The Who – Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy

I just acquired this particular pressing of Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy. I am wondering if there have been any indications that this was a bad pressing. On my copy, the music and vocals sound both muffled and 'buzzy". My stylus is clean; it and the cartridge have fewer than ten hours of playing time on them. Have people here heard anything about this or had a similar experience?

I don't understand why they left some songs as enhanced stereo. Why not use the true stereo or mono mixes for a new release?

Very nice mastering by George Peckham, great sound, excellent dynamic, punchy attack of the bass.

I have a sealed Decca DL 79184. How does one identify the press when sealed? It came from a box in storage from a long closed record store and it could be anywhere from 1971 to 74. How does one go about listing and selling such an item?

I bought this on the strength of all the glowing reviews here and was really disappointed. My copy has a ton of groove distortion, although it's possible I just got a bad one. Overall, most of the stereo and mono tracks sound much punchier on this remaster than on my vintage copy from 1981 (the remasters of "I Can't Explain" and "I Can See for Miles" don't sound as punchy to my ears), but they sound rougher because of those distortions. The right-channel percussion in the fake stereo "Magic Bus" is so overblown that it sounds like someone crinkling a bag of potato chips over and over. The fake-stereo tracks, which for nearly half the album, sound just as terrible here as they do on vintage copies, which are super inexpensive and may be the better alternative. They're certainly more economical.

Great pressing! Perhaps these tracks are a bit blown out, but that's how they were originally mixed, so I'm fine with it. The selection here is insane, basically all of the band's best tracks on one neat compilation. Don't this up!

this is actually the last Decca color band label pressed in 1972 not in 1971. Before they started printing on the 4 different MCA labels up to 1980 and beyond until CDs took over.

This alternate track listing was used only on the German 1st pressing. Subsequent pressings use the conventional track list. (The rare first pressing flips the front and back of the album cover and uses a different font type.)
The alternate track list was used also on the French and South African records.

Great original 71 uk pressing - beautiful analog sound !

This version comes in a red shell . . .