The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

Horrible sounding release from MoFi. Do yourself a favor and avoid this unless you like the over polished crap MoFi pumped out in the early 80s...

Like a lot of early MOFIS a very disputed pressing, some people love it others hate it.... I am in the love it camp! Crystal clear pressing with great separation. Do I think it is the best sounding album ever, of course not but do I find myself toe tapping to the music, YES!

3 out of 4 aint bad? i have 3 other mofi pressings (white album, thriller and one of these nights) and i must say i wasn't blown away with this sticky fingers pressing like i was with the other 3 when i dropped the needle down on side one track one... 😞
i am hoping this changes when i listen through headphones... i will keep you posted...

Well Folks, after all these years, just purchased a used copy on eBay to hear for myself compared to my Original U.S. Pressing. Paid $50.00 which included shipping. First thing I noticed, was the Volume had to be Increased Big Time! That is because Mobile Fidelity's pressing was recorded/ pressed at very low volume. However, Once I adjusted the volume with my Audio Equipment, It Sounded Fantastic! Real Clean & could Distinctly Hear All instrumentation Perfectly. Pretty close to actually being in the studio. I'm not kiddin! The Equipment that was used was : My Front Speakers are Delphi Imager's with interconnecting cables. The imaging full dimensional sound they produce is Astonishing. Kind of like being in front of a sound stage at a concert. Also, included was my Definitive Technology Powerfied Sub-woofer which is powered through my Marantz AV 8805 Preamp Audio /Video Tuner that is connected to my Acurus A 125 X 5 Channel Amplifier. My Turntable is a VPI HW-19 Jr. with an Ortofon 2M Black moving magnet phono cartridge with a highly polished Shibata diamond stylus & Audioquest PT-5 tonearm which is connected to my Creek Special edition OBH-8SE MM Phono Pre-amp made in U.K. In closing, I noticed on Album Back cover it states" Mastered with the Ortofon cutting System. Who knows if that made things sound better as I do own that Ortofon Cartridge!

A perfect pressing of Sticky Fingers is my white whale.

I’ve owned two US first pressings, and the German GEMA pressing. I prefer the GEMA, which is slightly better than the US 1st, but not by much. I find some tracks sound muddy on the US pressing.

When I saw the MoFI pressing at a local shop for $65, I decided to take it home and try it out. Let me jump to the chase here and say it does NOT stand up to the other pressings. It is stripped of atmosphere and lacks continuity. It’s over-polished and tinkered with. It’s plastic compared to leather.

If you are looking for the white whale like
I am, this is definitely not it.

Ricker and Miller failed on this one. 1st issue is the best way to go.

I'm not a crazy audiophile when it comes to most reissues. I do make the effort to get first pressings or the best pressings and I want to be able to tell its from an analog source and not just some high resolution digital file. I've gotten better copies of records, like the version of Serge Gainsbourg' Melody Nelson from Light in the Attic was so clearly taken from the original analog tapes while the Music on Vinyl version was taken from a copy of the files or digital files. But I rarely hear something really off when they make the effort to do a great pressing. But the bass on certain songs is just flat out distorted on this pressing. Such a disappointment. I got it years ago before any of these comments were here. I have a another pressing, a common pressing from the early 70's and its not got quite the resolution of the MOFI in general, but its not bad and the bass never distorts. Maybe only 2-3 songs have bass that is off with the MOFI pressing but still how does that even happen? Its so obvious to anyone that the bass guitar is distorted on certain songs. How did this get past quality control?

I had high hopes for this one, boomy inflated bass and the mids are gone. Reminds me of the bad MOFI Ziggy Stardust.

Alas, one of the most polarizing MFSL titles in existence. I've read everything from high praise to "utter trash". I've noticed that people that hate this cut really like to make sure everyone knows it, especially on social media and forums. Well, curiosity got the best of me when the opportunity came up to purchase a NM copy in a local shop for $50, so here I am. If there's one thing I've learned while collecting records it is that you should always evaluate these polarizing type titles on your own, and this proved to be a prime example of why.

Instead of utter trash, what I heard was a crystal clear, detailed presentation with separation and imaging like I've never experienced with Sticky. I went back and forth between several pressing including a 1st US, the recent remaster, and even queued up Tidal. The MFSL made them all sound very murky and small by comparison, and I became sort of enamored by it. There are some caveats, of course - This MFSL cut really needs to be cranked to enjoy. It's one of the lowest level cuts I've ever heard and it just doesn't sound as great at lower levels. But when you crank it up, things really shine. There are also some problems with the EQ - I don't get any boominess on my system, but the mid bass is LEAN and this leads to some perceived gaps in the overall bass presentation on certain songs. I can see how this could be a bugaboo on some systems. But the imaging, clarity, and way the individual instruments float in three dimensional space make this a hit for me because those elements are important to me and really shine on my system. It's not perfect, but this is my favorite version of Sticky, by far.

I don't think anyone is wrong with their opinion, whether they hate it or love it. I think it all comes down to individual systems and preference. But don't be dissuaded by people that love to rag on it because you might be missing out!

I've T/M MFSL-1-060-A7 SR/2 ORTOFON H 1 7 1 ⁜ ⁜ D
T/M MFSL-1-060-B8 SR/2 ORTOFON H 1 8 1 ⁜

No issues here with boomy bottom ends with my system.