The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion

The first time I played it, I thought it sounded compressed and underwhelming like many reviewers. Then I spun it again about a week later and it sounded great. Maybe my ears needed to be cleaned out? not sure what the hell is going on. lol. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Maybe the the needle needs to clean those grooves out on the first . No idea. Anyways, based on my latest spin, I think it sounds good.

Just spun this one yesterday on my new system and it's the first record I've been disappointed in. Feels very compressed; I tweaked with the EQ an awful lot to try to get a good balance and I could never get the low end and the high end to really sit well together. Low end felt non-existent and then muddied up the more I turned it up, and the high end felt shrill and lacked the warmth I was hoping for. Absolutely loved this record when it came out (seeing them on this tour was my first concert), but feeling a bit disappointed with the pressing at the moment. Hopefully I'll find a sweet spot and be able to enjoy it more in the future.

Well, I can see both sides of the SQ comments here. Overall, it seems a bit like it was a hit and miss mastering job. The not so good: Lower mids are very muddy. The drums, esp. the cymbals are buried (except for No Speak where the high hat will deafen you). Part of the muddy mids is that the vocals and guitars often bleed together, esp. with Chris and the back-up singers. The good: The upper mids have good separation and Chris' voice often come out clearly and strong as long as it is just him. The highs, though low in the mix, are sharp and well-detailed. The bass is punchy, but could be a bit more melodic.

There is very good stereo separation The sound stage and 3D imaging are OK, but could be better (and I say this as my OG Shake Your Moneymaker has some of the best sound stage and imaging I have ever heard- these recordings are only a few years apart). Overall it carries the gritty, soulful feel of the album well, and having seen them on stage around the time of the release, it does convey the energy pretty well.

Overall its a good listen, but I'm not sure it is much better than the CD (I have different systems for each, but the fact that the CD can compete is worrisome). My discs were flat and almost completely noise-free.

Has anyone had the chance to compare this to a rare OG?

Everything about the audio is stellar on my copy. However, both spindle holes were too small. I took a very large bowie-type knife and carefully chamfered each hole. I barely took any material off to get the correct size but each disc plays slightly off-center.

Wow on the bad reviews. I ran this through a cleaner and it sounds fantastic. Across the board - open, punchy, nice separation. I think maybe this one just needs a good cleaning to shine.

Honestly can’t hear what everyone is complaining about. After a wet clean (which y’all should be doing with new records anyway), this is a lively and pretty spacious sounding cut. For the record, my reference copy only has McMaster on the 2nd disc, first disc is WG.

I do kinda get why they didn’t use the inner groove space and kept it at 33, though…I get the feeling the IGD on this would be potentially horrid given the amount of high end detail present. Keeping it all as close to the outer edge as possible is a smart move.

As others have mentioned I find this copy extremely compressed with nearly no dynamics. Is a fun listen for about 2 minutes but wears me down pretty fast. While the 1992 UK leaves plenty to be desired I prefer it to the 2015. Less thump but a lot more room between instruments and can be played loud without fatigue. Had high hopes for the 30th anniversary pressing but decided to based on poor reviews. Sadly, I don’t think a great representation of this album exists on vinyl.
For what it’s worth, my 2015 is Ron McMaster on all 4 sides (listing was Wes Garland on sides 1 & 2).

The U.S. version has surface noise problems.

If that kind of thing bothers you — Get the 2LP 2015 European version… it is quiet… no surface noise. Polylined sleeves.

Sounds great! Agreed that the real estate was there to master and cut at 45 RPM. But as the more recent single-disc LP is considered crammed... I don't mind the extra flipping.

My only criticism is that it's 2 heavy discs in a single jacket with paper inners. Needs some cleaning and resleeving. But quite manageable.

Decent pressing that could have been improved with greater detail by cutting it on two 45rpm lps. Packaging is lacking. I don't understand marketing "180g vinyl" and delivering it in poorly designed packaging