Tom Waits – Rain Dogs

Twenty one copies available for > the asking price at AcousticSounds.com? I don't get these sellers!

Beautiful pressing. Agreed 55 minutes pushes the boundary of a single LP. My copy is flat, super quiet, and sounds excceptional. LinnLP12/Ekos/Kandid.

I held off buying this for a while due to so many people having issues with their copy. As others have said, I think the difference is where you bought it from, online or in an actual music store. I finally picked up a copy from my local music store today and it’s flat, sounds amazing and had no pops/cracks. Very pleased with this copy.

Terrific sounding pressing. Very clean and flat. No surface noise or clicks. Would strongly recommend if you can’t find an OG.

I saw a lot of folks complaining about this one mostly from online orders, saying it arrived bent, dirty, full of excess surface noise, etc. I picked mine up for a fair price (25 bucks) from a local indie retailer and it was in pristine condition. There was a minor amount of paper residue on the LP out of the sleeve, a quick wipe with an anti-static cloth removed it though. Played through perfectly on first play, little to no surface noise and it sounded full, dynamic, and reminded me that this is by far my favorite Tom Waits record.

It's quite dirty out of the sleeve, but 3 times around with my brush cleaned it up well enough for it to play surprisingly quiet. A bit more warped than I'd like, especially for a 180g record, but not really bothered by it since it plays well (likely Fedex's fault too). I A/B'd the first 2 songs with my original pressing & the first obvious difference is the volume, the original is a lot hotter, so I had to turn this one up a bit. Initial impression is that this new one seems a bit clearer, more balanced, tighter bass, the guitars seem to be more present. At first the original felt more lively, but then I cranked up this one & maybe it wasn't very different. I wouldn't say it's better than my original, but I only compared 2 songs. Overall I find the differences rather subtle, but might think differently if I had a real high end $etup & in a bigger room. I would definitely say this one is worth it, especially compared to the price of an original. Crank it up & this one sounds absolutely fantastic. Also, my original has typical ticks & pops throughout, probably would benefit from a cleaning, but also has some minor scratches that offer a few cyclical pops. So with that in mind I really did enjoy how quiet this one is. It's really satisfying that they did a great job remastering it, since so many remasters fall flat compared to the original. This album is a must.
**For those interested in knowing, I purchased this from Acoustic Sounds.

Oooh boy. I bought this because my original pressing of Rain Dogs had some surface noise from scuffs and hairlines from the previous owner. The reissue sounds just as noisy out of the sleeve. No wonder, as there was so much glue and paper residue on the record. I think the remastering is mighty fine for the most part, though I haven’t A/B listened. Instruments sound cleaner. The horns are very nice. Percussion really snaps. Tom’s voice seems very clear, yet still full of spit.

I did just do a SECOND wet clean and it has helped significantly, so all may not be lost, but this shouldn’t happen with a $30 record.

When everyone says “it doesn’t sound perfect” what the actual f*ck does that mean. Do any of us know how Tom waits intended it to sound ? It is an actual diamond scraping across a piece of vinyl. It’s a damned miracle to me if there isn’t any noise. It should be expected that there may be surface noise of some kind. I’ve been collecting for 40 plus years and I’ve never heard such inane blathering about pops and ticks on vinyl. Assume it’s going to happen and be overjoyed if it doesn’t. That’s my rant. 10 words

At 55 minutes of music on one album it's a challenging lacquer cut and it can't be pressed too loudly or with too much extended low bass. Noticeably quieter than the album I played right before it (Tosca Osam which is a 2xLP)
Before playing for the first time I cleaned my copy with my trusty carbon fibre brush and set the needle to it. I did notice some surface noise a bit more on the second cut, Clap Hands, but it was not horrendous by any means. It's a more spare track sonically, so I wasn't surprised to notice it a bit more. No distortion or issues like that. Overall, a pretty quiet pressing I would say. I bought this when it came out in 1985 and I the album being less loud than others at the time. No longer have that copy to make a direct comparison, but I would be pretty surprised if this one didn't hold up to the OG.
It is too bad they didn't reissue this as a double LP. Then they really could have knocked it out of the park sonically.

Sadly have to agree with many of the posts here. Great master but the pressing is meh. Had a warp that I put through the Vinyl Flat, wet-cleaned and vacuumed, and the record is still riddled with pops. Also had some surface scuffs, likely from rough transit in a crap sleeve.