Kamasi Washington – The Epic

Great music, garbage pressing. This should be properly mastered on 5 LPs. You are better off with streaming this.

im seriously wondering how the hell they managed to fit so much music on each side

Just picked up used, the box for mine is quite tight, kinda hard to get the individual sleeves out. Not that bad sound, maybe a tad less "clear" than desired, but almost no surface noise, even when the music isn't coming at you from all directions at a million miles a second.
My runouts match these the closest, but do vary slightly. Mine look like:

(Runout side A): ALCHEMY 15978 1A MPO BF 050 A
(Runout side B): 15978 1B MPO BF 050 B
(Runout side C): = MATT @ ALCHEMY = MPO BF 050 C2
(Runout side D): MPO BF 050 D2
(Runout side E): MPO BF 050 -E2
(Runout side F): 15978 1F MPO BF 050 F

How is it i'm just picking this up today.

Found for a steal at the local record store- had been to show back in the day but never really sat with the musical giant that Kamasi is.

We are blessed to have this album with us.

I took a gamble (given lots of reports here about poor pressing) on a cheaper used copy and am actually pretty happy with it after a good cleaning that got rid of surface noise. I was expecting much worse. The packaging is high quality, but have to keep one of the three records out of the box otherwise they are packed in so tight its almost impossible to get one out.

The first copy I got came scratched and had no fill issues. I sent it back for a replacement, which was much better. No issues. Sounds very nice. And excellent music of course.

The quality of this album, the totality of what makes this a great connection with the listener is the endless jam sessions, touring and creating a final product everyone involved can be proud of.
This is not a case of ''great marketing'' from an ''overrated band''.
Just say you don't like it and move on. Kamasi and his huge entourage of elite musicians have been chopping wood like crazy for years; touring, finding rehearsal spots and polishing this epic album. 10 years ago!
I love this album because it's original, incorporating many different jazz styles and genres. Each song seems to meld to the next.
If he was but a plant, a marketing scheme with minimal talent, he would have evaporated a year or 2 after this came out in 2015. Instead he recorded 3 more equally fascinating albums, toured like a man and paid / fed a band of 12 and countless others.
This is all from the heart, mind and soul of K.W. and his co-horts.
Listen to Herbie and the other jazz greats speak of his music and approach.
Peace.

My copy doesn’t have any surface noise. It’s actually very quiet. It does sound more compressed than the digital versions, but not so much that it justified a return. There are a few moments of distortion on side A when the piano hits a high note, but I’d say it’s kind of impressive that that’s the only issue on a record with 30 mins of music per side.

My matrix runout reads: MPO 21 227502 so maybe a different issue?

Sounds like nice spiritual jazz from around 1969-1971. I do not get what the hype was about.