St. Vincent – Masseduction

The most anticipated album of the entire year came to me in a very disappointing packaging... There's no sleeve to hold the LP, It's just the cover / poster foldout of the album that keeps it in.... THE PVC cover is torn on the corners + the center (which bears the heaviest weight). The sticker sheet and the booklet are nice but they could've been executed better.
The sound quality on this sturdy heavy LP (almost 180G) is pretty nice, no scratches, no hiss, no noise on quiet ages. I thought it will be catastrophic but she did it again which is pretty awesome.

Sound Quality: (n.b. I always clean new records using vinyl revival before playing) After first listen the vinyl pressing seems good but not amazing. No visible dust or scratches on the vinyl on arival. There are clicks and pops on the quiet parts, but not enough for me to return it, or to listen to the wav files in preference. Based on past experience I would expect the surface noise to be virtually elliminated by the 4th play or so and another clean. I did a head to head comparison with the WAV file for New York and found the vinyl to be more dynamic and have a better stereo soundscape.

Packaging: There is no cardboard! The 'sleeve' is actualy a folded poster. This is inside a PVC sleeve with the album title on one side and the track listing on the other. Incidentaly the track 'dancing with ghosts' is listed as 'SLOW DISCO INTERLUDE' on mine. You also get some stickers and an A4 booklet with photos and lyrics. The record did not come in any kind of inner sleeve! it was just in there.... between the poster and the lyric booklet (that did have a plastic sleeve- the worlds gone mad!) I put my record in a poly lined sleeve straight way...I mean i wouldn't have been able to sleep otherwise.... The card was for 16bitWAV files.

Music: After 1 listen i can't really comment, but i already like it better than the previous album, which seemed bit cold and detached compared with the album before (strange mercy). I think I will be listening to this a lot, while not being quite the 'break up album' the music press led me to expect, (its more complex and rounded than that) it is definitely more emotional than its predecessor... While sounding nothing like it, It reminds me of Lou Reeds transformer. there are already several songs leaping out, most notably Happy Birthday Johhny and New York which must be one of her best songs to date. Its one of those records where you want to listen to it again immediately after its finished.

Any other info on the matrix for this edition? Country of manufacturer means GZVinyl, so would like to know if it has actually been cut by a cutting engineer with initials?