Went out of my way to get the "creamy white vinyl" versions of these records from Wal-Mart and Target. They sound absolutely awful. The quality of the pressing is the worst I've heard in a long time. TONS and I mean TONS of surface noise. I even tried cleaning them, they still sound bad. No Crosley Jocky here either, I'm playing them on a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable with a Sumiko Olympia cartridge. Anyone else disappointed in these two releases? Do the black versions sound better than the creamy white?

I don't feel for ya. These color vinyl releases are gimmicks. Everything is coming out in purple vinyl and people are fawning over it.

To what end, tho? "Ohh, Emancipation has never been on vinyl before." Okay, and? Colored vinyl is always 50/50 with the quality you're going to get.

I'm a vinyl lover, but the gimmick of "Oh, a Prince album on purple vinyl, must have!" is totally lost on me. For me, I stick to the SDE releases to buy anything that comes from the estate. There's more than enough money to be spent there without spending more on novelty items. And a lot of these purple vinyl etc releases aren't remastered. They're just repackaged and repressed, that's it.

I will say, if you really don't dig the set for yourself, you could probably off it on Discogs or eBay or something and recoup part of your money.

BSonmor said:

Went out of my way to get the "creamy white vinyl" versions of these records from Wal-Mart and Target. They sound absolutely awful. The quality of the pressing is the worst I've heard in a long time. TONS and I mean TONS of surface noise. I even tried cleaning them, they still sound bad. No Crosley Jocky here either, I'm playing them on a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable with a Sumiko Olympia cartridge. Anyone else disappointed in these two releases? Do the black versions sound better than the creamy white?

Lemme know if you wanna unload 'em.

TrivialPursuit said:

These color vinyl releases are gimmicks. Everything is coming out in purple vinyl and people are fawning over it.

To what end, tho? "Ohh, Emancipation has never been on vinyl before." Okay, and? Colored vinyl is always 50/50 with the quality you're going to get.

I'm a vinyl lover, but the gimmick of "Oh, a Prince album on purple vinyl, must have!" is totally lost on me. For me, I stick to the SDE releases to buy anything that comes from the estate. There's more than enough money to be spent there without spending more on novelty items. And a lot of these purple vinyl etc releases aren't remastered. They're just repackaged and repressed, that's it.

I will say, if you really don't dig the set for yourself, you could probably off it on Discogs or eBay or something and recoup part of your money.

Co-sign.

Colored vinyls are often castigated for increased surface noise, or general quality control. They were always treated like novelties and gimmicks pre-Vinyl rebirth.

It's kind of ridiculous because the appeal of vinyl is supposed to be better mastering, but half the time these modern pressings are cut from digital masters anyway, so it's basically like pressing the CD to vinyl (Jack White's Third Man Records is notorious for this), then you got all the colored reissued madness.

Tracking down an OG pressing is always going to be superior to these new in-vogue reissues.

The estate's got a weird obsession with colored vinyl, too. Have any been put out in OG black? They'd probably press Black Is the New Black on purple vinyl... These are probably more for people who like to hang them up as decoration.

[Edited 11/8/22 20:25pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

The estate's got a weird obsession with colored vinyl, too. Have any been put out in OG black? They'd probably press Black Is the New Black on purple vinyl... These are probably more for people who like to hang them up as decoration.

I think even the estate knows a profitable gimmick when they see it. And it's Prince, so clearly every record has to be purple. (eye roll)

The new SDEs and such have been black vinyl. SOTT, W2A, Syracuse, P&AM. And his first few albums were remastered on vinyl and released the day he died.

More notable: Dirty Mind had been remastered on vinyl (by Grundman) and I own that one. I also own For You, Prince on the remasters. All black vinyl.

I've even avoided most of the 45's on colored vinyl, except "Nothing Compares 2 U" and one other (I forget).

LoveGalore said:

Are the two of you gonna just ramble on about nothing related to the actual release as if this is an entirely different thread than it is?

...Literally the last sentence in his opening post is about colored vinyl vs. black. Our rambling couldn't be more germane to the discussion.

Was OP's opening post a little too expansive for more than a scan&skim? Stick to Twitter.

WhisperingDandelions said:

FrankieCoco1 said:

BSonmor said:

Went out of my way to get the "creamy white vinyl" versions of these records from Wal-Mart and Target. They sound absolutely awful. The quality of the pressing is the worst I've heard in a long time. TONS and I mean TONS of surface noise. I even tried cleaning them, they still sound bad. No Crosley Jocky here either, I'm playing them on a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable with a Sumiko Olympia cartridge. Anyone else disappointed in these two releases? Do the black versions sound better than the creamy white?

I played The Hits Vol I (white pressing) and it has a lot of surface noise. Especially the second record. I had seen in a Facebook group a couple of people mentioning how great the white pressing sounded. Because of good reviews from others, I was thinking of exchanging it for another record (as Target tends to have a great return policy). I have yet to open Vol II. Plan to soon and will post back. As someone who has collected records for years, I am partial to the black pressings. I do have a couple white pressing by other artists that sound amazing...so I don't think it is the fact that the pressing isn't white. I wonder too how the regular pressings are?

My creamy white Hits 1 sounds great, I was actually impressed by how nice it sounds. Haven't made it to 2 yet.

wow, you mean the estate cut corners for a quick cash grab instead of putting time and effort into something brand new and genuinely exciting? shocking!

LoveGalore said:

A disc being colored something other than black is not a guarantee for a bad playing experience. This trope is parroted on and on, mostly by old timers, not realizing that the game has changed a lot. There are tons of modern colored vinyl releases that are not pieces of shit. Even some of these estate reissues. This is not about whether colored discs were ever playable. It's about whether this creamy white edition is shitty for everyone or just the OP. Does anyone else even have the creamy white discs to speak up on it? It would be good to know, specifically.

Thanks, LoveGalore, that IS what I was asking, thanks for the clarification. I would be curious if more people who have the black pressings could say how they feel about those. It appears that the creamy white were pressed in the Czech Republic, as per the sticker. I looked on Discogs and cannot find a pressing location for the black vinyl, do they have the same sticker saying they were pressed in the Czech Republic? The creamy white is stamped in the dead wax MRP Memphis Record Pressing (owned by GZ Media) known for bad pressings. Would anyone who has the black versions be willing to post what's stamped on the dead wax? I would sure appreciate it. I don't think the quality has anything to do with the color of the vinyl (I have a ton of Waxworks horror soundtracks all on colored vinyl and they all sound great-quiet as hell) it has more to do with quality control at GZ. Any info would be appreciated!

Depends who is doing the pressing, sorry but there are some plants that cant get the colored vinyl thing right, best bet if your getting colored vinyl DO NOT get it from a label release, get it from the artist direct, and when i say that I mean it needs to be an indie leaning artist, even if you get PRINCE stuff from the site, its still mass produced by a plants that turn out tons of stuff.

LoveGalore said:

A disc being colored something other than black is not a guarantee for a bad playing experience. This trope is parroted on and on, mostly by old timers, not realizing that the game has changed a lot. There are tons of modern colored vinyl releases that are not pieces of shit. Even some of these estate reissues. This is not about whether colored discs were ever playable. It's about whether this creamy white edition is shitty for everyone or just the OP. Does anyone else even have the creamy white discs to speak up on it? It would be good to know, specifically.

I have both the 1&2 from Target and Walmart (white)and they both sound fine. Good sound levels and no surface noise to speak of. I have been buying vinyl for since the 80s and I have always found that it is hit and miss with any pressing. Sometimes the original pressings are not as good as the later pressings of the same album. Sometimes its the pressing plant, or the amount of records that have been pressed before the one I buy comes out of the machine.

I think the reason we complain and believe we are entitled to perfection is because of the hole it leaves in our bank accounts. Records are expensive these days and we feel like our copy should be defect free.

The only thing that irked me about it these reissues, is the censorship of the word gay in Controversy. Don't know if that was just a curious anomaly in my copy, or deliberate censorship. If it is deliberate, why not sensor the rest of the songs? Sexy Motherfucker is sung loud and proud later in the release, and the line about turning a gay preacher into a sinner is left intact. That's Im thinking it's an anomaly.

[Edited 11/14/22 9:50am]

[Edited 11/14/22 9:51am]

The Hits 2 on White Vinyl is currently on sale for $15 at Walmart a Black Friday (early I assume) deal!! I finally got around to listenting to my copy, and it sounds pretty good.

bobgeorge77 said:

The Hits 2 on White Vinyl is currently on sale for $15 at Walmart a Black Friday (early I assume) deal!! I finally got around to listenting to my copy, and it sounds pretty good.

Of course it goes on sale for fifteen bucks the day after I buy a copy. Hahaha.

Bighead909 said:

The only thing that irked me about it these reissues, is the censorship of the word gay in Controversy.

You put gay in, it's controversy (1980's)

You take the gay out, it's controversy (2020's)

Bighead909 said:

The only thing that irked me about it these reissues, is the censorship of the word gay in "Controversy." Don't know if that was just a curious anomaly in my copy, or deliberate censorship.

If it is deliberate, why not sensor the rest of the songs? "Sexy MF" is sung loud and proud later in the release, and the line about turning a gay preacher into a sinner is left intact.

That's [why] I'm thinking it's an anomaly.

Wait, WHAT?!

PLEASE tell me it's an anomaly. I checked the video and song on YouTube music. It's there.

TrivialPursuit said:

Bighead909 said:

The only thing that irked me about it these reissues, is the censorship of the word gay in "Controversy." Don't know if that was just a curious anomaly in my copy, or deliberate censorship.

If it is deliberate, why not sensor the rest of the songs? "Sexy MF" is sung loud and proud later in the release, and the line about turning a gay preacher into a sinner is left intact.

That's [why] I'm thinking it's an anomaly.

Wait, WHAT?!

PLEASE tell me it's an anomaly. I checked the video and song on YouTube music. It's there.

Controversy is NOT edited on this release. The word gay is clealy audible.

[Edited 11/19/22 14:38pm]

Controversy is NOT edited on this release. The word gay is clealy audible.

[Edited 11/19/22 14:38pm]

Are you sraight or gay?

jazzz said: