Is it questionable to buy new popular music on LP?

on the planet i'm from, you still buy what you like..

Springsteen has a long, long history of format-independent rotten recordings. It's too bad. I want to rock out, I slap on The River and boogie for two and a half tracks before I can't stand it any more. If you want to hear him at his best I guess you have to go to a show.

As a big fan of the local college radio station here in Rochester NY I bought The Format Dog Problems from the band's web site. I remember K-Tel making better sounding records! It actually sounds better on my car radio!

I agree with Emailists. Magic has probably got to be the WORST modern day recording that I have on vinyl. Hollow, compressed, smeared and absolutely lifeless. Definitely targeted at the NO-FI Generation.

I too, wonder whether performers actually have the opportunity to hear the final mix. Audio enthusiasts do NOT deserve a recording of such low calibre. (sigh) AUD$39 down the crapper.

Dunk- Funny you mention Magic - Is it probably the worst sounding LP I own. I have found though that as I get my table better at controlling resonances, that LP sounds a bit better. Terry's song, the last cut sounds quite decent, given that it is quieter, and wasn't as heavily produced.

Last year, when Magic first came out I saw Bruce live at the Garden here in NYC.

I happened to pass by Jon landau on our way in, and I so wanted to ask him if what they heard in the studio was what hey hear on the final CD.
Unfortunately he was in conversation and my group didn't want to wait.

I just downloaded a flac verson of the CD (since i own the LP already) and will have to compare for myself.

I think it is a "mixed" bag. I have some new vinyl releases that sound great and others that sound bad. My observation is that it has more to do with the mix than the pressing quality. For instance I have listened to Springsteen's Magic on both CD and vinyl and both sound bad on my home system. The place it sounds the best is on my car stereo which was probably one of the playback targets of the mix.

I have Radioheads "in Rainbow" in CD and in vinyl, there is a clear difference in the quality of the playback. I prefer the sound of the lp so any investment in time etc is worth it to me. I suppose if all things were equal though I would play the cd.

In last years TAS analog issue in the interview with a mastering engineer he says that the LP release of a hi res digital master can contain one octave more info than the CD.

I am with Albert here. Yes it is worthwhile buying new release vinyl and i buy a lot of vinyl. It does piss me off that vinyl is almost a yuppie boutique product now.
The new radiohead US LP does not sound very good, so i cvan only guess how bad the CD sounds. Trouble is the previous Thom York and radiohead LP's which I all have on UK vinyl sound superb!!

Lots of new albums come on double LP's which in turn sound a little better again.

New Euro and UK pressings invariably sound better to their US counterparts thou. Although I have the new Rihanna, Timbaland, NIN, James Blunt that sound great on vinyl. The new Joy Division rermasters on LP are brilliant.
The new Portishead US pressing is crap, however the UK pressing is wonderful.
BTW, I have UK pressings of Gomez Liquid Skin, Bring it on, In our Gun, & Split the difference. All sound good, however Gomez as you probably know like their music to sound a little bass heavy. Have not heard the new one yet.

Thing is vinyl takes a little more care, like cleaning it in a RCM, before you play, buying inner sleeves so the LP does not rub back n forth inside the cardboard.
The better the turntable you upgrade to, the better the vinyl sounds period.

If one is not prepared to go thru this little ritual in playing vinyl, maybe it is better to buy CD's.

Chadnliz,

I also have this across the board from Radiohead to most any new album, anyone else feel this way?

Answer for me is no. I have all the albums by Radiohead, including the new double 45RPM "In Rainbows" that I bought directly from their site.

Ranking this album at 45 RPM, it is considerably better than the single disc 33 USA pressing which is considerably better than the USA CD. I can name groups and pressings where it's a closer call, but I can easily list 20 groups that are better on LP, that I have compared directly on my system.

Could be a different outcome with a more expensive digital rig, but since SACD died and interest seems to be moving toward computer based playback, I decided to drop back to a Blue Ray (Pioneer Elite) and relax.

I have not heard, "Gomez how we Operate," and therefore unable to comment on that music.