A bad press makes good music hard to listen to
921070
My complaint is similar to others-- there is a lot of floor noise on this cheap pressing. It's definitely not the best, with many pops on a perfectly clean and new record.
3448913
Dunno why, but it seems like the studio where these tracks where recorded just wasn't up to par.  I consider myself an audiophile, and for some reason every track is missing a certain crispness and quality ive come to expect.  Ive listened to it in my car and on my PC and was disapointed in both locations.  Some of the songs are really catchy and hot.  They have a new CD now too that I am debating on checking out.
80916
A GREAT SET ,BUT  HAS SOME KIND OF UGLY DISTORTION THRU MOST OF THE TRACKS.SOME SOUND PROCESSOR RUN AMOCK.THIS RUINS MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCE,WHICH IS SAD.PERHAPS THEY WILL REMASTER THIS COLLECTION,IF ENOUGH PEOPLE COMPLAIN.I GET A HEADACHE TRYING TO LISTEN.I HEARD THIS TYPE OF DISTORTION ON SOME  C D PLAYERS IN 1983. WHEN WE HAD PERFECT SOUND FOREVER,THATS WHY SOME PEOPLE BOUGHT EXPENSIVE PLAYERS,BACK THEN.I SENT THIS BACK IN THE HOPE OF GETTING A CLEANER PRESSING.I HOPE THE NEW ONE IS BETTER.
1686309
Most of the pieces on this collection are good. However, any piece that has loud drums, the sound distorts into a grainy mess. I don't even know how the sound engineer was able to release this CD with such flaws. The bad pieces sound like someone put the bass equalizer on +20db and totally messed up the sound. I know that the problem is on my end because I have good audio equipment, and similar loud drums on other pieces do not have such distortion.

Bottom line is that if you are an audiophile of any kind, the bass distortion on many Swan Lake pieces will have you dissatisfied.
2313577
I was initially intrigued because I was wondering how this unknown record company got the rights to publish this Radio Broadcast on disc. In any event, upon initial play, this recording is muddy and clipping at high-volume is evident. Then I came to the realization that this sounds like a Mono recording. I have a considerable live music collection, and this recording clearly ranks among the worst of the worst. It's no wonder why the band or their record company did not release it themselves - it wasn't worth publishing. Beware of Gossip Records.
1855506
BAckground music made an otherwise  pleasant experience an unpleasant one. The talent is obvious.
1038147
The music and the selection are great and it must have been a fine concert to attend.  The sound quality is acceptable. However, it hard to believe that this an official release endorsed by the band.
It is even more doubtful that this got past the critical musical ears of Donald Fagen or Walter Becker.  The most annoying parts are the dropouts between tracks, already mentioned by other reviewers.
The 'hidden' track FM on the second CD is of very poor quality. Something seems to have gone wrong with the tape about 2:45 into the song- and this in 1993 in an era of digital recording equipment.
There is no booklet with information, just a single recto verso sheet.  No credit is given to the musicians.  Laser Media did obviously a very poor job.  This is for fans only, in spite providing a good selection of the band's catalogue of fine material.
4711052
While the song is amazing, the pressing is not.  There is static in the right channel.  I returned the first record received from Amazon, but the second had the same issue.  Its a bad pressing, not sure it if is just one lot or the whole production run.

5 stars for song
1 star for pressing
2207449
While the songs on Carcass' first release are an often brilliant mixture of caffeine-addled grind and death-metal, it's usually difficult to tell  because of the horrible, microphone-in-a-trashcan production. I would  recommend the far superior and better-produced "Symphonies of  Sickness" to new Carcass initiates. I have the original CD release of  "Symphonies" that contains "Reek" (Along with the  autopsy-collage album cover) and the difference in production between the  two is like night and day. A.C. have used a similar-sounding production  style on a few of their releases, akin to being stuck under three feet of  sludge while the band plays above you. In A.C.'s case it just seems to be a  parody. It's a tragedy for Carcass fans that this material was produced so  poorly. I'd welcome a remaster with open arms, in this case it just might  be a lost cause.
751817
An excellent first track, "Heavy Blanket", but the rest of it is marred by horrible production, which features nothing but excessive reverb and muddy vocals.  This band needs a real producer.
3672272
This is a band that i have mixed feelings about as im sure alot of other people do. Soad actracts alot of people with their unorthodox style, but i think they will fail in trying to put a human face on their musik. I like the choppy beats and riffs mixed with a whole bunch of other [stuff], but the more they try to shove their politics down other people's throats the more i cant stand them. If your a kid who just likes some hardcore pop rock that is a bit more edgy then alot of  the mainstream pop out there then youll love this album for a long time, but if you are looking for a band with skill that will constantly supply you with fresher musik then youll be dissapointed. I think that overall system of a down is a bunch of off beat losers who stylishly substitute awkwardness for musical ability. This band has alot of potential that is sufficated by an overall negative anti-american message that im sure most people don't catch. This is a group that needs to focus less on making things seem hardcore and humane at the sametime and just use the natural sound they have to progress their style into something more simple. Songs like ''Deer Dance'' are an example of what they can accomplish if they stop acting like bad speed metal imitators.
1366068
Hurts my ears to not hear their original tracks! Had to turn it off. What's the use in doing a biography on a super group if you can't hear they did.
2083873
It's a travesty to hear what the loudness war is doing to fine art.  This recording suffers from over-compression, lack of transients and severe distortion.  If I wanted all that, --I'd listen to it on the radio.  Art vs. quality is akin to a gold ring in the snout of a pig. Headroom Injury - overcompressed.
2316143
Back in the 60s in 70s, the WORST music media (LPs, prerecorded cassette tapes) available in South America, were produced in Argentina and Uruguay.

Awfully printed covers, the original artwork reproduced with the worst printing quality. Even the lettering and titles (English/other languages) were most of the times badly translated to Spanish, without respect to basic grammar rules, and surely, just under the personal translation skills (???) of the person in charge of such work.

Rock music records were usually issued, with full of screeching treble -or so flat, no bass at all... The 'frying egg' sound of the turntable stylus running thru the grooves of those records, still tortures my memories of those years (the worst record pressing industry of the world during those years, no doubt about it!)

This compilation of great Italian hits, is no exception. It seems that the "digital master" for producing it, has been taken from those terrible pressed vinyl records (was it real vinyl at all???...)
3747499
The music is amazing, but the audio quality of the songs are lousy. I own this collection on vinyl, and I have done a complete transfer to digital sound, with noise removed, and it sounds 10 times better than this. The treble is muted, and there is too much bass in these recordings. If you like the music, I strongly suggest you find it on vinyl on ebay, if you have a turntable. I would love to publish my mastering of this audio, but that would be illegal I think.
1052948
I may have gotten a lemon here.  i have the 180 gram vinyl bought new in shrink wrap at a local store.

obviously the music is 5 stars, but the review is for the vinyl version.

i think this is one bad pressing by fat possum:
there are an assortment of CONSTANT background noise on a NEW vinyl.  enough to be (very) distracting.
the highs sound very shrill and rough on the ears.

i'd be very curious to hear if other people have this problem.  hopefully it's just me, i'm returning the album tomorrow, and will buy somewhere else if most people have a clean copy.
4238008
A major disappointment. This compilation was carelessly done. The listener can hear the difference in volume from one group of music to another. I recognize that some albums would have been produced at a softer volume than others however, for the sake of consistency with a compilation, those kinks should have been worked out. It is annoying to have to keep adjusting the volume literally sometimes from one song to the next. Who has that kind of patience? It is a pity for the music is (when one can hear it) quite lovely.
This was not a good purchase.