The Tragically Hip – Road Apples

Horrendous pressing. 2016 reissue 100x better. How did they butcher this pressing?

I first heard ROAD APPLES back in '91, "Little Bones" and "Fiddler's Green" stood out to me back then as great songs, but I went decades without hearing the album again. Picked up a copy on clearance recently, and was surprised how good it sounds. "The Luxury", "Long Time Running", and "Three Pistols" are also great songs. This is the 2021 reissue, pressed on 180g red virgin vinyl, according to the hype sticker. It's a good pressing, with lots of crunch to the guitars, plenty of bass, and a lively, punchy sound overall. My copy does have some faint crackles noticeable in the quiet spots and between tracks, but it's such a good sounding record it doesn't bother me at all.

Pressing is crackly as hell even after deep cleaning. When the music is loud you can’t hear it, but when volume drops… ugh.

This is the pressing to have. The MOV pressing sounds like the cd, and has a blurry cover, as if the cd art was blown up. The Musicvaultz pressing uses the same stampers as the MOV pressing, but the cover looks better.
This is a completely different mastering job, it’s still from a digital source but there’s far less compression applied. The bass is a little deeper, the cymbal crashes decay slower, the electric guitars are crunchier, and some of Gords more indecipherable lyrics are more easily understood. The only downside is that you have to turn it up a little louder due to less use of compression, which will also amplify any pops or clicks, and the background surface noise. If you have a system with enough power, and a decent table and cartridge, then this is the version you want.

Side b shows edge/cup warp, Fixed with my Vinyl Flat, Weight of vinyl record is 172g not 180g. Sounds vibrant and punchy, some noise in quiet ages but not too obtrusive. Volume needs to be about 3 notches higher to match output of other remasters.Very nice red virgin vinyl especially when I fixed the edge/cup warp. Perfect copy now.

Excellent pressing. No clicks or pops. Mix is very punchy. A little pricey, but that’s probably due to the red vinyl.

I was looking forward to this anniversary remaster but I think the Musicvaultz 2016 pressing is more visceral. The songs have more punch. Initially I thought it was just the volume was lower on the new remaster but even if you turn it up, it does not have the same drive to the songs. I think it might be the guitars are less prominent in the mix. The vinyl also is noisier. The pressing I got was made in Canada. As a proud Canadian I am not happy that the pressing plants in Canada are not as good. I love the music so you can’t go wrong with that but I was hoping for something special in the remaster and pressing for an anniversary edition.

Great pressing, no issues at all. Sounds great and the colour is a nice touch. Gord Downie forever!