ABBA – Gold (Greatest Hits)

Pressing sounds great to me despite some other reviews. Very bright sound flat record and barely any clicks.

My whole family loves ABBA. And so is my sister!

Being that these songs were recorded on different dates and probably different equipment, it’s really a mixed bag on overall sound quality. Some obviously sound better than others, but the sound on many of the songs is certainly lacking low end and dynamics overall. Sound was improved some with the use of an EQ, but that shouldn’t be necessary. Even after a vacuum wet cleaning with Tergikleen and distilled water there’s still light noise in the quieter parts, a common issue with GZ Media. Overall sound quality 3.5 stars.

Sounds terrible... flat and dull with no dynamics.

Compared to my original albums it’s genuinely night and day. I would actually use this as an example of good vs bad

It’s bad

Echoing the other reviews here. The pressing is very quiet and clean. In every song, and in almost every listen, I hear details that I've never heard before.

clean and quiet pressing, ''made in Canada'' per the sticker, overall flat, not much beauty of air in the highs, shy on bass, decent mid, no soundstage, no depth,
probably a multi generation hand me down master used for this to make the compilation of tunes we all want, can't blame 'em. Just not an audiophile experience here, just enjoy the music we all love!

Both records play perfectly. Some minor surface noise was encountered in between tracks on both records, but the sound quality is great nevertheless. All of the songs from ABBA throughout their career of the 70s and early 80s on this release are fun and interesting, sometimes catchy too, and I would recommend this release for newcomers interested in ABBA, as well as for serious vinyl record collectors out there.

This is a review of the pressing and the audio quality of Polydor 5351106, not the music because we all know how great the music is.
I always have some trepidation when buying a UME / GZ Media release because I have had more negative experiences than positive ones with them. In this case the copy I bought was right on the edge of being really good. The discs are flat, the grooves are radially symmetrical to the center hole and the vinyl is quiet. However when I removed the LP's from the inner sleeves, which are the dreaded thin shiny paper, which clung to the vinyl like a static magnet just guaranteed hairline scratches before I could even look at the LP's. Along with that there was bits of debris all over the vinyl which I had to clean off before playing. Even after a professional cleaning there were some light pops and ticks which would not be there on a well made record. The audio quality is not bad but seems to be uneven across tracks. Some sounded great while other seemed compressed and flat. One interesting tidbit is this release has some alternate mixes or takes for some tracks compared to the original CD release which I also have.
Overall I think I got lucky and bought a copy that happen to have flat, radially symmetrical, quiet discs. And if nothing else it has different mixes to give a fresh spin to material we all know by heart.

Music is 10/10
Sound 8/10
Pressing quality 9/10
Overall it won't disappoint. Highly enjoyable.

Sounds very good to me with a microline cartridge. Buy this instead of the gold colored vinyl which sounds awful.