Tame Impala – Currents

WEIRD!!!

So i forgot i had the 2021 pressing (and indeed i have the non MPO variant 2 runouts which are labelled wrong on Dcogs starting with a 1 where it shoukd be 4 to match the catno) and stupidly bought the latest 2024 pressing complete with its "Made in " sticker and MPO runouts and i can honestly say the masterings are not the same despite the Sterling imprints being shared.

I first played the 2024 cut and enjoyed it... flat discs, almost zero surface noise and good sound. But i felt it was missing a little something. At which point Discogs reminded me i have the 2021 variant 2 and so ive rummaged and found it, cleaned it and listened to it. Despite being a little dished the 2021 variant 2 has better bass and more extended yet a silkier and more liquid treble, almost like the eq curve is a little V-shaped vs the 2024 repress. The bass is more solid and the mids lusher too. It overall just sounds abit less grey and abit less flat! While they are cut at identical volumes I find it amazing that they sound as different as they do given the number of represses of this record (mostly done by MPO and using the Sterling matrix).

Therefore while the 2024 repress is decent and YOU might be happy with it, if like me you think it could be better do yourself a favour and seek out the 2021 variant 2 for the better sounding cut!

Pressing wise the 2024 is flatter where an insignificant dish affects my 2021 but thats about it.
Packaging wise they differ again.... they are built the same but the 2024 has a more contrasty look and the cover art looks more dimensional. At least thats one thing in its favour!

Fascinating and odd.... im glad i made the observations to keep the older, better sounding cut!

For the first 3 Tame Impala LP’s my buddy told me not to bother with the US pressing and get this European one instead. So I did through Rarewaves and boy was he right. Great sounding pressing. Just get this and be happy with it.

I have a very similar record version with matrix / runout looking like variant 1 but with different end figures A=22291667 B=22291668 C=21246916 D=21246691. Bought in in 2023.
Anybody has it ? Is it the same version or is it a new one ? Can't find it anywhere...

Sounds amazing, just wish it came in mofi like sleeves so the discs wouldn’t get scuffed out of packaging

Beautiful in all aspects. Love the album art. Sounds really good, excellent album

One disc warped, inner sleeves came with seem splits, records very dirty right out of the gate. Otherwise nice sound with virtually zero surface noise and no cracks.