heavyweight, has MUCH more silence as well- lots of surface noise on my red one, as well as the music sounding more compressed

I now have all of the vinyl covers of this album. One thing that I've noticed, though, is that all 3 have different runouts (Indie Exclusive has STERLING and MPO in the runouts and is formatted differently than the RSD Black Friday Exclusive and Target Exclusive, which share the same Side A runout but different Side B runouts), and were all pressed at different pressing plants (the Indie Exclusive was pressed at MPO and the Target Exclusive at GZ Media, wherever the RSD Black Friday Exclusive was pressed is not listed on the Discogs page, so I'm unsure if it was pressed somewhere different or not), and, subsequently, they all sound different from one another. So I will be ranking all of the releases of this album that I have in terms of sound quality, and I will also include the best and worst characteristics of each pressing, so that you may better choose which variant of this album you may want to get.

Note: This is completely based on my own experiences, which I know for a fact differ from the experiences that others have had with these pressings, and my own personal opinions, so don't take my own singular experience as an end-all-be-all guide to the releases of this album.

The releases that I own are the Indie Exclusive light-yellow-with-hidden-marble pressing with the standard cover, the Target Exclusive cherry-red-semi-translucent "Made in Canada" pressing with the first alternate cover, and the RSD Black Friday Exclusive translucent "cobalt" blue pressing.

Now for the ranking:

3. RSD Black Friday Exclusive (translucent "cobalt" blue)
This was the first pressing of the bunch that I ever bought and played, and I was definitely satisfied with it when I got it. However, when I bought the Target Exclusive and saw how it blew this one out of the water in terms of quality, I became somewhat disappointed, which was a shame, because I find this to be the prettiest release of this album. So this one falls at the bottom.

Biggest Pros:
- Prettiest pressing aesthetically (imo)
- Limited run (of 15,000) means higher value
Biggest Cons:
- Most surface noise of all of my copies
- Needle sway on Side A of my copy

Runouts:
(Side A): 00602435497846-A 220612E1/B
(Side B): 00602435497846-B 220612E2/C

Buy this pressing for the: Investment

2. Indie Exclusive (light yellow with marble)
This pressing geniunely surprised me. Judging by the other reviews, I was expecting it to sound like a gravel pit. Thankfully, though, (at least on first listen) this is my quietest Chemtrails pressing. While my other copies have the most surface noise on the first couple of tracks in the form of crackles and pops, this one sacrifices that for overall quieter, less noticeable surface noise across the whole pressing. Whether or not that's a good trade is up to the buyer, but I personally think that that's this pressing's best quality. I also love the hidden marble. There is a small amount of inner groove distortion on this one, but since I'm judging off of my first spin, it could be due to static/dust. I might update this review if that ends up being the case.

Biggest Pros:
- Quietest of my 3 pressings
- Beautiful hidden marble
Biggest Cons:
- Needle sway on Side B of my copy
- Minor inner groove distortion

Runouts:
(Side A, variant 3): MPO® 21 198416 0602435497808A JN-H STERLING
(Side B, variant 3): 06024 35497808B MPO® 21 198282 JN-H STERLING

Buy this pressing for the: Uninterrupted Listening

1. Target Exclusive (cherry red semi-translucent) (Made in Canada)
I love the color of this pressing, and I much prefer it to the original orangey-red-with-marble first batch. I remember putting this one on for the first time and being blown away by how much less crackly it was than the blue RSD pressing. There are still a couple of crackles here and there, but it's definitely not the focal point of this pressing; that would be the sound quality. For some reason, Side B of this pressing sounds much more rich and defined than any of the other pressings (the yellow one has a similar sounding side B, but the red has less inner-groove distortion, in my experience). For that reason, I would recommend this pressing if you wouldn't mind a little bit of surface noise here and there.

Biggest Pros:
- Full, rich sound
- Easily available (to those in America)
- No needle sway on either side of my copy (no guarantee there won't be any on other copies)
Biggest Cons:
- Surface noise on first couple of tracks

Runouts:
(Side A): 00602435497846-A 220612E1/B
(Side B): 00602435497846-B 220612E2/B

Buy this pressing for the: Sound Quality

My Lana LP's are hit or miss. Born To Die, Paradise and Honeymoon all sound brilliant no noise or issues.
NFR has a few crackles here and there but Yellow Chemtrails has a lot of background noise. Considering the price and major label backing the quality control would be better but it is what it is i guess.

Indeed, a not-so-good pressing: constant noise in the right channel, loud pops and inner groove distortion on both sides. I just wish this, 'Honeymoon' & 'NFR' would be pressed properly.

My copy has a really loud scraping noise on all tracks, which can be heard in the right channel, but the other channel is quiet. Does anybody know what causes that noise? no improvement after wet clean, my Ortofon 2M Blue tracks other records fine.

The album is fantastic, but this pressing is absolute hot garbage. And especially for the price. I’ve never heard a new vinyl sound so bad. Off centered. Pops and hisses galore. Dismal

The others here must have gotten lucky. My yellow copy was warped, pressed off center, and had terrible distortion. The cheap black one from a large online store sounded much better to my ears...

there is no surface noise + it makes a beautiful marble if you hold it to the light

I have the red variant and it has this gravel-under-car-tires background noise that begins at white dress and follows through Side A, which becomes more prominent in quieter passages or if I turn the volume up high.

Is this yellow variant any better, or is this a common issue with all the pressings?

My copy sounded like hell at the end of side A but a cleaning made it all go away. It was dirty. Sounds wonderful now. Beautiful color vinyl, a creamy yellow marble. The background noise on the title track wasnt distracting on the digital version, here it sounds like a dirty record, but thats in the song. Gets better with each spin.