Florence + The Machine* – Ceremonials

I don’t normally expect much from Florence albums on vinyl, her albums can at times be sonically monstrous and her voice is extremly powerful and loud so her albums are probably a challenging task to put on vinyl and I am a bit more forgiving than I normally am just because it’s a lot to master for vinyl, however this one really impressed me! Compared to How Big How Blue and the deluxe edition of Lungs this is probably the best I’ve heard her sound on vinyl, lots of depth, very punchy and for the most part this sounds very clear! The presentation is stunning and it proves that a record doesn’t have to be color vinyl to be a cool release visually as the packaging is really gorgeous, and both discs on my copy have dead silent backgrounds. My only complaint is around the last few minutes of both sides on disc one there is a noticeable lack of bass and a slight drop in volume, and side D suffers from some inner groove distortion. That being said I’m really impressed with this pressing and I love it!

The pressing I have in hand is excellent. Great depth, sound stage, and clarity. Excellent bass, too!

The recording is compressed and has a lot of static. It’s a pity this is such a bad pressing.

I cannot figure out if the pressing is bad or the mastering is. On the digital version, songs like "Shake It Out" or "Only If For A Night" seem to be heavily distorted in of Flo's vocals (the highs) pushed onto the tracks (since there are so many layers of instruments pushed with her vocals) - On other tracks the record sounds sublime: her vocals are grand, clear as day and separated from the multi-layered production.

I had to compare each track side by side with the digital version. I came to the conclusion that the pressing is good but I believe it could be more than what it currently delivers, in of sound engineering & record cutting.

Yeah, not sure what's going on with the pressings, but my copy sounds fairly decent. Not audiophile quality, but without a doubt better than the digital versions, which are major loudness war victims (DR 4-6). This pressing is much more dynamic than that. To me, this is a really good way to listen to the album, but there are definitely ways the mastering could improve. All told, no complains from me.

I just found my copy today at a thrift store (Gracie's/Tempe Arizona) for $3.00. Both discs are pristine. I'm playing this back on a Stanton 680 HP. It's my all-time favorite stylus. This pressing is excellent. Very quiet with great range on all four sides. This might just be the 2018 re-press another reviewer mentioned. It has the above listed catalog number.

Yeah, this is an embarrassingly crummy pressing. Thankfully, I didn't spend much on it from Target but it sucks because it's such an amazing album.

The pressing of this album sucks, which is unfortunate because the album itself is magnificent! Funny, when I first went to spin in both the LP's were both A and B sided. No C and D side.

I really like this LP and it's a shame the pressing is absolutely horrible. I thought my stylus was bad but, that is not the case. The stylus was checked and it is fine so, it would seem, the pressing of this LP just SUCKS!! Frustrating, not exactly cheap.

I agree that the mastering is poor on this. Very disappointing, the music is gorgeous but the vinyl post production failed here. I want to know if the 2018 reissue was remastered and fixed.