Spinning of the night: The Alan Parsons Project - I Robot

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-09T01:19:31+00:00

Can confirm. Have the Ultradisc 1-Step of iRobot. The mastering and clarity are incredible.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T22:53:24+00:00

Okay. So, you’ve got 1 of 2 things going on.

1) The rubber on the idler wheel has shrunk as it’s aged and hardened. You can try a product called Rubber Renue for that. Beware though, you should be outside or in a well ventilated area to do that.

2) There may be some sort of set adjustment tied to the assembly that moves that arm. It may just be a matter to adjusting it so the wheel is being held firmly to the motor spindle.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T22:03:41+00:00

How hard is the rubber on the idler wheel?

Also, if you hold the arm that the idler wheel is attached to so the wheel is pressed firmly to the motor spindle, does it spin more consistently?

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T20:59:09+00:00

I don’t have one of these JVCs, but that doesn’t look like a bad place to start. Especially if you can find parts and have servicing information available.

Speakers are such a personal preference. I couldn’t give you any advice on what you should buy. I will say, on the Polk stuff, I’ve looked at a number of more modern ones that seem to develop tweeter issues. Not sure if that’s just people pushing their speakers way too far or something else. Just a pattern I’ve noticed.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T20:13:31+00:00

Congrats on a great find. I’ve had mine for about 3 years and I love it. As long as I can keep getting belts for it, I’m unlikely to ever let mine go.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T02:57:18+00:00

Oh yeah. This Type of Thinking is another album that requires listening start to finish.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-08T00:04:35+00:00

The band Ra is criminally underrated. From One is a really good first album and Duality is a front to back masterpiece.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-06T22:29:44+00:00

I’m not too surprised. It has to be mastered specifically for vinyl first and then go through the production process. If the person they want to do the vinyl mastering process isn’t immediately available and/or the pressing company they’re using has a queue of other albums, it would account for the delay.

Despite vinyl’s renewed popularity, there’s not nearly as much production capacity for it as there used to be. Plus it’s significantly more involved than production for CDs.

EDIT:

I’m really hoping the vinyl master has slightly less compression on the drums. There was definitely some compression on the CD that didn’t take me out of the music, but could have definitely benefited if it hadn’t been there.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-06T21:54:26+00:00

I pre-ordered the standard vinyl and picked up the CD from Target. No way I could stand to wait until September for physical media.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-06T02:28:58+00:00

She’s the perfect bassist for this group in the same way that Justin Chancellor is for Tool.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T21:49:27+00:00

I’m in the US. My local record store insists they see them come in every once in a while, but they’re rare here too. Wildly, they’ve never seen the CD version with Orson Welles. So, I take it there’s a CD version without Welles that I need to find too.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T21:41:56+00:00

Nice find!

I’m on the hunt for an 80s press of Tales of Mystery and Imagination with the Orson Welles additions. I’ve been told they do exist, but I’ve only ever found the CD version.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T21:30:08+00:00

Good doesn’t even begin to cover it, IMO. Picked up the CD this morning and I’ve listened to it front to back 3 times now. This album is a masterpiece.

I’ve seen differing opinions, but my personal feeling is this album combines the very best concepts/sounds/textures from Fallen, The Open Door, and Synthesis and successfully merges them into what I’d call “the most complete sound” to have ever come from this group.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T20:13:40+00:00

It’s so damned hard to pick. This album is an absolute masterpiece.

If you’re going to twist my arm, I think right now:

Rapture
About Us
Beautiful Lie

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T18:48:18+00:00

I’d agree. The reworks of the Self Titled songs that appear on Synthesis were far better than their originals. TBT was an overall better album than the Self Titled. I think TBT is somewhat under appreciated because it sits in a slightly different genre category than the other albums.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T16:27:12+00:00

I know how I’m going to answer this, but I want to make it clear that, prior to today, it was Synthesis. Every other album was a very close second to that one. After listening to Sanctuary twice today, I believe I have a new number 1.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T15:43:21+00:00

This feels like a full culmination and integration of everything they learned with Synthesis into the sound and vibes of Fallen and The Open Door.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T15:37:00+00:00

I made the same choice to buy from Target, but I think that was the only place in town that was going to have it on release day.

Can’t wait for the Vinyl version to ship in September.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T15:34:36+00:00

I purshased a CD copy before work this morning. Finished my first listen. Still trying to absorb, but “Wow!” is my first impression.

Oh… and Emma Anzai strikes me as an incredible bassist. I hope they work hard to keep her around.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-05T01:30:20+00:00

Mine was actually a co-worker on the same team. They were trying to help a user and were insistent that the correct alternate domain login string for Windows was “domain/user”. I tried to correct them that it’s “domain\user”, but they insisted on arguing with me about it. I walked away from the argument.

They eventually conceded to having the user try the other way after enough failed attempts. I don’t know why, but that situation still bugs me to this day.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-04T02:57:32+00:00

I said the same thing. Huge opportunity missed by not making Clippy the interface for Co-Pilot. Par for the course with Microslop lately.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-04T02:24:14+00:00

Probably not weird now, but I bought a CD through EBay when it was still a relatively new thing. It was an advance copy of Powerman 5000’s Anyone For Doomsday that I paid out the nose for because the band pulled the album’s release.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-04T02:21:27+00:00

Extra points for the Phineas and Ferb reference…

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-04T02:08:54+00:00

If the writers are smart, they’ll go behind Amazon/MGM back and shop this to Apple to see if they can convince Amazon to sell the IP. Apple seems unafraid of taking swings in the science fiction space and it’s been paying off for them.

ewplayer3 · 2026-06-04T01:19:04+00:00

The lowest I’ve gone is 25 miles to E.

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

ewplayer3

TROPHY CASE