Great sounding new vinyl

I'm recently back into vinyl and have had mixed results with new vinyl from a quality standpoint(i.e. minimal snap, crackle or pops). By far the best of the handful of new vinyl I have purchased so far is Miles Davis' "Relaxin" on the Analogue Productions label. It's quiet as a CD and sounds fantastic. I have read that Analogue Productions issues are generally good, so I have ordered a few more from that label for comparison. As an FYI, my copy of Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin that some mentioned earlier sounds good, but has a bit of surface noise.

Here are two that you should avoid on vinyl:

Portishead "Third"
Ratatat "LP3"

both domestic pressings, both horrible with noise and defects (took one back because it skipped). Also, both domestic...hmmm.

This is the way it was in vinyl's heyday, prior to CD. More LPs sucked than sounded great. That's why CDs were so successful, despite their glare and other shortcomings, they were better. I love good LPs, but this behaviour will probably lead to a second failure of LP format. If you have to pay $50 to be assured a good pressing and master, most people will not support the format.

Dave

I firmly believe some pressings are better than others. I bought the "Once" soundtrack LP and it is full of surface noise. In contrast my new Miles Davis Kind of Blue is excellent. I have a number of Ryan Adams LPs which are good but not as great as they could be. That said I'd love to hear some other people's reviews of other good new recordings.

0-07-08: Dcstep
This is the way it was in vinyl's heyday, prior to CD. More LPs sucked than sounded great.

I didn't buy too many LPs in the '80s, but these days, I've bought *lots* of used LPs from the '80s, and I find the opposite to be true. Whether I buy LPs of blues, classic rock, new wave, country, or especially jazz from the '80s, they sound superb nearly without exception. This includes everything from The Police, The Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Men at Work, Dwight Yoakam, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, the Eurhythmics, Stevie Winwood, or Steely Dan's one '80s album, Gaucho. Only the Stray Cats strike me as hashy and compressed with a fast bass rolloff.

The jazz pressed in the '80s is astounding, but then, I gravitate to Pablo, Concord Jazz, ECM, and Geffen. Concord Jazz from the '70s and '80s is unbelievably good.

As for good latter-day pressings, I love the 150g red vinyl pressing of Diana Krall's Christmas album, I've been happy with the $10 Original Jazz Classics reissues, my 200g Classic Records reissue of Kind of Blue is actually crackle-free, the 180g Speakers Corner reissue of Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 couldn't be better. The pinnacle of my collection is the 45 rpm 2x180g EP issue of Ry Cooder & VM Bhatt's "A Meeting By the River" recorded in analog with a Blumlein mic array by Water Lily Music.