Crystal Visions: The Very Best Of Stevie Nicks

I really wanted to purchase the vinyl version of this release but was a little concerned by some of the negative reviews as to pressing quality and the fit of the sleeves. However I went ahead and bought the vinyl version as that is my preferred listening source. I have been buying and listening to vinyl since the mid 1980s and now have a very decent analogue front end, consisting of a Roksan Xerxes X (to 20 upgrade), Pug tonearm and Shiraz moving coil cartridge.Presentation of the album is great with a high quality outer sleeve, a nice insert that covers track listing and gives a brief story behind each. As usual with Amazon, it arrived in pristine condition.It is true that the inner sleeve and records do fit very snugly in the outer sleeve and there seems to be a slight stiction between the paper record sleeve and card outer sleeve. They do slide in but need a gentle and patient approach. I always add a Nagaoka anti static sleeve for each disc anyway and even with these inside the supplied inner sleeve, I can still get the records back into the outer sleeve without too much aggravation. Certainly no issues with tearing the sleeves or being unable to refit them.As to the records themselves; I have most of Stevie Nicks' releases, most on vinyl and some duplicated or only on CD. I do find that they tend to have quite a forward, slightly bright mix, which can sound a bit aggressive on budget systems or systems that have a bright tonal balance. The older releases and original masters did have a tonally compressed sound as well, which was fairly typical of that period (80s-90s). This album does have a bold and quite forward presentation but is massively more dynamic than the older releases, so the whole range of tones is more balanced and there is a rich and punchy bottom end to the sound too, which makes for an exciting listen. It sounds like it was remastered with care rather than thrown out to the MP3 market, which is great. The Roksan combo is very considerate to bright recordings and deals with them boldly but politely too. This is an exciting and dynamic listen that does not stray into edgy on my system, but may be a little sibilant in places on systems that tend that way.The track choice is compelling, with many old favourites sounding better than ever, but what really lifts this release is the thoughtful inclusion of some live versions and previously unreleased tracks that take it beyond a simple repeat of what we all have on her original albums. All live versions are very nicely recorded, are spirited, good performances and are a great addition to any collection of Stevie's recordings. Rather than simply being a greatest hits album, it is a very worthwhile investment for the remastering and additional new and live tracks.The actual discs look great in clear vinyl and were not warped in my copy.I did not encounter any real pressing quality horrors like channel noise or bad surface defects and certainly no jumps as others have mentioned. There were a couple of noticeable scrapes/buzzes on 2 tracks, indicative of slight pressing defects, but in view of what has been said before, I will be keeping this copy and not risk returning it for a possibly worse one. Any slight defect would usually see me dropping the rating by a star and retuning it for a new copy, but I find the content and general quality so compelling, it is keeping that 5th star. I really like this album!

Everything I love about Stevie Nicks on one albumIt's a great album everyone should have it in there collection

All the hits on one disc. Good recordings, even the live versions of the greatest hits..... sounds awesome on my husbands hi-fi.

Great artist

Very nice album

A good collection of Stevie’s hits

Excellent quality

He liked it and it came on time.