Porcupine Tree – Closure / Continuation

Diese 3 Vinyl Clear Schallplatten klingen bei mir sehr gut, feine Pressung mit allem was dazu gehört. Bin absolut nicht entäuscht!!!

Unfortunately Porcupine Tree vinyl pressings don't really convince me in recent years. Their Transmission album reissues are often very basic, with flimsy packaging and an overall half-hearted feel to it, while charging a at the same time. Another infamous example is their Record Store Day 2023 EP, which had such a careless packaging that you had to be very lucky to get a clean sounding disc. And now this release, which is considered the audiophile (and very expensive) variant of their latest album and then they press it at Takt Direct, one of the most substandard pressing plants out there? My copy is plagued by surface noise across all 3 discs, propably because of two things: Firstly Takt Direct from whom I never got a clean sounding pressing so far. Secondly the use of paper inner sleeves. Why no poly-lined inners to avoid damage to the discs of a supposed pressing?

I mean, I like the fact that it is done on 45 RPM for the (theoretically) highest sound quality. The mastering is superb without question. But when it comes to pressing and packaging quality Porcupine Tree established a higher standard in the past with their releases on K-Scope, Gates of Dawn or Tonefloat. This is kind of sad. When vinyl was almost dead in the 2000s they kept it up with great pressings where you could feel the love for the format. Now that vinyl is big again they drop quality? I don't get it...

I apologize if this is not the right place to ask, but what is the difference between this version and this one: https://discogs.librosgratis.biz/release/23734946-Porcupine-Tree-Closure-Continuation

Excellent sound. No issues with the pressing at all. Came in perfect condition. My only complaint is I wish they had put love in the past tense on here somewhere, but thats only a minor gripe at best.

Mine is perfection. Punchy, detailed, great soundstage. Happy about it

Like a lot of the comments here mine is a poor pressing too, record one is so badly dished I can only play it by manually lifting the stylus onto the groove as the normal cueing won’t clear the lp, There is rumble in the quiet parts and clicks, probably the worst PT pressing I have ever bought. It’s a shame because the audio is great. Could the black 2lp be a better bet?

It’s so disappointing to read everyone’s poor reviews of this pressing. Mine is thankfully perfect in every way. Zero surface noise.

What I will say though is this is not my first experience with Takt. If you got any of the recent Sigur Ros presses they were done there too. What I noticed is that the record coming out of there are coming out DIRTY. I had to really put some elbow grease into my brush to get those grooves clean but just like my Sigur Ros albums, they finally are snap crackle pop free!

If you’re having severe noise issues give that a shot. Not saying it’ll 100% work for you but it’s worked for every pressing I’ve got from Takt so far.

Now if they would just figure out why all their pressings are dirty as shit coming out of there…

Excellent album, but unfortunately had issues with two copies of this - skips and pops during the louder sections of Harridan and Chimera's Wreck. Rats Return was almost unlistenable because of all the skips. Such a shame, because otherwise this is one of the best sounding/mixed LPs I've ever heard.

Townsend Music fortunately sent me another copy free of charge, but sadly I had issues with that as well, after which they promptly gave me a full refund, so kudos to them for that.

Warped LP#1 with wax dent at the total end of the last track side A with mega cracks during playing (last 10- 15 seconds). Similar dent on the LP#3 at the end of Chimera's Wreck.

I have both this one and the 2-LP black version with CD. This 45rpm version is excellent although my main issue is Steven needs to go back to pressing at Optimal Media and don’t let Sony dictate this part of the production.
This is easily the worst PT record from a surface noise pressing quality perspective.