Month: May 2019

Dinah Washington – Unforgettable

  • An outstanding vintage mono pressing with Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • Big, rich and full-bodied with lovely breathy vocals – this All Tube Mastered pressing has the right sound for this music
  • Although this is a stereo recording, the goofy stereo mix sticks Dinah way out in one channel
  • The ridiculous hard panning works to sideline her performance, so our early mono here is the only way to go
  • “The songs focus on love, and they’re distinguished by Washington’s ability to mingle loss and resignation with the promise of the future and a steely determination to make it happen. Ultimately Washington’s art is the romance of experience itself, its enduring truths and possibilities etched in her unforgettable voice. — Stuart Broomer

This ’60s LP has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back. (more…)

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Free For All

  • Insanely good sound throughout for this Blue Note New York label pressing with both sides earning shootout winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound 
  • This LP was simply bigger, richer and clearer, with more Tubey Magic, less smear and distortion, and on and on down the list 
  • A Van Gelder recording from 1964 is hard to beat for you-are-there immediacy, and this pressing delivers that qualitiy like no other copy you’ve heard – we guarantee it
  • “Free for All is a high point in drummer Art Blakey’s enormous catalog. This edition of the Jazz Messengers had been together since 1961 with a lineup that would be hard to beat: Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano, and Reggie Workman on bass.”

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We Loved This Copy So Much in 2005 We Had the Gall to Charge $200 for It

More of the Music of Neil Young

Reviews and Commentaries for After the Gold Rush

This is the story of how we discovered our very first killer copy of After the Gold Rush. What a thrill it was to finally hear the album sound so amazing, this after hearing so many mediocre copies over the years.

It’s records like this that made us eventually put 100% of our resources into finding records that sound like this one — or better!  

This is the way we heard After the Gold Rush in 2005. Embarrassingly, we liked it so much we compared it to the best DCC records we were selling back then, ouch! A textbook case of Live and Learn. (more…)

Martin Denny – Exotic Percussion

More Exotica

This Liberty stereo LP has A++ DEMO DISC SOUND on side one, mated to a pretty darn good side two. The sound is very three-dimensional and has a wonderfully extended top end on this copy. The music just JUMPS out of the speakers. Soundstaging and depth are both superb.

Side two is not quite as open and transparent as side one but we still rate it an A+ for sound; it’s far far better than the average copy of this record you can find, if you can find a clean one at all. Fans of TUBEY MAGIC, Golden Age Exotica or Bang, Baa-room & Harp should find much to like here.

Sonny Rollins – On Impulse

More Sonny Rollins

Hot Stamper Pressings of Recordings by Rudy Van Gelder

  • Superb Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish on this outstanding copy of Sonny’s Impulse! label debut
  • Some of the best Sonny Rollins sax sound we’ve heard – both sides are super big, full and lively with a huge bottom end
  • 4 stars: “This date is significant for the manner in which Rollins attacks five standards with a quartet that included pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Mickey Roker.”

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Ramsey Lewis Trio – The In Crowd

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • A KILLER copy of Ramsey’s breakthrough live album from 1975, with both sides earning nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades
  • It may have taken us years, but finally Lewis’s bestselling In Crowd album arrives with exceptionally good Hot Stamper sound
  • If you want to know what jazz at an intimate nightclub would have sounded like in 1965, play this record – this copy has that sound
  • AMG raves “…this is the moment where Lewis shined the brightest, the “in crowd” at the club was verbally into it, and the time for this music was right.”

This original Cadet Stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in a real jazz club, this is the record for you. It’s what Vintage Records are known for — this sound. (more…)

Joe Henderson – Page One

EXCELLENT SOUND ON SIDE ONE of this Highly Recommended Blue Note classic! This ’70s pressing has sound that’s sure to beat the pants off most other copies out there. Just listen to the sound of the percussion; on the earlier pressings it tends to be smeary, but that’s certainly not the case here! The overall sound is open and transparent with incredible presence. Turn up the volume and you’ll have a smokin’ jazz quintet tearing it up right there in your living room! I don’t think Henderson made a better album than this one, and I doubt it’ll be easy tol find another copy that sounds this good!   (more…)

Dire Straits on Phonogram Half-Speed

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Dire Straits Available Now

Sonic Grade: F

This has to be one of the worst sounding copies of Dire Straits’ first album we have ever played.

There are plenty of bad sounding pressings of this album around — most of the domestic copies we’ve auditioned over the years were clearly made from dubs — but half speed mastering did this recording no favors. In fact, it was positively ruinous.

The 10cc title from this same series wasn’t half bad, FYI, certainly not the joke this pressing is.

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Freddie Hubbard – The Body and Soul of Freddie Hubbard

The bluesy version of Willow Weep For Me on side one is WONDERFUL. The rich, full-bodied sax sound is Right On The Money. The overall sound is totally transparent with superb clarity. Scrapple From The Apple (also on side one) has a silky top end anchored with deep, well-defined bass.

We had good success with both ’60s originals and later copies pressed in the ’70s. (more…)

Chopin / The Chopin Scherzos / Rubinstein – Reviewed in 2008

This is an RCA Living Stereo reissue LP with EXCELLENT SOUND. The strengths of this particular LP are not hard to hear: super quiet vinyl, which no original would have, and super transparent mids and highs, again something that no original (in our experience) has ever had. 

Like most of Rubinstein’s records on RCA, there is no real weight to the piano, but at least on this pressing the smear and noise common to practically every original is GONE!

Lovely music too.