Big Star – #1 Record

Both this record and the Craft repress of Radio City suffer from the same issues. Besides the noise issue, which everyone seems to mention in the comments, the sound quality is pretty lackluster and lacks the bright jangle this album and Radio City have. I'd describe them as very mid-range and bass heavy, i.e. muddy. Overall, a solid 3/5. Not the best, not the worst.

45rpm! It’s quite quiet but if you whack up the volume it sounds great to me. I don’t have any other vinyl copies to compare with though.

I must be one of the lucky ones because I got a good copy. Yeah there's a little bit of rumble while it's playing (more pronounced on Side B than Side A), but the sound quality is stellar with no distortion or other artifacts whatsoever. I did have to clean it the first time I took it out of the sleeve though, it was a bit dirty.

How is this different from the other Italian reissue in 1998?
https://discogs.versitio.com/release/2513254-Big-Star-1-Record
The labels here show Akarma 028 also.
I suspect they're the same release!

Like others have said, decent amount of surface noise, especially on side A, but I haven’t done a deep clean on it yet. I don’t have any other pressing to compare, but sounds quite dynamic to me. Jacket is top notch quality, thick and glossy.

There are three different versions of this Big Beat reissue from 1986 and after listening to all three, this one is the finest. All three versions have different labels, matrix codes, and mastering which is hard to figure out why exactly, considering that they were all released by Big Beat in the same year. This one also appears to have been pressed in the UK according to the labels, but I haven't been able to confirm that's the case. This is the hottest of the three and sounds as close to the original pressing (which I'm lucky enough to have picked up 30+ years ago) as I've ever heard- definitely blows away the most recent remasters- kind of shocking for a digital remaster, which I usually loathe. Highly recommended if you can't afford an OG.

Side 2 on my copy sounds distorted. Like the speed of the turntable is not all there. It's definitely not the turntable. Had anyone had that experience?

Negative out of the way first. The record had a lot of visual contamination on opening and was so static it pulled its on inner sleeve inside out removing it, Wanted try a play without cleaning but it didn't look like a safe option. Wet vacuum clean removed all particles and fingerprints but some scuffs remained.

On play after cleaning, it sounded amazing, 9/10 for sound. Never heard an original, but this seemed plenty bright and trebly to me. If the original had even more I'm glad they toned it down.

Holy Sh*t does this OG pressing sound absolutely fantastic!!! In every way.

Very good press, sounds fresh, havent heard orginal pressing to compare it to, but it sound grandiose