John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

I'm selling this version on as it has prominent surface noise throughout. Sounds like someone blowing across the top of bottle. Ruins the quiet sections, the bass solo in particular.
Paying through the nose for the Acoustic Sounds version instead.

I gave this 2015 reissue a low rating because of the very prominent 'windy' sound in the left channel of side A. It's clearly audible in the runin and runout of that side, but also in the more quiet sections of the music.

Side B is okay but side A is hard to listen to. It sounds like a cheap Russian bootleg, but I paid €40,- for this official Impluse! release. So I returned the album to the seller.

I have two copies of the "smoke" vinyl", which looks cool. Both have a strange "wind" sound in the silent sections. I've seen references to this problem online as well. Overall it's really nice sounding though.

This is a review of a specific reissue and will not discuss the music much. A lot has already been written about this record and I'm not sure I can add much to that discussion. It's great and you should own a copy.

One of the great things about Coltrane's A Love Supreme is that it is widely available on inexpensive and decent sounding vinyl reissues. I would count this version as one of those. The vinyl is flat and without any visual flaws, marks, etc. The sound is good... It is not going to beat the 45 rpm double version taken from the original tapes but for the price, you will get a solid, quality reissue. I have noticed some noise in the right channel on side A but it very faint and one needs to be listening very closely to hear it. Really... not bad. It plays without pops, clicks or other distortions. I was happy not to see the United U stamped in the dead wax when I opened mine as they have been reported to have lots of quality control issues with their pressings.
The drums sound great here and Elvin Jones really brings it, like he always does. The instrumentation is clear and full sounding. While I have heard bad things about some of the Impulse! reissues dating all the way back to the 70's I don't own another copy so I cannot compare. This Stereo mix sounds solid to these ears.
The packaging is excellent. You get the 1995 reproduction sleeve with the original notes and poem as well as new (95) notes from Michael Cuscuna that give a little context to the release. The cover is nicely reproduced here with crisp photography and graphics on a sturdy gatefold sleeve.
If you don't own A Love Supreme, this is a good sounding (not fantastic) version of it. There are superior versions out there if you are willing to pay for them but to the general populous of record listeners, this is a great value certainly a solid version to own while you dig through crates looking for that first pressing.

Can anyone else find this version but with a vertical barcode? Mine is TML stamped in the runouts. Maybe I'm just missing it on this site?