Well, considering that all the LPs I bought between 1970 & 2000 were never cleaned, I decided to play "13", without cleaning, just for the hell of it. :)
Manufacturing details first :
- Excellent centricity (holes not significantly off-centre)
- LPs were flat & warp free.
- Very clean pressings - well made.
- The runout grooves were well clear of the "shoulder" of the label area so no need to panic at the EOS.
- A minor criticism was that the good mastering work was spoiled by the packagers. Interior sleeves were too tight! Someone needs to show the packaging suppliers an existing LP cover for comparison. The inner sleeves were 1/4" smaller than those for regular 120g! Friction + static means they get well & truly stuck. Careless handling is liable to damage the LP during extraction. :(
Recording itself is fine and no sign of any MRA interference during play. All 4 sides played cleanly and were 100% interference free.
I won't add to the excellent reviews above other than to say the opening track will remind you of BS vol 1. Nice touch at the very end of the album (won't reveal the secret - don't want to spoil it for you! :)
