Cocteau Twins – Victorialand

Bad pressing. Scratch on side A, noise for mostly all side A… some strange distortion at space not use too. My 45rpm copy still better and it’s not perfect. Was hoping to renew my discography of CT as new but got disappointed. Side B sound clean.

This 33.3-rpm reissue/remaster pales compared to an original 45-rpm UK pressing. The original is extraordinarily detailed, with a great sense of space and depth. By comparison, the reissue sounds less detailed and somewhat narrower and flat. This reissue also has some strange distorted artifacts here and there, sometimes in the form of a melody panned to one channel immediately followed by a delayed trail of distortion in the opposite channel, which to me sounds like a result of poor mastering/cutting. There was a reason they cut the original at 45 rpm, and this reissue really highlights that. My copy also had some fairly bad surface noise on some tracks, with one track having a squiggly scratch across it causing persistent and very audible ticking throughout a big portion of it. Needless to say, I sold the reissue.

Just got this (without having seen the horrifying cases below) and am very glad to say that my copy is fine, no scratches, no noise, crystal clear etc.
Perhaps there was a dud batch. Great record.

This is an absolutely shockingly bad pressing, among the very worst I’ve owned. The first copy I purchased had a deep scratch end-to-end across the entire side A. On top of that, side A is marred by obtrusive noise throughout - to describe it as surface noise doesn’t go far enough. This pressing is defective IMO. And this is after an ultrasonic cleaning.

So I returned my first copy to the store and they agreed to exchange it for another copy. Well the second copy has almost the exact same scratch across the entire side A, and it has the same obtrusive noise issue throughout the side. Somehow side B is much better, completely silent.

Overall I think the mastering is fine, what I can hear of it through the unforgivable pressing. And the source music is of course incredible, which makes this pressing all the more painful. So 5 stars for the music, 1 star for the pressing (or 0 stars if that’s an option).

If I was in QC at 4AD (if any such position exists), or at the pressing plant, I would be mortified.

I was worried thanks to reviews like the one saying "absolutely horrible pressing" but I'm glad I took the risk. my copy is crystal clear, no pops or surface noise, the music sounds well mastered, can't really ask for more.

My copy is crystal clear and clean as a whistle. Guess I just got lucky as my original copy on 45 RPM got stolen and I've been hoping to secure another copy of this excellent record.

Absolutely horrible pressing. Noises and distorsions everywhere. I don't recommend it.

the 45rpm sounds amazing, this is the only version i have ever owned ( bought it when orig came out). I was curious about this reissue as i heard it was remastered from orig tapes, but at 33rpm, no thank you. This is my fave Cocteau Twins album

I don't know if it just varies per copy, but mine sounds really good. Super clear. Lots of warmth. Don't exactly understand the complaints. I don't have an original pressing to compare it to, but to my ears, it sounds great. But usually originals do sound superior. But as far as remasters go, this one is pretty good. I'd recommend picking one up.

This 33 1/3 reissue is kind of sad. Obviously no research into the original which played at 45 rpm giving it more dynamic range. 4ad is sleepwalking on these reissues completely disrespecting their legacy. Maybe they can work with Fontana to release a definitive collection more inline with the original intent. The BBK and HOLV were high quality pressings but these recent reissues are missing the mark.