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Why is some vinyl noisy?

I'm listening to a copy of "This Is The Moody Blues", a very fine record store find, and I'm amazed at how noisy the vinyl sounds compared to it's physical condition.

The record is nice and flat, looks great in bright light, heavyweight. It's very clean as it's just been through my VPI 16.5 cleaner with two fluid baths. The rig it's playing on is plenty good enough to get the best from this record: VPI Scoutmaster, Sumiko Blackbird, McCormack & Krell downstream.

Yet, this is a noisy, clicky, poppy ride. I don't get it. Is some vinyl just plain noisy, or is some surface damage too hard to detect? By the same token, an ancient, clearly scuffed RCA Living Stereo recording of Van Cliburn just sounds terrific.
forddonald
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I recently bought a used three LP collection. The first two sides have most of the recognizable songs. All six sides appear flawless. However, it's obvious that in it's lifetime the collection's first two sides have received 90% of the playing time because they display some groove damage which is audible as distortion.

Sides three through six sound nearly pristine. It makes for an interesting observation of how differently vinyl from the same collection can sound.
dgarretson
2,394 posts
 
In this vein a couple albums in my collection come to mind, such as George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, and several Miles Davis Mosaic box sets with 7-10 disks. With the Harrison, I try to sit long enough to work my way into Apple Jam disk three; I've made it all the way through perhaps once in 30 years. With the Miles boxes, I forget where I left off and just start over.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
"All Things Must Pass" was never a very good recording on vinyl or on CD originally in the first place as I recall, which worked to its detriment despite being a very solid collection of songs overall otherwise.

The remastered CD version was better as I recall but there may have been only so much that could be done.
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