The Cure – Seventeen Seconds

Once again, GZ Media strikes! Right from the start, you can tell the experience is going to be disappointing. It begins with terrible crackling, as if it were an old, worn-out record—it lessens slightly but persists throughout the album. Unacceptable! But things get even worse on Side B, where the crackling returns with a vengeance, especially in the right channel.

To make matters worse, my copy came with two dents, as if someone had stabbed the vinyl with a pen. These create two indents that the needle has to cross, causing an annoying thump with each rotation. And, adding insult to injury, these dents appear right at the start of "A Forest". Disastrous! On this side, the noise intensifies, particularly in the right channel, and there's an added saturation in the snare hits, which further distorts the sound quality.

My recommendation: don’t buy this edition! Don’t take the risk. Nowadays, the vinyl world feels like a gamble, where you pay prices just to get something decent, but it’s a significant risk. It’s no surprise, then, to see the decline in sales of this format. Rather than a pleasurable experience, it’s become a hunt for a copy that sounds good—with no guarantees. Fiction Records and Warner, with all their resources, have no excuse for allowing such poor quality.

Great pressing, very atmospheric and punchy with no distortion. The only drawback is the loud surface noise on the first 3~4 minutes of both sides, which no amount of cleaning was able to alleviate.

Damn fine pressing. Super wide, dynamic sound, and a great price as well. You may need to clean the record off after you pull it out of the cardboard sleeve, but after that, it's smooth sailing