Peter Gabriel – I/O (Dark-Side Mixes)

I originally bought the US pressing and the vinyl was quite noisy with other defects (looks like some weird heat damage and non-fill to my record 1 and some dimples on record 2). A local store had the EU version and I picked up that pressing which turns out to be overwhelmingly quieter with no vinyl defects or non-fill at all. My EU “bright side” mix also sounds great so I would avoid the US pressing if you can.

Bought brand new sealed from Amazon. Both records are not perfectly flat, but they are well centered. Both spin holes are a bit too tight. Some regular clicks and pops here and there, but almost no surface noise. Very listenable overall. Sounds deep and big, with very good soundstage and separation. Great move to spread the album on two records, grooves have space to breath. A rare modern and recent album in my collection but it's a very enjoyable one. Included booklet is very well made. 4.5 / 5

I have the Dark-Side Mixes on vinyl, and it sounds compressed. To my ears the album on digital sound better.

This is a great recording. Sonically amazing! My vinyl is flat BUT the song “The Court “ has a constant crackle and pop that i cannot get rid of. I have used the Spin Clean and also an ultrasonic cleaner. Still persists. Besides that, Sounds amazing!

My copy sounds clean and pretty damn good tbh. Centered, flat, free of non fill. I prefer the Dark Side mixes. An easy recommend.

A friendly reminder for everyone to wet clean your newly acquired records before you play them, even brand new/sealed ones. Pressing plants are *not* lab-quality sterile environments and new records often have particulate matter on them that will hurt playback. Figure it out nerds.

My copy sounds absolutely stunning. AT-VM95ML -> Marantz 2230 at neutral

I don't know what others are playing this on but on my 1975 Thorens TD-160c this sounds like the concert I saw. Peter moves in many ways and his explanation of these new songs ties it all together. My pressings are flat, quiet and great 3D projection. I truly enjoyed all these songs especially "The Court", "Road to Joy" and "The Still".

Sonically, this is the worst Gabriel album I own. While there is some minor groove rumble in parts, it’s mostly that it just doesn’t sound good. It feels like all the attention was paid to packaging of the various mixes and not much in of vinyl quality control. The 24-bit files are probably the best way to listen to this album.

It’s incredible. I do believe it’s my favourite PG album since Security. Moving, deep, atmospheric - brilliant.

Awful groove rumble made me send it back for a replacement. Not optimistic about this one.