Randy Holden – Population II

I agree this pressing sounds somewhat muffled, but the vinyl is quiet. I think the gatefold is of good quality and it would have been nice to have liner notes, but I’ve paid more for records that had no liner notes either. All in all I’m happy to finally have this on vinyl for a reasonable price.

Not a good pressing , if your buying just for the autograph go ahead , but if your buying to really listen you should pick up a different label

Disappointing packaging and pressing. No liner notes or research, flimsy jacket, vinyl is not 180 grams and mine arrived warped.

Reposting for Leon:

As many have noted the release is distorted quite a bit and this is a problem for the physical CD release as well as all the vinyl.
The mastering itself I feel is also quite poor, with lots of muffling by way of the low end EQ, boosting bass and removing a lot of high end. On the marketing for the release its stated that this is the closest in sound to the original source and I do not believe that for a second. Reasoning that is a confused quote regarding the 2007 CD. If you want to know more you can follow the link below, many others hear the issues but no one in charge of the release seems able to hear it themselves or otherwise take interest in the matter:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/randy-holden-population-ii.948622/#post-23698136
You can also hear the new remaster for yourself in this clip which sounds just like the CD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGjLVq4rk3o
Its possible the vinyl release has less distortion by way of it being hard to cut from clipping audio files, but it will still have the same poor mastering most likely and its been confirmed to have issues still.

Just to add more fuel to the fire, its clear that folks in charge of this is making Discogs delete my post. How honorable.

I love this album so much that I went ahead and bought this despite the mixed reviews. Overall this release is OK, but there are definite issues.

1) This record label is not super up front about answering questions, shipping things properly, etc.
2) The record is over priced given the quality of the packing and the vinyl itself. The black version is not 180g, even though they claim it is. I hope all the extra money is going to Randy and not to Riding Easy but I doubt it).
3) The sound quality and pressing isn't the worst I've experienced, but it is lackluster. There is a clipping/staticky sound distortion almost every time the guitar goes into the upper . It's hard to believe that no one heard this when the test pressing of this album was done.

Listing to this LP beats having to listen to YouTube recordings as I did in the past, but Riding Easy could have put a lot more care and craft into this release. It's hard not to feel, given the overall product and experience, that corners were cut here for the sake of the almighty dollar.

Just received my copy - disappointingly cheap and cheerful package tbh. Poor quality gatefold and plastic sleeve. Over $50 when you include shipping to London. Also had to wait ages for it while the pressing plant reopened post virus. Not sure why it ever closed, UK distributors have been happily pressing and shipping right through the crisis. Not sure I will be buying from Riding Easy again.