Radiohead – The Bends

Not good. Compressed. Snap, crackle, and pop all over both sides. Has a repeating light woosh on the second half of both sides. Best thing I can say is mostly flat and heavyweight vinyl. Was purchased new. Unfortunately more than half the Radiohead albums I've purchased have been crappy like this - they need to focus more on quality control rather than presentation.

What a nightmare trying to determine which of these reissues is actually a decent pressing- the reviews go back and forth between 'great' and 'poor'. I'd expect a pressing using the same original UK stampers should sound good, but not according to several reviews here :/

This uses the same stampers as the original UK press that goes for HUNDREDS. Pressed at Optimal. Buy with confidence.

Just received a sealed copy of this and I'm playing it for the first time. I can only discuss this release, as I don't have any other versions on Vinyl. That said - this one sounds really poor. I'm surprised to read positive comments below. It sounds terribly compressed with distortion all over the place. I even changed my stylus to see if I had a technical problem! But nope, it is what it is. Honestly, it can't be better than anything that went before, can it? Ouch.

Fortunately, I have the CD too. That's what I'll be playing in the future. Horrid.

Played my copy of this today and it sounds fantastic, no issues. Big, full sound, great clarity with the required crunch on the guitars. Very happy with this particular pressing. The record is not dead flat though, has a minor warp. The music itself - outstanding.

I purchased my copy upon release in 2016.
It has the XL sleeve and the XL inner sleeve.
The vinyl has the Parlophone label and Matrix / Runout: 8296261 1A PCS 7372 A-01-01- B SHE'S OUT WITH HER ANSWERPHONE
Matrix / Runout: D 8296261 1B PCS 7372 B-01-01- B (NICE DREAM)
I would say the vinyl was from the 2014 Parlophone reissue https://www.discogs.com/Radiohead-The-Bends/release/6269761
Does anyone else have this problem and copy?

I was afraid to get this one but it turned out to be alright.
Nothing fancy but the record sounds OK in most parts. No skipping or sibilance or harshness.
Sill, nothing can be perfect since i can hear noise in between tracks which points to a not totally dead silent record, plus i can hear some saturation on Thom's voice on Street Spirit.

This pressing is not that great for some reason my XL reissues skip and theyre new. Talking about pablo honey and the bends. Newer albums play great

Only experienced slight sibilance on "Sulk," so I'm starting to think that XL had some QC issues with this pressing. For what it's worth, my copy is pretty quiet and sounds fine. No skipping or warping at all. I'm using a U-Turn Orbit with the stock cartridge.

Agree with some of the other posters, there is sibilance here and there, particularly on the crunchy guitar sounds.