Vinyl Review

• Album Title: Boston
• Date Purchased: 28th March 2006
• Purchase Location: Rocket Records, Poole, Dorset
• Price Paid: £5
• Matrix Tags: EPC-S-81611-A2 & EPC-S-81611-B2
• Cover Condition: Average
• Sleeve Condition: Good
• Record Condition: Good +

This is the very first review of a purchase I have made on the website, not for any special reason, simply because I am currently listening to is as I set up the website. It is also the review I am writing to figure out the format I want the reviews to take on the website so may feel a little different compared to how other reviews appear in the future. I am aiming to keep the reviews concise but informative, but am yet to figure out a decent unified format and style for moving forward.

This was an impulse purchase. I was out walking the dogs with my wife and we passed a sign pointing to a record store. I has totally missed it but my wife pointed it out and I decided to stick my head in to see what was there to see if I needed to ad another store to my list of places to shop.

This was found in a bin on the floor and I decided to take a chance on it because was just £5. When I got it home and pulled it from the sleeve, I was greeted by the dirtiest record I have ever seen. As I clean all my records before playing, this was not too much of an issue. On this occasion I did a dry clean first with my record brush and then proceeded to go through eh wet wash process in the spin doctor. Visually the record looked a lot better after cleaning so I popped it in the drying rack for twenty minutes before playing.

Side one had a lot of noise at the beginning if the record and at the end with a. little pop and crack in the middle. The first couple of revolutions revealed a scratch that was not visible, perhaps from someone being heavy placing the needle on one occasion. As the record continued to play the sound cleared and a fantastic clarity came out to play. The entirety of side one was clear of any other defects and played like a new record all the way through when audio was being sent, defects were only present when silence was met.

Side two was a revelation. None of the defects or noise from side one was present other than the lead in and run out noise. During playback the record was perfect from start to finish.

Album opinion: I nearly did not add this section to reviews but, if you are wanting to to look for a review on vinyl records it would be a bit unfair of me not to give a view on the album itself. I have never been a big Boston fan. That does not mean I don’t like their music, it just means I have been content to hear them in the background whilst I watch films or as part of a soundtrack I might have bought. With this being the first Boston Album I have ever heard from start to finish, I cannot really say how it compares to others they have put out there. I cannot give in depth opinions on other pressings either as this is my personal collection and I am not that type of collector. What I can say is that, for people of a certain age, this album will trigger some memories and it is a perfectly enjoyable listen. Would I recommend anyone rush out and find this to add to their own collection? Nope! Would I recommend you pick this up if you stumble across it one day (just like me) – absolutely.

Overall I would consider this to have been a good purchase, especially for the bargain bin price tag. I have paid much more for records that have sounded a lot worse. From the slight quality difference between side one and two I would propose that side two has received less playback that side one but, with the only real defect being on the first couple of rotations of side one, a good find and purchase.

Conclusion – a good addition to the library.