Reviews and Commentaries for Abraxas
Sonic Grade: F
There is a 180 gram domestic pressing of Abraxas that may still be available. The reason we never sold it even when we were selling Heavy Vinyl many years ago is that it’s AWFUL. One side, I don’t remember which one, is actually Mono.
You will see people selling this record on Ebay as an audiophile pressing. Believe me, no audiophile in his right mind would want this record.
Is it the worst version of the album ever made? Hard to imagine it would have much competition.
We play mediocre-to-bad sounding pressings so that you don’t have to, a public service from your record-loving friends at Better Records.
You can find these two in our Hall of Shame, along with others that — in our opinion — are best avoided by audiophiles looking for hi-fidelity sound. Some of these records may have passable sonics, but we found the music less than compelling. These are also records you can safely avoid.
We also have an Audiophile Record Hall of Shame for records that were marketed to audiophiles for their putatively superior sound. If you’ve spent any time on this blog at all, you know that these records are some of the worst sounding pressings we have ever had the displeasure to play.
We routinely play them in our Hot Stamper Shootouts against the vintage records that we offer, and are often surprised at just how bad an “audiophile record” can sound and still be considered an “audiophile record.”
Further Reading
Hi Tom, is this the Kevin Gray cut from 2020? If so I’ll remove it from my wish list! 🙂
Hi, this pressing was made sometime in the late 90s I would venture to guess, no later than the early 2000s because I know where I was living at the time when I played it and I moved from there in 2003.
However, if you have a record on some kind of wish list that was mastered by Kevin Gray, I think your idea of a wish and my idea of a wish are at odds.
Unless you meant to write “shit list.” If you meant that kind of a list, then you and I are in wholehearted agreement!
Anything mastered by Kevin Gray should be given a wide berth, assuming audiophile sound quality is a consideration. Some of this hack’s most disgraceful recuts can be found here.
TP