Hum (2) – You'd Prefer An Astronaut

I just got this today...sounds fine to me. No skips, no noise, no complaints. I’d love the original press but until (or if) that happens this one will do just fine.

Absolutely love this album, but this pressing isn't too good. Clarity is fine, but there's skipping issues where the black and white meet to the point where it's unplayable.

Very quiet mastering, and there is some definite warping on side A that is unfortunately pretty noticeable. You'll have to EQ it pretty heavily to get a decent sound from this pressing.

If you can, try to buy an original pressing. All of the SRC pressings are complete garbage. I had the clear and this black and white split and both were shit. The original pressing's are going down in price a bit and are a million times better sounding than this shit. SRC should be embarrassed with the garbage quality of their records.

This pressing sounds really bad. I would avoid if could do it over.

I'm not sure how I feel about this pressing yet. My copy sounds quite distorted and I find myself having to turn down the preamp gain and cranking the master on the power amp instead. It's certainly clearer than the CD, but not by a big margin. I'll have to give it a few more listens.

My Side 1 is pressed a wee bit off center, and it's mastered pretty quietly so I have to turn it up and listen to the louder static and dust pops. But otherwise, to my ears, it sounds good. "Little Dipper" and "The Pod" sound absolutely fine, and Side 2 is on center, which means it all sounds perfect, which means I personally got my money's worth. Yes, I realize Matt Talbott has a bunch of copies of the original pressing, but getting my hands on one has proven near impossible. I haven't seen a sale of them in well over a year and a half as of this post, and...I really really wanted it on vinyl, so I bought this. In a nutshell, I wouldn't say you should avoid this reissue, but I also wouldn't say you should run out and get it if you're expecting it to sound perfect.

Not Recommended. Very poor pressing just like the last batch from 2013. I originally bought the 2013 "white smoke" LP when it was released and returned it for a refund due to absolutely abysmal pressing quality. I picked up the 2016 black/white LP hoping for redemption, but unfortunately it is plagued by the exact same issues. The record lays flat but it is terribly off-center so much so that there is a persistent and extreme "wobble" in the pitch. Just listen to the intro to "Stars" for the most obvious example - the wow/flutter is so bad it sounds like he's playing with a whammy bar. Playback is also rife with static, crackling, pops etc. even after cleaning and using an anti-static gun. Absolutely embarrassing for SRC. If you must have classic album on vinyl consider saving your dollars up for an original press, or better yet just stick with the CD.