📣 News Carpenters: "The Vinyl Collection"

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Thanks Chris.

However, do I deal with my retailer who has already emailed me waiting for a response to how many LP's are affected OR do I contact UMG? I'm looking at about 6 of these are bad from my box set and the ones that visually look ok, I still have not had the chance to clean them or listen to see if there acceptable. Oh well...I guess it will work out somehow. Thanks for going the extra mile.

UMe is saying you should contact them directly. Just provide them with proof of purchase.
 
I certainly concur with your assessment of the situation. After reading your post, it occurred to me; perhaps the overall “less than” quality of the box set will not be a major setback to the “new” record buying public for which it is aimed. Sadly, standards have been lowered. Those used to listening to compressed CDs may think these records sound incredible! Also, I would bet the average record buyer (of today OR yesteryear) never even thinks to clean a record before playing it! Most people I’ve talked to (about my record collecting hobby) comment about how they (sometimes fondly) remember the “snaps, crackles, pops and skips”; something my well-cared for records rarely did. (I’m the one who purchased the box set mainly for the clean artwork; I already have several nearly-perfect playing original Carpenters LPs.)


That is strange to me that someone would fondly remember pops and skips. I spent lots of money and time to remove those from my vinyl. I wanted to hear the sound, not the medium. Today I'm even more adamant about it and take a scientific approach to cleaning vinyl. After all it's just a surface that you want to have nothing on it. There are three main types of contaminants, mineral, organic, and hydrocarbons. I have created my own process and fluid to remove this stuff. On well pressed vinyl I can make the background inky black. Those are a real pleasure to listen to.
 
Just a heads up to everyone here that is dealing with this issue with the vinyl - I contacted Matt D'Amico, VP of marketing at Universal earlier today, and here was his response:

Hey Chris,

I hope all is well. We are aware of the issue and are in the process of determining the exact batch that has been affected. This appears to be a plant manufacturing issue as you indicate. We have set up a customer service contact for the people who have received inferior product.

Consumers can send a proof of purchase to the e-mail below and a replacement LP will be sent to them - Email: [email protected]. There is also the following 1-800 phone number, but Customer Service prefers the e-mail address. Phone: 1-800-288-5942

If you could please relay the customer service information, that would be greatly appreciated and thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Thank you,

Matt


Hopefully this will help to rectify the situation.


Thank you Chris!!!
I hope this means that later pressing runs will be ok. I will buy again if I can get conformation on future sets.
 
However, do I deal with my retailer who has already emailed me waiting for a response to how many LP's are affected OR do I contact UMG?
As Chris said, send UMe the email, with proof of purchase. I would think it might take a bit of time before they're ready, but it would be worth waiting for.

Just curious--who are you talking with at Music Direct? You could pass along that information to them, or I could do it, as I have met them a few times in Chicago. I also have an email address I can use if I need to cut through the red tape too. :wink: It might help them decide if they want to continue selling it until it is repressed.

BTW, the "ripped" label around the hole is so common on 180 gram records that I don't even pay attention. I just think the vinyl is thick and still a bit soft after it comes out of the press, so it is unavoidable. And don't fret too much over the little things--pressing records is not a "perfect" science (if that makes sense). If they look nice and play back quietly, it's all good.
 
Now that the cat is out of the bag and we have a solution for the defective sets and individual albums, of course, I was right in the middle of uploading this video when I got word. :laugh:

This is how my Horizon sounds, fresh out of the sleeve. Mine did not arrive too dirty, although I can hear it needs a bit of a cleaning before I play it again. It is, however, a little off-center on side A, enough that I can hear it.

The music might have a little sibilance to it--this caught me in the middle of remounting and realigning the cartridge (which is a bit involved) so I had to run it as-is. I can get a better sample up when I get 'er lined up properly, if anyone is on the fence and wants to hear how it is mastered.

Overall I think it sounds fairly good though. It had a certain "fullness" and life to it that I do not get when I listen to the CD.

 
That is strange to me that someone would fondly remember pops and skips. I spent lots of money and time to remove those from my vinyl. I wanted to hear the sound, not the medium. Today I'm even more adamant about it and take a scientific approach to cleaning vinyl. After all it's just a surface that you want to have nothing on it. There are three main types of contaminants, mineral, organic, and hydrocarbons. I have created my own process and fluid to remove this stuff. On well pressed vinyl I can make the background inky black. Those are a real pleasure to listen to.

That's my point. When it comes to vinyl, I think one falls in either the audiophile category or the general public. And the general public thinks records make a lot of unavoidable noises. Even as a boy, I learned to keep my records clean and in good condition, and the Carpenters, with their soft sound and attention to detail, were the main reason. I remember (when I was 12), picking up on the most subtle nuances in the music. The instrumental break in A Song For You, for example. It is so quiet when it begins; I could hear the frets (?) of the saxophone opening and closing, or perhaps it was hammers hitting the strings inside the grand piano. I was too young to disect it, but I knew if I wanted to hear those tiniest of details, I had to keep my records clean. Consider too; the average person doesn't even know how to handle a record (on the outer edges only)! No wonder their records were noisy!
 
Sadly after reading all these posts this is Exactly The reason Why I'm Very Hesitant to ever invest in vinyl let alone buy another turntable ever again I've been so used to digital CD's and Downloads as well as older cleaner vinyl ( transferred to digital) I just don't see how I can justify spending so much money on low quality inferior and defective products ( I Live on A Tight Budget like many of you) and i expect more for the money i spend.
 
Sadly after reading all these posts this is Exactly The reason Why I'm Very Hesitant to ever invest in vinyl let alone buy another turntable ever again I've been so used to digital CD's and Downloads as well as older cleaner vinyl ( transferred to digital) I just don't see how I can justify spending so much money on low quality inferior and defective products ( I Live on A Tight Budget like many of you) and i expect more for the money i spend.
Much of the new vinyl out there is quite good, but every so often, "stuff happens" and something like this gets out. But at least we've helped rectify it now.
 
Sadly after reading all these posts this is Exactly The reason Why I'm Very Hesitant to ever invest in vinyl let alone buy another turntable ever again I've been so used to digital CD's and Downloads as well as older cleaner vinyl ( transferred to digital) I just don't see how I can justify spending so much money on low quality inferior and defective products ( I Live on A Tight Budget like many of you) and i expect more for the money i spend.


Bobberman, I do agree with you in many respects. I have over 900 CD's and box sets of CD's that are great. But there are some things I really like where the vinyl is miles above the CD. The 45 RPM 2x LP's of Fleetwood Mac and Rumours are drop dead gorgeous. It's like being in the room with the band. Carol King - Tapestry 45 RPM is another one that has no peer.
 
I have a question. Has anyone played Made in America yet to determine if the moog synthesizer is present on Those Good Old Dreams like the original MIA LP? It was missing from the CD.
 
I have a question. Has anyone played Made in America yet to determine if the moog synthesizer is present on Those Good Old Dreams like the original MIA LP? It was missing from the CD.

I asked that same question on page 27 of this thread. :) I asked because I wanted to know if this new release was exactly 100% faithful to the original LPs. I guess if it were, then it would also have the sped up songs on side one of the SINGLES 1969-1973 LP, since that's how it was originally.
 
I certainly concur with your assessment of the situation. After reading your post, it occurred to me; perhaps the overall “less than” quality of the box set will not be a major setback to the “new” record buying public for which it is aimed. Sadly, standards have been lowered. Those used to listening to compressed CDs may think these records sound incredible! Also, I would bet the average record buyer (of today OR yesteryear) never even thinks to clean a record before playing it! Most people I’ve talked to (about my record collecting hobby) comment about how they (sometimes fondly) remember the “snaps, crackles, pops and skips”; something my well-cared for records rarely did. (I’m the one who purchased the box set mainly for the clean artwork; I already have several nearly-perfect playing original Carpenters LPs.)
Hard to argue with your correct points. And I realize most people don't have higher end rigs either. As a business owner I appreciate that sometimes compromises need to be made. But these pressings are defective. It doesn't fall into a subjective issue. Mastering can be forgiven to an extent. Sometimes these guys have to use what's given to them and that's the end of it. Sometimes you can see visual defects but they barely effect the sound. A few clicks, I can overlook that too. I'm not asking for a perfect pressing. However, this is the Carpenters. That demographic, with this kind of music, is going to have a larger percentage of older listeners that appreciate good sound. Off center pressings of a Carpenters album is going to be noticed with all the piano and perfect pitch vocals from Karen. Non fill issues, off center issues, way too much noise in the vinyl...these to me are defects that render an album unplayable imo. What makes me angry is no one is going to convince me Umg didn't know going in these were going to come out this way. The plants that produce bad pressings are well known. And I'm sure cheaper to have vinyl pressed at. And we are being asked to spend an average of $180 for the set. How does a company produce such a substandard product on purpose and then expect folks to spend that kind of money?

So, I totally agree with your point in general. The issue is when do we consider an album truly defective? And I agree that most are probably pretty accepting of defects many of us here would not accept. But the defects I mention are not really subjective. All effect the audio experience to a great degree. If a CD sounded like that, people would return them in a heartbeat. I just think it's very disrespectful to both Richard, and to those of us that treasure their music to the degree that even though we already own these albums, that we would have purchased them again in support of the effort. But these? No thanks.
 
I just opened Now & Then...the artwork is brilliant, just beautiful gatefold love love love it. Here is the bad news, another defect in hole punch with more plastic on the hole sticking up but worse is the label has major damage, it feels like huge dent running your finger across this like the LP wasn't fully complete in the molding process or how ever it's done. It's got the same scuff marks and scratches. My list of replacements keeps getting longer and I'm quite upset. I'm afraid to open the next album. I mean guys would you keep this stuff? It's making my old 70's A&M Lp's look like gold.

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Well, mine didn't look that bad but it sure sounded that bad! Sing opens side one as we all know. If I recall correctly, they didn't record that song with tons of noise and pops and clicks generously flowing throughout the song. I didn't even make it past that one song. Both my albums are being picked up by UPS tomorrow and going back to Amazon. Clearly there is absolutely no reason to bother exchanging them. But the cover? I agree, what a beauty. This all makes no sense. They are going to experience a huge rate of returns and opened box sets as some try to manage making one good set out of having a few opened. Whatever UMg thought they were going to save using a subpar plant is surely going to be lost. And again, the mastering just isn't very good anyway if you have decent vintage copies to compare with. I wish they had used a lower generation master...Horizon clearly didn't and I didn't get far enough into Now & Then to render an opinion. However, it also isn't terrible and had the pressings been at least decent, I would have kept them. As many of you know, the Beatles set was beautifully repressed. Perhaps when the **** hits the fan, they will do the same with this set.
 
I'm pretty much done uploading further photos, it's just too time consuming. I've opened the rest of the LP's, AKOH is filled with scuffs and scratches and the label has a tear near the hole punch on both sides. MIA has a major flashing hole, so much plastic that I can't even get it on my record doctor cleaning machine spindle, also tried and it won't even go down on my turntable spindle either. The label also has a small tear near hole. Just a mess. I took pics but won't upload. Also you should have seen all the plastic, shreds of it coming off the side of one of the LP's and some of my inner rice paper sleeves are folded and crumbled like the person jammed it inside the LP jacket.

The others The Singles, Horizon, Passage, VOTH and Lovelines "visually" look ok, good labels and holes but some scuffs, I don't have time tonight to clean them like they need to be as they are very dirty. I will try to do this on the weekend. I've got to talk to the retailer about my next move soon. I almost want to get a full refund and say forget about this mess but I'm thinking they won't refund music titles. If I get them replaced individually (and there's a lot) will the retailer keep replacing them until I get a decent press? This could be a long process especially after what I've just went through...Or will they just accept to refund my purchase price? I'm pretty upset $150.00 may not be a lot to you but it's a lot to me for such a poor product.
It's very important that you bring the set back to your retailer so they are aware of the situation. If we don't, UMg won't know either. I buy albums like this from Amazon for one reason...it's easy to return them and I don't have to subject my local dealer to this kind of issue. Most labels will not accept returns, so it puts you potentially in a bad place with your local store. But at the end of the day, your dealer chose the buisness he's in and he is going to care about this and make it right if he wants to stay in business. I used to own a record store and I'm glad I don't now! My local store does tell me they prefer that I buy from them and return defects, but do buy a lot from them and I don't abuse the privilege. I had to return the Queen hits set three times but they took them with no complaint. And then, because they can't return them, they put them out in the used bins. There is little motivation for the large labels to care about pressings, but eventually stores are going to get tired of this nonsense and give up. And I hate to see that, so I'm careful. But in this instance, and with this type of music needing to be correctly pressed, I think you are justified to press hard on getting better pressings. Frankly, it might be cheaper for the dealer, and less frustrating for you, to call it a day and just get a refund. Frankly, I think it's bad enough that they are going to have to repress this set.
 
UMe is saying you should contact them directly. Just provide them with proof of purchase.
Generally they will likely allow you to keep the defective disc and mail you a new one. I just read UMG's response to another forum member after I had already posted some comments above and I'm impressed that they are owning up to the issue and are willing to help. I don't, however, buy the line that they were pressed at various plants. There are too many issues. I really think they were all pressed at the same low rent pressing facility, but kudos for their offer to replace them! I really hope we see a repress. I'm not buying again unless that happens, or I can buy an import set.
 
Much of the new vinyl out there is quite good, but every so often, "stuff happens" and something like this gets out. But at least we've helped rectify it now.
Absolutely right! I buy a ton of new vinyl and the vast majority is terrific. And yes, as you said sometimes stuff happens, like lots of other products. But don't let this discourage anyone from getting back into vinyl. Most of it is worth the journey.
 
Thank you, Chris May, for the information on returns. I'll try to get an actual "Horizon" through that route. Other than that issue, at this point I've opened all but MIA and while I've seen a few scuffs and other small issues, there's nothing even remotely comparable to the sickening photos that others have posted and nothing that seems to affect play. So I'll consider myself lucky in the long run. I mentioned buying the Cat Stevens Collected vinyl at the same time as this set. That was perfect. Impeccable pressing and the sound is gorgeous. So it can be done...good luck, everyone.
 
I mentioned the artwork is beautiful but it's not without some fault. Here are pics showing a dot matrix pixel error to the front of the Horizon LP cover (Richard Shirt) you can clearly see the pixel that is not on the original 70's LP. Also for A Kind of Hush the inside photo also has the same weird dot matrix. The label for AKOH is also not exact. The lyric booklet for The Singles also has the error as mentioned in font.

Horizon Cover Dot Matrix
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Same Dot Matrix on inside AKOH
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Left side is my original 70's inside photo in comparison to the right side which is the color is off and the dot matrix appears
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2017 AKOH Label, has a more faded color, also note the rip to the inner label I mentioned earlier in my post, terrible.
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Here is my 70's original LP label for AKOH (it's mint and I like the colors better)
These photos were shot directly from my iPhone and no editing.
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