Disappointing vinyl purchase

Mike is right. Never judge your cartridge- or anything else for that matter- based on how one record sounds.
Go check out better-records.com not so much to buy (though you should) but to drive home the point there are vast differences in sound quality. Not only between records, but even between different copies of the exact same record. Differences so big people will pay big money for the really good stuff. Happily.
Its sad there’s so much crap out there. The New Basement Tapes has great music, but the copy I got was so bad it had a piece of paper embedded in it. Yeah. No kidding. Freaking melted right in there. Returned it. Next copy almost as bad. 45 rpm Holly Cole Don’t Smoke in Bed, incredibly is even worse. So noisy, its like, you know in a movie when they want to make sure you know the character is so cool he plays records (which btw, they never show how hip, with it and cool the character is by having him play a CD....never... not even actors are that clueless) they put lots of really loud scratches, ticks and pops in the sound track? Well this record is WORSE THAN THAT! DO NOT BUY IT!!!

There are multiple complaints on Discogs regarding some of the pressings. Maybe you have one of the ones they have complained about. Check the Discogs listing.

Sounds like a bad pressing, but to be honest its probably just being pressed at a crapy plant.

If it's not MOFI, QRP, or the one in France or the Czech Rep. I don't buy it, I go digital.  Best you can do it buy from Acoustic Sounds or Music Direct and they will take this crap back.  The reality is your will get another one and it will be the same.

There is a ton of new vinyl that is just plain awful! Even some MOFI stuff I have bought has a lot of pops and ticks, and one even had a huge piece of vinyl missing out of it! Acoustic Sounds was good about taking it back, but lately some CDs I am getting sound better than new vinyl, and that just should not be! And then there is the cost of the vinyl to boot...I can find ( with some effort though) old vinyl that sounds better than new, and has less damage to it. Though I will admit that finding old vinyl that is worthwhile takes some effort. I am lucky to live near a city that still has more than a few used record stores....

Get use to finding poor pressings. Or even poorly mastered pressings. Pretty normal back in the day as well since nobody really had anything to compare to.