Customer Reviews

Songs from Lonely Avenue [Vinyl]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well surfdog really botched this album on Vinyl , very poor quality pressing , very noisy , album came all scratched up & they compressed all the audio to fit 30 minutes per side , I have contacted the Companay & they do admit they compressed it to fit onto 1 lp instead of pressing it onto two ... a real bummer as the songs are stellar! but if you like me are looking for the Vinyl sound you won't get it here .

Worst vinyl pressing in the modern era! Do yourself a favor and buy it on CD, NOT VINYL!!! This album is 52:10, and in order to get the entire album on one LP, they decided to use unacceptably narrow groove width making for an INCREDIBLE amount of surface noise. You won't play this LP more than once if you are unfortunate enough to buy it, as I was.

That being said, the CD is fantastic! I wish I had bought it at Target the week it was released for $8.99, but instead I got ripped off buying the LP/CD combo for twice as much.

AVOID

AVOID

AVOID

I recently picked up this LP right after I saw Brian Setzer Orchestra perform live. Man, what a mistake. I can't believe that this actually was released in such poor quality. I wish I would have read reviews on this pressing before I bought the LP.

Surfdog really really dropped the ball on this one. I've never heard a new pressing this bad! It sounded like somebody took some low bitrate mp3 files and then compressed them somemore and pressed them to vinyl. The sound is at a low volume, muffled, and lacks sound stage. I'm going to contact Surfdog and see if there are plans of a 2x LP repress in the future. I wish I could get my money back but that is a lost cause. At least I have the cd which sounds wonderful. If only the LP could have sounded this way.

I ordered this version of the album when it was first released, and looked forward to hearing it once I set my system up (we were between houses at the time). As luck would have it, I needn't have been so anxious: this LP is horribly mastered. It sounds like a wet blanket is thrown over the speakers--the high end is badly muted, with the details of the brass, drum kit and slap bass completely dulled. A shame, too, as this recording on CD is harsh and too loud, and the vinyl would have provided some much-needed warmth that would have fit nicely with the retro-themed subject matter in the music. The CD, even with its flaws, is still the better of the two. The vinyl is nearly unplayable. Surfdog should be ashamed for allowing a "premium" product out in the marketplace and not replacing it with a fixed version for those who complain about it. The quality of the vinyl also leaves a lot to be desired--this one is a bit noisy in spots with ticks and crackle during playback. I did not try running it through the Nitty Gritty record vacuum to see if there was crud left in the grooves from the pressing plant. Not only that, the LP arrived with dish warp.

Beautiful packaging, though. The gatefold and insert is nice, and the CD is cleverly packaged as part of the gatefold artwork. The music without question is quite good. It's just a shame that Setzer's work is ruined by the shoddy mastering of the LP. Maybe it is no coincidence that the LP's mastering engineer is not given in the album's credit (that I can find): I would be to embarrassed to put my name on something that sounded this bad.

A 2-LP, 180g vinly set would be a nice replacement, even if it cost a bit more. For the level of music and musicianship on this album, it deserves a good vinyl mastering. This version is not it.