New Vinyl - "scratchy"?

I have to ask the obvious, did you clean it thourghly before listening? You know, mold release chemicals and all that crap.

If you cleaned it well first, you're probably just the unlucky purchaser of a poorly pressed copy. Unfortunately, If you buy enough new vinyl releases, you're bound to occasionally get a noisy copy. It's one of the annoying pitfalls of this hobby. Some labels/pressing plants are worse than others. There's little accountability for this as far as the pressing plants and record distributors. If a retailer chooses to replace a noisy copy for a customer, they generally aren't going to be reimbursed by anyone.

Maybe it needs to play a few times. I have read statements on older MFSL pressings indicating MFSL records will sometimes exhibit ticks and pops on the first few plays because the records are not "dehorned" at the factory, done in an effort to preverve the highest possible fidelity. Maybe this is the same thing. Or, its a poorly pressed copy-its happened to me. Any good record store will exchange it.

Also worth trying on a friends system to see if it's not specific to your sysytem. When I got my 45rpm Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince G Trio it was scratchy. A year later after I changed the Dynavector XV-1s for a Colibri XGP I coencidentaly found that it sounds perfect on this combo. The only thing that stopped me returning it to AcousticSounds as faulty was the shipping costs, but as it turns out it sounds okay now.

I don't know the answer but I can attest to similar issues I have had with some new records I have purchased.
Tom Waits Mule Variations is one such example. I am on my second copy due to noisy grooves, and the new copy is just as bad as the first. I have played it on three different turntables with the same noises in the exact same places of the songs, so I am sure it is not equipment related.
Tbromgard's reply might have some truth to it. I had never thought vinyl would need to be broken in, but perhaps it does, depending on the place it was made.

I played my copy last night, side A and B, perfectly quiet and I had the volume turned up. Average db in the high eighties.

Sometimes cleaning a records helps-even brand new records can benefit from a cleaning.

I also own this set and experienced the same problem. The answer to your question is that the vinyl used for the pressing was of poor quality, or the pressing was done on a press with a poor QA. Mine sounds like a used record that had been played with a worn-out stylus. If the vinyl used for pressing is not free of impurities, you will hear it as surface noise. Likewise, if the vinyl pellets are too hot when pressed, the vinyl burns and crystallizes, which results in a noisy record surface. I own quite a few records purchased brand new that sound like repackaged used records. Inferior vinyl and a poor pressing process will kill a good recording.

Unfortunately a lot of Press Plants closed in the 90's and most know how is gone. Now only a few do it, more or less good, but honestly, only a quality shadow from those we got in the 80's++. From my experience, most reissues are horrible from quality, hardly a side which is completely silent. Acoustic Sounds always made a good job, maybe a few others, too, but in general these problems have nothing to do with the Playback System. I think, sooner or later we will find cartridge designers who offer round needles again, because they are not so sensitive. But this is like riding a dead horse...MP3 sound with vinyl

Evaluate the "scratchiness" after playing the record 5 or 6 times. I found that new records sometimes get quieter after awhile. Is this the ONLY record that sounds "wrong"? Is this a new cartridge installation?