The Beatles – 1967-1970

Really noisy vinyl. Lots of noise on quiet ages & in between tracks.

I agree about the defects that others have posted. I recently purchased the 2014 reissue of 1962-1966 (this can still be found) and, honestly, it is amongst the best sounding records in my collection. Quiet, flat pressing and the sound is unbelievable; the songs all "pop" and, most of the time, its like the band is right in front of you performing. This pressing of 1967-1970, unfortunately, is amongst the worst sounding records in my collection. Tons of noise throughout each side; pops, non-fill, you name it. And the mastering...at times it honestly sounds like a 128kbps mp3. I'm aware that this album requires many songs on each side but, honestly, this pressing is atrocious when it comes to the actual sound. The music, of course, is legendary - certainly deserves better than this dull and noisy pressing. Such a shame. I think some day I'll purchase the 2023 remix version as it has received positive reviews. Or, better yet, somehow track down a 2014 reissue pressing.

I dont think this is a digital pressing from my research and audio comparisons ,the problem seems to be a quality control issue and /or sub par stampers ,
If the vinyl was dead quiet as it should be ,it would be equal to the well done red album

To say this release is confusing would be an understatement, especially since there's no equivalent 'Made In Canada' repress of the red album (at least to my knowledge)

I decided to bite the bullet on this one for Christmas, seeing as my only other copy of this album was a beat up Capitol US press. My copy ended up coming with a 'clean intro' to A Day In The Life, which is odd since there's some people who have reported that this release had a 'fade in intro' to A Day In The Life, yet others had gotten a 'clean intro' copy as well. The reason this is significant is it's a possible indication of the audio source for this mysterious reissue (2010 digital remaster? 2014 analog lacquers? Digital transfer of the tapes used for the 2014 press?). Lady Madonna did have a cut-off fade out, which others have mentioned was only fixed with the 2009 digital remasters, leading them to believe that this is still an analog press (or at least this release used the digital 'safety transfers' of the analog tapes used for the 2014 lacquers).

Another thing worth noting, while the changes were minimal, the hype sticker was still changed nonetheless ('Analogue' was altered to 'Analog', seeing as this press is directed towards the US market), so there was an opportunity to alter it to mention any digital sources being used (if any were even used to begin with), which I'm pretty sure most recent reissues of Beatles records have been transparent about (2012 reissues, Giles remixes, etc).

I'm not anti-digital or anything, I'd just like some transparency. Seeing as I was working up from an early 70's Capitol press and the 2023 remixes have been a mixed bag for me, I would've still gotten this if '2010 Digital Remasters' was slapped onto the hype sticker.

Just listened to 2014 Red followed by 2018 Blue. The audio fidelity of Red was noticeably better but I believe this is down to pressing plants (and the fact that they're different albums, of course). Red was pressed in The Netherlands while Blue 2018 has the 'Made In Canada' sticker. My Red was truly immaculate while this Blue was noticeably dirtier out of the package with surface noise issues. Having said that, again, these are two different albums. All the tracks on Red are 2-3 minutes in length and fit comfortably on the vinyl. Blue, on the other hand, crams more music onto each side which results in lower volume (nearly 10 dB lower than Red on my setup).

But none of this speaks to this not being an all analog pressing. There have been many assertions that the 2018 is not "full analog" and I have found no evidence anywhere that this is the case. I think people just think analog automatically equates to "better" and when they hear something less than satisfactory, they cry "digital". There are artifacts present on this Blue album that are indicative of this being an analog cut (Lady Madonna cutting off during the fadeout and apparent tape hiss in between tracks which could have been easily scrubbed if digital. And, no, this noise in between tracks is not just "surface noise". This is something entirely different and sounds to my ears to be baked into the source audio).

So, we have multiple things going on here. 1) The pressing quality has issues. No arguments there. I'm sure the 2014 had better quality control.
2) The audio fidelity is lower due to the amount of music packed onto each side. This is an inherent quality of this particular compilation album on vinyl.
3) People are claiming this is cut from digital due to these issues; some of which actually indicate that it is, indeed, an analog cut.

I'm happy to eat my words if anyone can provide evidence that this is digitally cut but I'm feeling pretty confident on this one. I actually think, if it was digitally cut, some of the issues here wouldn't be present. The audio fidelity would still be less than Red due to longer sides but the artifacts could be easily removed.

At the end of the day, this one doesn't sound great and I'm happy to it that. I just don't think it's an "analog/digital" thing. If I ever stumble across a 2014 Blue, I'll definitely pick it up to see if what I believe to be analog artifacts are present there. If this is a digital cut, it's the worst digital cut I've ever heard. As if there was absolutely no effort put into utilizing the main advantage of digital which is to remove issues on an analog master. Also, why would they cut from digital when the 2014 analog-cut plates were presumably available? And why explicitly state on the hype sticker that it's an "All Analog Master"? I'm not saying companies don't lie but, if the goal was to mislead, why not omit any mention of the mastering chain?

The hype sticker clearly states this is an all analog master from the original master tapes. I bought it on that basis. So why the assertions here that this is cut from a digital file? What’s the evidence?

Now that I have both this and the 2014 pressing I can say that the 2014 kicks this one's ass. This 2018 is a big wimp compared to the 2014. Unfortunately I have to keep both because the 2014 has the Sgt. Pepper's Reprise fade-in on A Day in the Life where the 2018 has the isolated acoustic guitar intro. Oh well.

Got this from Amazon, most of the record sounds good, but I can’t get over the crackling when you get towards the end of both side A and B. It’s especially apparent on A Day in the Life at the end when the music is fading out. Same with revolution on the reverse side.

Bad pressing. It has nonfill all over. Words words words

I bought this one twice but I never opened them due to it being the MADE IN CANADA w/ UMe and Capitol Records logo version from 2018. I had heard all the horror stories about it being a poor digital pressing. Still looking for the correct 2014 EU analog pressing. I did get the 1962-1966 red album EU press and it is awesome. I could not believe how good it sounds. I find no blur albums on Discogs that I can buy as most are sold from over seas and $$$$$. Oh well I wish I could figure out where I can get one for a good price. Any ideas?