Alt-J – The Dream

Side B is definitely in MONO (except the omnipresent clicks and pops )
A real scandal
And I bought it just today May 24th 2025
Oh yes, and vinyl is warped also. However I believe they managed to punch the hole right in the middle

Cool album. My version has run outs ending in 5 and 18. Copy was very dirty. After wet cleaning and playing through several times it sounds ok. Side B does not appear to be “mono”. Visually the pressing looks a bit messy. Side B in particular sounds more relaxed than the digital version on Apple Music that I’ve compared to. I like the sound of this vinyl version. I’m listening using Ortofon Super OM20.

Okay so I bought this yesterday before I checked the reviews. Side A sounds fantastic, well balanced and rich with great dynamics. Side B however is definitely a mono, I'm pretty certain what I heard was just the right channel split on both sides as there seemed to be some moments with missing instruments and vocals. There was also some very noticeable surface noise throughout the B side that wasnt cleanable. Clearly something has gone wrong in the factory, as it seems that there are other pressings all with the same issue

Massive shame as it is one of my favourite Alt-J albums but the variance in quality from A to B is just very jarring.

It's the first time I've ever had to return a new album in the 11 years I've been collecting. Hoping for a better repress in the future but for now I'm gonna hold off.

A-Side sounds fantastic but there is definetly something strange going on with the B-Side… Sounds like mono, very muffled. Dunno if that is a pressing issue or rather someone totally fucked up the mastering. Put a giant can over your speakers and you re pretty much there.

A-side quality is ok for both sound and pressing. But B-side is in MONO and looks dirty and scratched even after 2x washing on a record cleaning machine. No noise though, it's just a visual defect. B-side is a very poor quality pressing and the mono sound quality is far behind the very good quality of the digital streamed version.

My copy sounds great. Surface noise is present but it doesn't disturb the listening experience.

Side B is not Mono & looks terribly scratched on my copy. It has tiny clicks and pops.

Very bizarre since side A looks clean physically but side B looks terribly scratched. I believe it is just my luck with my copy.

B-Side = Mono
Vom tollen Klang der digitalen Version (Qobuz 24/48) ist bei dieser Pressung nicht viel geblieben. Die B-Seite ist scheinbar in Mono geschnitten. Prüft das keiner beim Hersteller? Seitlich der Stereomitte gibt es nur (seltene) Knackser. Damit ist ein neuer persönlicher Tiefpunkt bei meinen Erfahrungen mit aktuellen Pressungen erreicht.