The Doors – Morrison Hotel

Relatively low rating on this one, any pressing issues? Thanks for the info

This sounds Absolutely Fantastic in Every way. I have the AP 45 rpm editions of the debut, Strange Days, Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman. I’m getting rid of all of them and replacing them with these. Those 45 rpm’s just aren’t worth all of the side flipping and it got annoying Real Fast. I’ve since acquired Mint DCC pressings of the debut and Strange Days. So I don’t need those. The DCC pressings of those two albums will Never be bested Ever. The DCC pressing of LA Woman is GROSSLY over valued/priced, so I’ll take the RFH (which is in transit to me now). Replacement complete. These are That Good!

I don't have a problem with albums being reissued as 2x45rpm LPs. In some cases, I strongly prefer them, as in the case of the KIND OF BLUE UHQRs. I don't have a huge issue with flipping a record over. There's the benefit of way more cutting space to let the grooves "breathe," as in the case of the FOLK SINGER AP-45. I would want neither of those records in 33rpm. AP did them perfectly. But if I can get an equal or better pressing at 33 than 45, it's a no brainer.

I bought the four bookend albums of their discography on Rhino, because I'm not a fan of the middle two. These four I own are nearly perfect pressings. I say nearly because I'm sure a microscope would reveal an imperfection and we know vinyl is charmingly imperfect. But these are damn near perfect. Jackets are amazing, too. And they sound AT LEAST least as good as the same four AP-45s I own. Maybe better as many claim, but I haven't done the A/B on them yet. When I do, I'll be especially interested in LA WOMAN since I own the 45, UHQR, and now the Rhino.

I've heard some collectors complain about the jackets being too tight to fit the record in. Tbh, I haven't housed a record in an outer sleeve in years. No reason to go through the hassle or risk damaging the jackets from regular use. I strongly recommend collectors pull the vinyl out, discard inner sleeves if they're not the MoFi archival type, slip their outer jackets into a crystal clear (not inferior milky) plastic outer sleeve from the top. That's usually the last time I even touch the jacket with my bare hands, unless I want to see something about it while listening to the album, but in my case, that's almost never. I can look at the front and back of the jacket through the plastic. In the case of these Rhinos, I slide the booklet in between the gatefold for easy extraction and protection from the top. I'll slip the vinyl into new archival inner sleeves and slip that sleeved vinyl along the rear of jacket, facing out so I can see the record. This has proven a perfect way to store my vinyl and keep everything in impeccable condition. This way, you don't even know what people are talking about when they complain about gatefold sleeves being too tight. You only deal with them once.

Thanks to Rhino HiFi, Kevin Gray, the Doors, and Optimal Media for daring to improve on Doug Sax/AP's standard setting by making this incredible audiophile production.

I decided against ordering the complete box set because of the questionable quality control and bet on Rhino releasing the albums individually so I could try out one at a time. Sure enough there are some bad (and some good) reviews of the albums from the box. The mastering of the RHF releases in general is typically excellent, but unfortunately they aren't immune to pressing problems such as warpage and surface noise. I got lucky with this unnumbered copy of Morrison Hotel. The vinyl is flat and silent. The mastering is incredible. The sound is rich and balanced - the bass, mids, highs. Just outstanding. As others and myself have previously mentioned, these covers are a pain. I like the heavy cardboard but they're oversized and it's a struggle to get the insert and vinyl back inside. Not a fan of their inner sleeves either. As others have mentioned, the Vinyl Solutions sleeves work great. I like the 12.5 with the non-sealable flap for these. I put the vinyl in a different polyethylene sleeve and leave it outside the jacket, inside the outer sleave, and I flatten the obi and tuck it inside the gatefold. The vinyl is easily accessible and I don't even have to remove the jack from the sleeve. Highly recommended pressing of this album. Hopefully you get a clean, flat one!