i've had a mint (unlayed) Disraeli Gears in mono, NZ pressiing. It was one of the best records I've ever heard heard, despite the fact that none of the pressing plants here were really that good compared to the US and UK ones who had great machines for making records and turned out some excellent wax on a regular basis.
I'm not sure if it was just the buzz of being the first guy ever to play the record or if it was actually good though. The only version I have now is a re-mastered FLAC and I enjoy listening to that because when I listen to it, although the quality is excellent, I can't help remembering that I was the first person to drop the needle on an original mono vinyl copy.
From that experience I sometimes wonder if the exictement of really 'new' old vinyl does cloud our judgement a bit. Then again, if you get a rush out of listening to an early pressing and it allows you to enjoy the music more, then it's not a bad thing. At the end of the day, excitment about music, imagined or otherwise, is what we as vintage audio nuts are after, right?
PS: another quick example is my German pressing of Photograph, which is a 'best of' Gary Numan. I love listening to that record. It's a great pressing that you can't help getting caught up in, but at the back of my mind I'm getting a little tickle knowing that almost every copy of it was destroyed. Gary numan never made a 'best of' and never wanted to. Beggars Banquet in germany made a mistake and printed a bunch, which Numan ordered to be taken off the shelves the minute he heard about it. It makes the record special, which makes listening to it special. Y' know what I mean?
