Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Willie Nelson Available Now
Sonic Grade: B to F, depending on the copy
This review was written many years ago, so take it for what it’s worth.
This Hot Stamper CBS Mastersound LP has the BEST SOUND we have ever heard for the Half-Speed of this title. It KILLED the other two CBS Audiophile Stardusts we played. If you think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that any two records — domestic, import, audiophile, 180 gram, or otherwise — sound the same, then you simply need to do a shootout or two with records like these to be disabused of that notion.
One copy was awful; I’d have to say it’s one of the worst sounding audiophile pressings I’ve ever played. Somebody is going to buy it thinking it somehow guarantees them a higher quality pressing, and to that person I say, think again. That’s not the way it works.
This copy, on the other hand, sounds so good you’d think it was one of our hand-picked multi-hundred dollar Hot Stamper pressings. (One of them sold for $750, FYI.) It may not be the ultimate copy, but it sure sounded amazing to us. On the half-speed scale we give it Two Pluses. That’s the highest grade we’ve ever given ANY half-speed; from guys who can’t stand half-speeds as a rule, that’s high praise indeed.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Bossa Nova Albums Available Now
Yet another wonderful Getz Samba record, the third in the series. Some of our faourite music has this Samba syncopation: Sergio Mendes, first and foremost of course, but also Airto, and all the wonderful Getz albums from this period. Their enchanting Brazilian rhythms make their music fun.
In 2006 we wrote:
This is the first copy of this record that we’ve found that was clean enough to put up on the site. Don’t expect to see another one any time soon.
We weren’t kidding. Here it is, a genuine Hot Stamper pressing, only nine years later!
Stan Getz is a truly great tenor saxophonist, the cool school’s most popular player. This album is all the supporting evidence one would ever need to prove the point. All his samba albums from this era are worth owning. We have yet to hear any Getz record from the ’70s or later that impressed us musically or sonically. If you know of any good ones drop us a line.
Side One
Big, rich and tubey, by the second track the presence is even better – listen for it.
Side Two
A wide stage and rich sound (in the lovely vocal especially). Getz’s sax is dynamic all get out as usual.
When you hear Maria Toledo singing that opening track on side two you will know you are in the presence of greatness.
AMG Review
Here’s some more bossa nova from Stan Getz when the bloom was still on the first Brazilian boom. This time, however, on his third such album, Getz relies mostly upon native Brazilians for his backing. Thus, the soft-focused grooves are considerably more attuned to what was actually coming out of Brazil at the time.
Two bona fide giants, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá (who gets co-billing), provide the guitars and all of the material, and Maria Toledo contributes an occasional throaty vocal. Getz injects more high-wailing passages into his intuitive affinity for the groove, even going for some fast bop on “Un Abraco No Getz,” and Bonfá takes adept care of the guitar solos against Jobim’s rock-steady rhythm.
Clearly Jobim’s songwriting contributions — “So Danco Samba,” “How Insensitive,” and “O Morro Nao Tem Vez” — would have the longest shelf life, and though the album didn’t sell as well as its two predecessors, it certainly helped break these tunes into the permanent jazz repertoire. Avid bossa nova fans will certainly treasure this album for the lesser-known Bonfá tunes.
Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Boz Scaggs
Sonic Grade: D
Ran across this listing from all the way back in 2005. It takes shots at Badly Half-Speed Mastered records like this awful CBS audiophile pressing of Silk Degrees, as well as the audiophiles who complained about plain old domestic pressings at the time. I should know; I was one of them. Ouch.
Old customers know that we have been relentlessly anti-audiophile-LP for years, since the early ’90s in fact, when those awful Acoustic Sounds jazz records first started coming out.
Hey, here’s a question for you. When was the last time that anybody mentioned a word about those Heavy Vinyl Disasters, badly mastered by Doug Sax with no presence and bloated bass? They’ve rather fallen from favor, have they not? I wonder why. Could it be because they were as ridiculously bad as I said they were, and it just took the rest of the world a little longer to recognize that fact? Perhaps most audiophiles are making progress. It’s just taking them a long long time.
Hot Stamper Commentary from 2005!
Hot Stampers finally discovered! This is the SWEEETEST, RICHEST, MOST TONALLY CORRECT COPY I have ever heard.
This album has a long history here at Better Records. I used to complain about the CBS Half-Speeds being too bright.
Sonic Grade: F
This Nautilus Half-Speed Mastered LP, like The Cars first album they did, is pure compressed muck. Another one of the worst half-speeds of all time.
If you are buying these modern pressings, take the advice of some of our customers and stop throwing your money away on Heavy Vinyl Pressings and Half-Speed Mastered Records.
People have been known to ask us: