The Breeders – Pod

As others have said, this vinyl is stunning! Great sound clarity, loudness, sound stage. Superb. Yes you might have to clean it a couple of times before playing as I found residues and some dirt. But after that, it is indeed great.

FWIW, my copy says ‘Made in E.U.’ and has a “Made in Czech Republic” sticker above the 4AD logo on back cover.

All Albini's albums sound great on vinyl. The Mastering is very good but there are crackles and some surface noise here and there... Bearable imo but an average pressing overall.

Stunning analogue sound. Drums and bass guitar are at the front of the soundstage and provide the driving force for this pressing. It thumps out of the speakers! Vocals and other guitars slightly set back but overall the balance is very enjoyable. Dynamics are incredible. I first owned this on cassette when it first came out and then CD but this pressing offers up whole sections of instrument and vocal detail that I've never heard before. Very impressed.

This was being sold mysteriously on the 2017 tour for $30. I nagged the merch person and they were eventually able to confirm that this was an official 4AD repress and, if I recall correctly, remaster. There's a little "Made in EU" note on the back underneath the 4AD logo. The inner sleeve is a little more matte as opposed to the gloss on the first pressings from 1990. Very clean, gorgeous pressing but it's hard to go wrong with source material like this. In addition to this, I've got an original US and a Plain reissue (not terrible, actually, but when the source material is this good to start with, it's hard to go wrong). The merch person seemed to indicate these were limited and likely not headed to stores so be happy if you snagged one of these up. Definitely the best Breeders album and so much more than that, it's simply a perfect record. Albini considers this the finest sound he ever got out of a band and while I'm no veteran of his collected works, I can't disagree.