Florence And The Machine – Lungs

A lot of the comments on this release may be misleading, from my experience with Ray Janos cuts, they can be quite demanding, and the grooves might not track smoothly on lower end turntables. I also think that some people expect this album to sound drastically different from the digital releases of it, which is not true for any release really, unless it’s a remaster. For me, I think this cut is great, and it sounds nearly identical to my original CD. Don’t hesitate buying this great record!!

Horrifically bad pressing that I bought and sold, and once bought for a friend. Florence's voice is one of the greatest popular voices of her era, and there's often a lot going on in the instrumental parts of her music. You can't hear any of that amazing detail here. It sounds far worse than Spotify digital files.

my copy’s spine is completely blank, is that just mine?

The album itself is amazing, but the vinyl quality is horrible. Mine skips and has random popping / surface static throughout a few songs.

my copy was messed up right at the end of "You've Got the Love" which was a hellish way to end what had been a wonderful listen.

Absolutely love this album! Beautifully pressed! Can't wait to get Ceremonials.

I might have lucked out but my copy sounds pretty good, and I've been listening to this album for a decade, so I like to think I'd pick up on any issues. On the contrary, I can hear bits of instrumentation I never noticed listening digitally in all that time. Love the beautiful gatefold artwork.

Inner groove distortion on side A's "Kiss With a Fist" and "Girl With One Eye" are tragic. Florence's voice deserves much better. This is one of the best rock albums of the naughties, and could definitely do with an audiophile reissue. Maybe when it turns 10 in 2020.

Some may have got the short end of the stick but fortunately mine plays beautifully.

Reports seem quite mixed on this album's vinyl sound, I have both the US & European pressing and thought i'd share my thoughts to hopefully guide someone down the right path..
1st off, your not going to be guaranteed a great pressing quality with which ever pressing you go with, The European release is pressed by GZ Media & the US release is pressed by United, Both have a horrible reputation for quality,
for what its worth my EU pressing is flat, on centre, no surface marks and very little crackling on playback, but I know from experience this is pure luck..
My US pressing is also flat, on centre and has no surface marks but does has some background noise on playback,
Both covers on each pressings look great, the EU Pressing is a little tight to get the vinyl in (A GZ issue with all there packaging)
The EU pressing has a nice thick card printed inner sleeve, The US pressing has a thinner printed sleeve, which one is better?? down to personal preference, I carefully remove on 1st opening and after washing the vinyl use a separate MOFI inner to prevent and scuffs & ticks from the sleeve..
Playback, neither are audiophile quality but the EU pressing is streets ahead of the US pressing, almost night and day to me, The US pressing feels detached, flat, has an unpleasant tinny sound and Florence's vocals give a nasally sound whilst buried in amongst the instruments, the bass seems weirdly balanced too, to some it up best its as though your listening to it via your 90s Hi-Fi and someone as screwed around with your graphic equalizer settings.
The EU pressing has nice clarity, punchy vocals and a good amount of bass, maybe too much for some but to me its about right, the vocals rises nicely above the backing tracks and are crisp and clear, quite loud! could give a bit of inner groove distortion on some systems if not using a good & well set up cartridge, Plus make sure its free from dust! you'd be surprised the level of IGD the smallest amount of dust on the needle can cause..
To sum up.. go with the European pressing, it wont guarantee you a well pressed vinyl but will give you a more pleasurable sounding vinyl.
Final thought. The US pressing was cut by Sterling Sound, same as the US pressing of Adele 21 which also suffers from exactly the same sound issues.