Aaliyah – Aaliyah

This is available from Blackground's site. Arrived pretty quickly (I ordered an Aaliyah T-Shirt with it). Sign up for their newsletter as they have coupons there, I had 20% off my order for example.
Anyhow, this version exists for those looking for the best Aaliyah album. Sounds great and looks beautiful as well :)

I finally received it after a 3-month wait. For me, the sound is the same, if not slightly better, except at the beginning and end of the record where the crackling is more noticeable.

What I prefer about the Blackground version:
- The sound quality.
- The vinyl's presentation, which is gorgeous! Mine has more splatters than shown in the photos, and the gold color stands out much more, extending beyond the edges uniformly.

What I prefer about the VMP version:
- The packaging's finish, more premium which is noticeably higher in quality than the Blackground version. The sleeve is thicker, and there's a glossy gold effect on the "Aaliyah" cover. The red color is less saturated and more pleasing, giving it a classier look (except for the vinyl's red color, which I find rather dull).

I'm thinking of keeping the Blackground vinyl and the VMP sleeve and selling the VMP vinyl in the Blackground sleeve.

Jesus, only just got mine finally. I ordered almost 2 full years ago! It's a beautiful vinyl, but nothing terribly different from the VMP pressing ultimately. This is after my OIAM vinyl got to Ohio from California, got to my local post office....... and then got returned for God knows what reason. ("The address was invalid", they said, on the second delivery of the order that I received the first package for fine)

Finally Received Mine and It sounds perfect, and looks beautiful. I was very frustrated with Background and will probably never order through them ever again, but I am thankful it sounds good after all the hassle.

I am actually very pleasantly surprised by how well this sounds! I had all but given up on Blackground after the whole fiasco with the Urban Outfitters release of One in a Million and the underwhelming Ultimate Aaliyah release.

There's virtually no noise, no skips, the bass is pretty solid, and the record itself looks beautiful. The packaging of the VMP is vastly better than this (and that's prob why it's also more expensive) but sound quality wise they are pretty on par. In fact, I'd say this release might be better quality-wise as my VMP record skipped on Disc 2 Side B and I had to do a deep clean to fix it.

hi, is anyone selling this in the UK? thank you.

Vastly superior sound to the VMP press. Very glad that I didn’t cancel my order. The wait was worth it.

I haven’t had a chance to spin this yet, but matrix runouts are exactly the same as the VMP release so it should sound nearly identical. Honestly, the VMP packaging is better too. What took them so long to get this out? Probably should have just cancelled my order but I kept on forgetting to do so.

Edit: the VMP packaging is leaps and bounds better. Has a tip on, heavy stock gatefold with poly lined inner sleeves. This version is a standard gatefold with paper inners. The artwork on this one is a little more vivid and maybe slightly better resolution though.

Lmao I just cancelled mine last week. I have an original that’s hacked to hell, so I’m waiting to see which one of these new presses sounds best.

Just finally received mine. Nearly two whole years after ordering! Does anyone know how many were made?