Ben Folds Five – Whatever And Ever Amen

Sounds amazing! Really happy with this one, money well spent, no doubt about it.

I was always under the impression that this round of reissues did not sound very good and that kept me from purchasing one when the first came out. Now that they are becoming increasingly rare and expensive, I figured I’d better grab a copy before they become too inflated. After paying double the original price, I gotta say the sound quality rumors were untrue and I am very happy with this release. The mastering is surprisingly good with no major issues and the mix is nicely balanced with nothing really lacking. The LP was, unfortunately, covered in white paper specks cemented into the grooves and required a deep wet cleaning before playing, but that was the only real issue that I experienced. There were a few small blemishes from the factory that resulted in some unpleasant pops in a couple of spots, but nothing too terrible. I experienced the slightest amount of overlying distortion on “Evaporated” but nothing awful like other people have noted on the 3 different colored reissues. Though, I use a linear tracking turntable, which does cut down on IGD issues, so it could possibly be worse on a different player. The edges of the LP are extremely sharp, so, yeah, be careful with that. The jacket and printed inner sleeve are decent quality, but the artwork is blurry and crappy looking. But, all in all, this is a pretty darn good reissue that should please any Ben Folds fan. I hope to one day to also have an original 1997 LP to compare this one to and I will add an update if I end up getting one eventually,

Amazing album of course. Quality package from ORG music and good pressing from GZ. Great stuff!