Sufjan Stevens – Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State

The first I bought I waited some time to open. It was unbelievable noisy, the worst new album I ever bought. I have dumped it in the bin, since it was too late to return it. I waited six months and bought it again. Now it was totally free of noise, lucky me!

I don't have the noise in my pressing that others have complained of, but all sides were pressed off-center, with sides A and D the most off-center and noticeable resulting pitch variation. Enlarged the center holes so each side plays centered and now the album sounds pretty great.

Picked up this pressing new. Anti static brush, played it, and it graded c- with a Puffin Phono DSP. Could hear some crackle during quiet passages. Rinse, spin clean, rinse, dry, and now it grades B+ with the Puffin, and it sounds great. Usually don't have to clean brand new records, but my new copy wasn't great out of the shrink wrap.

Not sure what everyone is complaining about. My copy is fantastic, can't imagine it sounding much better unless it was maybe remastered or something.

Mine came without download card. 🤔 It was a new sealed copy and I'm sure that it is this version (bc matrix runouts). Does every copy have that card or not?

One word, TERRIBLE! Sufjan Stevens has great music but the vinyl LPs that his record company issues are consistently the worst you will buy. I have now bought my 3rd vinyl copy of Michigan. All rotten. Crackle, click, pop. Vinyl DOES NOT need to sound like this. I buy about 40 new LPs per year and send back maybe 3 or 4. Each time I buy a Sufjan Stevens album there are problems. Carrie & Lowell I bought "3 times" on vinyl and sent each back to settle for the CD. Illinoise I bought also 3 copies and the 3rd was borderline acceptable. (It is a louder album than Michigan, so you can get away with crackles and pops). I will buy this copy one more time and settle for a CD if I get another piece of crackly rubbish. The vinyl is dirty and sometimes scratched. You can not get this vinyl clean. The grooves are damaged. I use an ultra sonic cleaner and after a clean it is still a piece of crap. I play on a Linn LP12 and a Technics 5300. This vinyl pressing one of the worst you will find. There is no defending it. If you get a clean copy, probably you are one in a hundred. TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT..... I have old LPs from the 60s, 70s and 80s that look damaged and they sound better than this. Give it a go and buy one, but make sure you can return it easily. Almost a guarantee that it will have a layer of crackle which makes the listening experience unbearable, especially on a quiet album like this. Asthmatic Kitty need to spend a few more pennies and get their vinyl pressed at "Pallas" or "Record Industry". And please, crackling vinyl doesn´t sound "authentic" or cute. :) IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO HAS A CLEAN COPY OF THIS ALBUM? I mean really no crackles or pops at all? Or are some people ok with the constant pops and clicks on new records? Please send these crackly new pressings back to the store so that the companies get the message that crap quality is not acceptable.

My copy is brand new but filthy...but thankfully sounds ok. Haven't cleaned it yet but will be before the second listen. No distortion to my ears so far. Missing a download card.

As a fan of Sufjan's work (and an admirer of the quality of pressings records such as Illinoise received), this is a little disappointing. I thought for a while the distortion present in the record was deliberate (it wasn't) or my old turntable (it wasn't). There shouldn't be any surface noise or distortion on a freshly cleaned record played on something like a Pro-ject Debut, but it's almost distracting at times with this pressing. For such a delicate acoustic record, this is incredibly disappointing.

Mine sounds terrible, lots of surface noise, also after cleaning, very poor pressing quality.

My copy sounds great after cleaning! No complaints here. Beautiful Music