3 Defective ECM cds in 1 month!!!!

[bigbandrecord]

I have had 3 defective ECM cds this past month.......the only common denominators is they were purchased from the same vendor and they had a made in england sticker on the wrapper. At this point I need to address this to somebody other the vendor. One of the cds Egberto Gismonti-zig zag was sent as a replacement and it skipped and popped in exactly the same spots, the Ralph Towner/Gary Burton Slide Show cd was sent back with no replacement as they were out of stock. I currently received the Gary Burton Real Life Hits CD and there's a pop/skip at 5:30 of cut 4. Now I'm saying all this because not only is this getting ridiculous to have this many mishaps on a lable that is supposed to be so great and of optimal quality but I don't feel like I should have to be returning cds to wait all month for a refund and then I can't be sure if I order another of the same item from someplace else that it won't be defective.
In other words I need to know what the hell is going on here and I'd like to have a viable replacement because I want the music. I posted about this on another forum and it's NOT MY CD PLAYER. I don't know who exactly to address this to(Steve Lake???) who's participating in the ECM forums on this board or someone else.

[Lontano]

You must be very unlucky. I have approx 1000 ECM CD's and not one of them skips or jumps.....

[bigbandrecord]

It's like a curse or something......every other cd in my 1200 collection doesn't skip or pop. I really want to get to the bottom of this.....I forgot to mention the vendor.....BLOWITOUTAHERE!!!......I mean with a label of this quality and standard there's just no way 3 times in one month.......also a couple of years ago i bought the jarrett 2cd radiance amd that was defective, put in for replacement and the replacement was fine, but on these recent purchases it's been a different story in that the replacements behave the exact same way.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

I forgot to mention the vendor.....BLOWITOUTAHERE

I woulda quit buying from that vendor from the beginning.

[bigbandrecord]

Haven't got anything else defective from them except some ECM cds.

[cooldude69]

I woulda quit buying from that vendor from the beginning.

Coincidentally i had a CD arrive from 'blowitoutahere' today. Brand new and sealed and minty fresh as described. I know with Amazon sellers it's usually pretty hit and miss, and you'll get as many people saying 'these guys suck!' as you get saying 'i've never had a problem!' but i thought it was worth noting. They're definitely on my list of 'okay to order from' guys, and i've experienced receiving orders from a wide spectrum of 'don't really give a fuck' Amazon sellers/record labels/merchants...

[cooldude69]

I have had 3 defective ECM cds this past month.......the only common denominators is they were purchased from the same vendor and they had a made in england sticker on the wrapper. At this point I need to address this to somebody other the vendor. One of the cds Egberto Gismonti-zig zag was sent as a replacement and it skipped and popped in exactly the same spots, the Ralph Towner/Gary Burton Slide Show cd was sent back with no replacement as they were out of stock. I currently received the Gary Burton Real Life Hits CD and there's a pop/skip at 5:30 of cut 4. Now I'm saying all this because not only is this getting ridiculous to have this many mishaps on a lable that is supposed to be so great and of optimal quality but I don't feel like I should have to be returning cds to wait all month for a refund and then I can't be sure if I order another of the same item from someplace else that it won't be defective.
In other words I need to know what the hell is going on here and I'd like to have a viable replacement because I want the music. I posted about this on another forum and it's NOT MY CD PLAYER. I don't know who exactly to address this to(Steve Lake???) who's participating in the ECM forums on this board or someone else.

I don't know if it's any consolation but i've had a few ECMs with glitches over the years... from memory Pat Metheny's Offramp was one, my copy of Radiance had a glitch too... just checked my copy of Real Life Hits and it's clean though.

[bigbandrecord]

I don't know if it's any consolation but i've had a few ECMs with glitches over the years... from memory Pat Metheny's Offramp was one, my copy of Radiance had a glitch too... just checked my copy of Real Life Hits and it's clean though.

On your real life hits copy.......does the 4th track seem distorted sounding.....the bass or something being played on this cut especially after the 5:30 mark seems distorted sounding to my ears in comparison to the other tracks.

[cooldude69]

On your real life hits copy.......does the 4th track seem distorted sounding.....the bass or something being played on this cut especially after the 5:30 mark seems distorted sounding to my ears in comparison to the other tracks.

Just listened again... yeah the bass does sound a little more distorted and slightly louder on 'Ladies in Mercedes', especially around 5:30 onwards. It doesn't sound like any sort of technical glitch to me though, just sounds like Peacock is getting into it; also sounds like he's playing through a fuzz box on that track (?). I can imagine though that either a poor mastering or remastering could make it sound worse, i could also imagine that a particular listening set up could make it sound worse. I'm listening on not particularly high end but fairly transparent speakers; i'm usually extremely conscious of glitches etc and pick them up where others miss them but the bass didn't alarm me at all (in saying that, i am not an audiophile). My edition has 'CD is manufactured by PolyGram in Hanover, West Germany' and 'Printed in West Germany' on the back cover, plus it has 'Stereo' written in white on a red background on the spine which some ECM CD editions sometimes had.

Just wanted to add something to my previous post where i said that "i've had a few ECMs with glitches over the years"... all i wanted to add was that i didn't want to seem like i was unfairly singling ECM out. I've had CDs with glitches on them from multiple labels. I think that ECM has excellent quality standards overall, but occasional glitches happen to the best of em.

[bigbandrecord]

Just listened again... yeah the bass does sound a little more distorted and slightly louder on 'Ladies in Mercedes', especially around 5:30 onwards. It doesn't sound like any sort of technical glitch to me though, just sounds like Peacock is getting into it; also sounds like he's playing through a fuzz box on that track (?). I can imagine though that either a poor mastering or remastering could make it sound worse, i could also imagine that a particular listening set up could make it sound worse. I'm listening on not particularly high end but fairly transparent speakers; i'm usually extremely conscious of glitches etc and pick them up where others miss them but the bass didn't alarm me at all (in saying that, i am not an audiophile). My edition has 'CD is manufactured by PolyGram in Hanover, West Germany' and 'Printed in West Germany' on the back cover, plus it has 'Stereo' written in white on a red background on the spine which some ECM CD editions sometimes had.

Just wanted to add something to my previous post where i said that "i've had a few ECMs with glitches over the years"... all i wanted to add was that i didn't want to seem like i was unfairly singling ECM out. I've had CDs with glitches on them from multiple labels. I think that ECM has excellent quality standards overall, but occasional glitches happen to the best of em.

My question also is this MADE IN ENGLAND sticker on the wrappers of all the defective ECM cds I've got from BLOWITOUTAHERE......the CD itself is a current Made in Germany distibuted by universal cd even though the tray card says Made in West Germany just like yours. As far as other labels go ECM has been the leader for me in defective CDs and I believe that I have a very optimal CD player that's going to pick up whether any thing is defective or not.
Thanks for checking that track out for me on yours and indeed on mine that fuzzy sound starts to kick in at the 5:31 mark on track 4.......5:30 is where the skip is. Wanna keep this thing cause the music is pretty damned good on it. Been on an ECM buying binge lately so I know what different pressings look like.

[cooldude69]

My question also is this MADE IN ENGLAND sticker on the wrappers of all the defective ECM cds I've got from BLOWITOUTAHERE......the CD itself is a current Made in Germany distibuted by universal cd even though the tray card says Made in West Germany just like yours. As far as other labels go ECM has been the leader for me in defective CDs and I believe that I have a very optimal CD player that's going to pick up whether any thing is defective or not.
Thanks for checking that track out for me on yours and indeed on mine that fuzzy sound starts to kick in at the 5:31 mark on track 4.......5:30 is where the skip is. Wanna keep this thing cause the music is pretty damned good on it. Been on an ECM buying binge lately so I know what different pressings look like.

Fuzzy bass but definitely no skip for me. I feel your pain... it's absolutely the proverbial fly in the ointment when there's a glitch on a CD, and even more frustrating when the music is particularly good. Peace out.

[bigbandrecord]

Well, just received another ECM with a pop on it.....Jan Garbarek-Eventyr..albeit from a different merchant this time and with a made in germany sticker on the wrapper instead of a made in england sticker. Now I tried the Gary Burton CD on another older CD player(Sony single cd player from 1997) and it played through without that pop. Am going to try this one. The other 2 I didn't even think about trying on my older player before I returned them......major sound differnce between the 2 players with the recent one being way better at least to my ears.

[bigbandrecord]

Well, the Jan Garbarek-Eventyr played fine on the older CD player.....the newer CD player where 4 of my ECM cds were skipping/popping is a 2006 Sony model SCD CE595 SACD 5CD player. It has played every CD fine except these 4 ECM reissue CDs...there is Mike Westbrook 2 CD set I have bought when it first came out called Marching Songs 1 and 2 that has been confirmed by other people that this has a permanent defect/pop/skip in it and it plays as such on my older CD player.
Just wondering/curious as to why this ECM defects is so with my newer more up do date technically sophisticated CD player.

[BrianL1]

Well, the Jan Garbarek-Eventyr played fine on the older CD player.....the newer CD player where 4 of my ECM cds were skipping/popping is a 2006 Sony model SCD CE595 SACD 5CD player. It has played every CD fine except these 4 ECM reissue CDs...there is Mike Westbrook 2 CD set I have bought when it first came out called Marching Songs 1 and 2 that has been confirmed by other people that this has a permanent defect/pop/skip in it and it plays as such on my older CD player.
Just wondering/curious as to why this ECM defects is so with my newer more up do date technically sophisticated CD player.

Have you tried to rip these discs with a program with EAC? If EAC shows defects, that would provide additional confirmation that the discs are truly defective, as opposed to the possibility of something going bad with your player. Or it could be the older player has better error correction?

Very bad luck to receive such a sequence of such discs.

I have never had problems with the hundreds of ECM discs I've purchased, with one exception (Jarrett's Testament)

[bigbandrecord]

Real interesting now I just received Marion Brown geechee recollections/sweet earth flying reissue.......has the one pop on the 2nd cut on my newer CD player......plays fine on my older CD player. The commom thread for all of these ECM and now the one Impulse disc is they are UNIVERSAL PRESSINGS.......well whatever I'm sure glad I didn't throw away that old CD player.
Now I had a defective Jarrett Radiance CD years ago that was genuinely defective because it didn't play on nothing, even the computer.

[Korowa]

I've been purchasing ECM albums since the late 70s. and technical issues in regards to the media have been few and far between.
As for pops/clicks, I've only had the one issue with an ECM CD.. Eberhard Weber's Chorus.. the original CD release in the 80s. It had a click or pop in the one place.. I thought it was an issue with that one particular disc.. so, I bought a second copy and it had the same issue. It was the early days of CD. And, I later learnt it was an issue with PolyGram.
As for Made In England, I had (late 80s) a Pat Metheny CD "Water Colors" with "Made in the U.K." printed on the disc.
I do have some older titles that don't playback on the computer's drive but work fine on the standalone Sony player.
In regards to distortion, I 've only had the issue with 2 discs .. the album "Pendulum" by Weber.. and the last track on "Shades Of Jade" by Marc Johnston. I thought it was an issue with my HiFi equipment.. but I came across the issue with my friend's equipment.

[me wag]

I'm thinking you might need to clean the lens or something. It sounds like the problem I used to encounter when I used to be a heavy smoker

[Martin from Sweden]

I have had 3 defective ECM cds this past month.......the only common denominators is they were purchased from the same vendor and they had a made in england sticker on the wrapper. At this point I need to address this to somebody other the vendor. One of the cds Egberto Gismonti-zig zag was sent as a replacement and it skipped and popped in exactly the same spots, the Ralph Towner/Gary Burton Slide Show cd was sent back with no replacement as they were out of stock. I currently received the Gary Burton Real Life Hits CD and there's a pop/skip at 5:30 of cut 4. Now I'm saying all this because not only is this getting ridiculous to have this many mishaps on a lable that is supposed to be so great and of optimal quality but I don't feel like I should have to be returning cds to wait all month for a refund and then I can't be sure if I order another of the same item from someplace else that it won't be defective.
In other words I need to know what the hell is going on here and I'd like to have a viable replacement because I want the music. I posted about this on another forum and it's NOT MY CD PLAYER. I don't know who exactly to address this to(Steve Lake???) who's participating in the ECM forums on this board or someone else.

I´ve just received two ecm records, ordered from marvelio.co.uk; Tord Gustavsen Quartet "The Well" and Paul Bley "Open, to love". Sounds like a) occasional hacks in an old vinyl, b) skips. What to do?

[bigbandrecord]

If you have another CD player(preferably older or a lower grade player) try playing the cds on that........the 2 defective that I have that have one pop when they play on my newer Sony SACD player(2006) play fine on an older 1997 Sony single CD player.
One Cd that I returned ralph towner/gary burton - slide show had a pop on it so bad that I thought it would bust my speakers so I returned it......this is before it occured to me to try it on my older player.

Also I've gotten these now semi-defective ECM cds from different merchants so it's not the merchant. question: is the paul bley open to love cd you bought the Touchstone version.....So far I haven't had any problems with the 8 touchstone versions I've bought.
Returning the standard(don't know about the touchstones) reissues for replacement won't do any good....returning more current releases for replacement worked when I had Keith Jarrett - Radiance defective.
If you have a good CD player and like me you haven't had any problem with virtually any other cds you've purchased in the past except ECM cds, then I wouldn't blame your player. How many times in playing the whole discs do yours skip?

[bigbandrecord]

Another ECM defect........this time new release Arild Andersen with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Again plays fine on my older CD player, but skips on my newer player, but this time I'm glad because this record is pissing me off to no end and the artist information is very misleading unless one has had the opportunity to hear beforehand. So I'm glad that I can legitimately return it as defective.

[BrianL1]

Another ECM defect........this time new release Arild Andersen with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Again plays fine on my older CD player, but skips on my newer player, but this time I'm glad because this record is pissing me off to no end and the artist information is very misleading unless one has had the opportunity to hear beforehand. So I'm glad that I can legitimately return it as defective.

You should really consider a new "newer" player if you are having this many problems. The discs may well be in spec, but the player has likely become borderline.

Per a previous suggestion, try ripping these discs with EAC. If that is clean, well, your player is really suspect.

[bigbandrecord]

If this be the case then why is this happening only with ECM cds on my newer player......no problems whatsoever with my other 1200 cds.