What in the world is going on.....

His early solo albums--standard issue-- sound pretty great as I remember. Don’t know if they were all Phil Ramone, but that would explain a lot. I have more respect for him now than I did back in the day--it was too "pop" oriented for me at the time. I got to hear him play several years ago at a small benefit show in a non-music venue-- audience of several hundred people. He was unbelievably musical.

The first sign that the recording was at least mastered, if not recorded digitally is the download card that accompanies the record. Not that all digital is bad- I have some wonderful sounding records on vinyl that were natively recorded in digital; indeed, a lot of stuff since the ’80s was recorded digitally. Remasters are a different story- the difference between an old analog record and a digital remaster is often noticeable, but in some cases, like some of the Steve Wilson remixes, the trade off of a better mix (e.g. Aqualung) is worth the price of admission, particularly if the original analog recording isn’t very good.

As to why this record sounds lousy on your "big" system, it could be that little care was taken in mastering it to vinyl. Or perhaps it isn’t a very good recording to begin with. I don’t know enough about the record, haven’t heard it, and don’t even know who mastered it. What sounds good over an MP3 is very different than what sounds good over a wideband playback system. (Think back to the days when pop records were created to sound punchy on the car radio - some sound great over a good hi-fi rig, but some are really dead and lifeless sounding). My suspicion is, another copy isn’t going to sound better, but if there are others who have this pressing, they can chime in.

fjn- if it is the MoFi re-do of Big Pink, try turning up the volume. That record was cut with really low gain. There are a few threads on this on the Hoffman board. I have a copy, but haven't played it in some time. 

Wolf- I tend to like your taste in guitarists, but the measure for me isn't even chops, it is the ability to convey something that is emotionally affecting- I'm not sure there is a metric for that and it may be personal taste. For example, I went to hear Terry Reid a few years ago, and he used a local band- the guitarist had great countrified electric guitar fills that weren't "rote" and he didn't overplay, but when he came in, he was really tasty. 
Leslie West never really had "chops" but I always loved his playing on Mountain's "Theme for an Imaginary Western"--not just his tone either.
Lindley- yeah, total genius. 
I've been listening to some Davey Graham, who was a pretty influential guy for that whole crop of UK folk/psych guitarists, including Jansch and Renbourn.