Mumford & Sons – Babel

I picked up an extremely clean used copy of this from my local shop and what I will say I this: United presses are almost universally poor on all s in my experience. This however, was not. Edges were trimmed clean and nicely rounded - felt like something more akin to an RTI press, not a United press. Flat, centered, clean spindle holes, no evidence of pressing flaws like no fill. It was so good I was suprised when I saw the "circle u". The mastering was sub-par and to be fair I can't say whether their hands were tied because of an already hot mix, or they just were a little heavy-handed for the vinyl master... either way, the result is very limited dynamics in the final product, which is anshame and does not justice to the material.

I gave this a recent spin, probably for the first time in almost 10 years. Confirmed that this is the original press, cut at NRP and pressed at United. Having said that, it is a nice pressing, which is surprising given the reviews below. Most of the reviews seem recent, so perhaps they are meant for a separate pressing? Either way, it is a good press with minimal surface noise, flat, centered. It is not the most dynamic pressing, but that's limited by the recording.

Bought a copy of this from Barnes and Noble. Terrible pressing; skipped about 10 times just on the first side and was filled with cracks and hiss. Also, didn't sound very good. Sounded like a very compressed mix and no better than streaming from Spotify. Avoid at all costs.

Borrowed this one from a friend and had all of the same issues that everyone else has had with this pressing. Flat dynamics, surface noise, pops & clicks, and the added bonus of being misprinted causing tonearm waggle & sound warping. Definitely a shame considering that the instrumentation in this album is so rich and vibrant. Hopefully one day it will be repressed properly so their fans can be happy.

Terrible pressing. A lot of light cracks or pops for me as others have noted - particularly between tracks. Worse than that, though, is that the mix is completely flat. Volume has to be cranked up to hear it and even then. There’s virtually no separation between the instruments or vocals. Sounds compressed like I’m listening to an mp3. Just awful.

A side sounded great. B side full of pops and crackles even after cleaning. Back it goes...
Update: 2nd copy arrived and sounds great on both sides. All good.

Really bad pressing. This album is really good however, this pressing sounds awfull. As said previously, there is no dynamic at all. After 20 seconds, I thought that my hardware had an issue.
Think about it twice before buying it.

Was a very strange experience playing this LP for the first time.
Because somehow I got a mispress. Cover, inlay and labels on the disc are the Mumford & Sons "Babel" album, but music is the album "Born to die" from Lana Del Rey.
Would be interesting to know if someone made the same experience...

I love Mumford & Sons! This record is another disappointment however. Their songs are amazing - it's the mastering and the pressing of the record that is terrible. Has a lot of surface noise and popping, even after a complete wash! Same as their 1st record. The songs also feel a bit muted, not dynamic at all. There's popping between 'Will Wait' and 'Holland Road' on side A, and through the album. Just not a good pressing.