Rush – Test For Echo

I’m an old Rush fan, but I’m new to this album. Don’t care for the music much or the mix or the mastering.

There is NO WAY this is remastered! SUPER LOW output volume, much more quiet than the average (new) record and also muddy/bassy sounding mix. Not to mention super noisy too... static upon playback. The irony is that I live in Canada (BC) and drove down to Washington just to pick up this album (along with Counterparts repress, which I'm hesitant to even listen to now) and turns out it sounds sub-par AND was "Made In Canada". Although I could find no affordable copies BEFORE or AFTER shipping within Canada. Over all, very disappointing! *** BUYER BEWARE ***

The song Limbo was an alternate edit I had not heard before since I’ve only owned the original CD. They omitted the spoken words out of it . Anyone else notice that?

Not my fav Rush album, but am glad to have this on LP as it completes my Rush studio albums.
I have this on CD…..

My impressions of this album are very good, sounds very full in the bass, Neil’s kick drum is very thick. Snare is nice and tight in the mix. Alex’s guitar is also heavy and thick, nothing thin about this version for example on Presto.
There is some compression but I don’t think all dynamics are gone.
Geddy vocals are nice……This version uses same plates as the 2015 version, but it’s not 200gram vinyl or 180, maybe 150.

I’m very pleased with this version and plays better than I expected.

Project Xtension 10 w/Lyra Kleos
Nova II phonostage
Parasound JC2 preamp
Parasound A21+ amp
Rega RX5 speakers

On first listen I thought something must be wrong with this pressing, but after pulling out my OG CD to compare it to I realized that it’s not this pressing, but the mixes on this album are awful! This one really sounds like it was a victim of the mid 90’s loudness wars, with the drums getting completely buried in the mix at times, and everything starts to sound distorted. Whether it was in the mixing or mastering stage, someone really went heavy with a limiter on this thing and smashed all the dynamic potential out of it.

Also, I know it says “remastered” on here, but I’m not convinced. IF it’s “remastered”, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the source is the orginal CD, or at least the original master they used for the OG CD, as all the flaws of this album can be heard in both versions when A/B’ing back and forth.

Overall, if you like Rush, the songs are decent, but don’t expect any miracles in the sound department on this one unfortunately.

Super flat, clean and quiet records, silky and dynamic sound. Fabulous!

What a waste - why even bother to make an effort to reissue and then let Czech under par pressing plant GZ handle the duties. Bought the newly reissued albums yesterday and they will be returned to the store on Monday. Dirt in the grooves, slightly warped and the sound is below an average digital to vinyl remaster. Tics and pops all through after a good clean. Got word from Canada that it is the same issues, GZ has a pressing plant in Canada as well.

¡¡BUYER BEWARE!!
Someone is selling a sealed copy of the unofficial 2023 colored vinyl edition here for €85.
Be careful, it's a bootleg and it should not be here.

Just arrived in the box set and it is AWESOME! Appears to be a repress of the 2015 release as all IDs are the same. Mix and sounds are outstanding, but all the Monster Mash bits are missing from Limbo. Is this a goof up like the new stings on Mission from Hold Your Fire?

4lp boxset is available for preorder which includes this release, Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Presto.

Ordered mine online from universal. Expected to be shipped Nov. 11 2024