One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hey Tom,
I have to tell you, Better Records has ruined me. 🙂
No fun buying tunes from the bins anymore!
However, your records make listening to music a truly exhilarating experience again.
Much appreciated,
Art
Basic Audio Advice — These Are the Fundamentals of Good Sound
One of our customers had this to say about the Aurios we used to sell.
Hey Tom,
Wow! Were you ever right when you said the Aurios MIBs are “Quite Possibly the Biggest Analog Upgrade Out There.” After listening with the MIBs in place for about 3 hours, there’s no doubt they make a huge difference.
Every record/track I heard on LPs I know very well sounded more dynamic. I don’t want to use the worn phrase “on steroids.” The music had much better pace and sounded more real and natural. The contrasts from high to low across the bandwidth were more apparent. The timbre of the instruments also sounded more real and natural. Soundstage became more dimensional in all directions. I heard details that previously were not as audible or were not audible at all.
One thing that was most impressive is that the Aurios actually seem to enlarge the scale of the music; it sounder bigger. LPs I listened to: Love Over Gold (Dire Straits); Slow Train Coming (Bob Dylan); The Hunter (Jennifer Warnes); One Flight Up (Dexter Gordon).
All of these sounded significantly better than I had ever heard before adding the MIBs. Love Over Gold was just incredible! It simply was not the same record without the Aurios MIBs.
It blew me away. After listening to both sides, I had to listen again and asked my wife to join me. She was as impressed as I was. So your string of satisfied customers remains intact. I will not let these out of my sight!
John A.
More of the music of Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Reviews and Commentaries for The Planets
We award this copy’s side two our very special Four Plus A++++ grade, which is strictly limited to pressings (really, individual sides of pressings) that take a given recording to a level we’ve never experienced before and had no idea could even exist. We estimate that about one per cent of the Hot Stamper pressings we come across in our shootouts earn this grade. You can’t get much more rare than that.
We no longer use this grade for a number of reasons we won’t go into here. Suffice to say, if you buy a White Hot Stamper pressing from us, you are getting the best sounding pressing we know to exist.
This Beyond White Hot Stamper Planets has Out Of This World sound on side two, where it earned a Four Plus sonic grade for its MINDBLOWING orchestral power, especially from the brass section, a subject we discuss at length below.
This is some of the best sound I have ever heard coming out of my two speakers, if not THE best. Side two of this very copy takes the recording to a level we had no idea was possible. Out of the fifty or so copies of The Planets we’ve played in the last decade or so, this is without a doubt the best side two of them all.
We can only hope to find a side one as good in the next ten years. It probably exists, but will it take us another fifty copies to run into it? Only time will tell! (more…)
More of the Music of Jean Sibelius
A truly extraordinary recording mastered beautifully but pressed on vinyl that has never been known for its quiescence (if I can get by with that ten cent word).
The strings are clear and textured, yet rich and full-bodied. The bottom is big and weighty. The horns are tubey and full-bodied and never screech through even the most difficult passages.
My notes mention that it’s
(It can be a bit dark in places; as you know this is much preferable to the alternative.)
About as close to live music as I think this piece can sound in my listening room.
This shootout has been many years in the making. Some time around 2014 we surveyed the recordings of the work we had on hand, close to a dozen I would think, and found them all wanting, save two: this one and the 1964 reading by Ansermet for Decca (CS 6391).
So many recordings failed to capture the size, weight and power of the orchestra. Too much multi-miking was ruinous to some; screechy strings and horns to others.
Most recordings we played were profoundly unnatural, lacking transparency and the relaxed sense of involvement that eases one’s ability to be tricked into thinking “you (really) are there.”
One of my personal Records to Die For. This album presents a more mature Peter Frampton doing some of the most consistently inspired material of his career, including R&B covers like May I Baby and You Don’t Know Like I Know, with horn charts that really cook — in other words, a great album.
We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with less of an accent on morbidity and more on the joy these amazing recordings can bring to your life.
Where I Should Be is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but should.
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Graham Nash Available Now
Presenting another entry in our extensive listening in depth series with advice on what to listen for as you critically evaluate your copy of Songs for Beginners. Here are some albums currently on our site with similar Track by Track breakdowns.
This is one helluva well recorded album. Most of the credit must go to the team of recording engineers, led here by the esteemed Bill Halverson, the man behind all of the Crosby Stills Nash and Young albums. Nash was clearly influenced by his work with his gifted bandmates, proving with this album that he can hold his own with the best of the best.
Some songs (We Can Change The World, Be Yourself) are grandly scaled productions with the kind of studio polish that would make Supertramp envious. For me, a big speaker guy with a penchant for giving the old volume knob an extra click or two, it just doesn’t get any better.
Others (Sleep Song, Wounded Bird) are quiet and intimate. Their subtlely is highlighted by the big productions surrounding them. This is that rare album in which every aspect of the production, from the arrangements to the final mix, serves to bring out the best qualities in the songs, regardless of scale.
The recording is of course superb throughout, in the best tradition of Crosby Stills and Nash’s classic early albums: transparent, smooth and sweet vocals, with loads of midrange magic ; deep punchy bass; lovely extension on the top to capture the shimmer of the cymbals and harmonic trails of the acoustic guitars; with the whole balanced superbly by one of our all-time heroes, Glyn Johns.
Side One
Better Days
This easily qualifies as the best test track for side one. It starts out with a soft, intimate vocal from Nash — the more intimate the sound here, the better. The hot stamper copies have an immediacy and a presence that is breathtaking.
Listen also for the sound of the piano. If the piano sounds full and rich, yet clear and not at all smeared, you are off to a very good start. On the best copies you can follow the chords behind the lead instruments throughout the song. The piano easily gets lost on most copies. On the truly transparent pressings you can always hear what the piano player is doing, how his contribution is aiding the material overall, even when its far in the background. That’s what a Hot Stamper gives you: the chance to appreciate every instrument as it works it way through the song.
Ah, but what really separates the men from the boys is the double-tracked vocal (one Nash clearly singing out of each speaker or course!), starting with “Now that you know it’s nowhere… What’s to stop you coming home?” On the killer copies he gets very loud but never for a moment does his voice cross the line into hardess or shrillness. To borrow a phrase from those days, his voice stays natural, even when he’s pushing hard. That’s the emotional peak of the song. The last thing you want is for the sound to be aggressive and call attention to itself.
Most copies will have you wincing by this point if you are at any sort of serious level on this track. Only one original stamper gets his voice right on side one. (No reissue or import or heavy vinyl version I’ve ever heard is even competitive with the best originals, so don’t waste your money.)
The bass clarinet solo (I always thought it was a tenor sax!) almost never sounds right unless you have an especially magical copy. It’s usually hard sounding. Leaner copies tend to make it sound thin. Thick and opaque or just plain rolled off copies make it sound dull.
And last but not least, you need well defined deep bass. There’s plenty of it on this album, stuff well under 30 cycles — it really rumbles the room. There’s an organ playing way down deep underneath this track from early on; a startling effect is created when it suddenly comes to a stop. The more startled you are the better. It’s one of the most powerful audio phenomena I’ve ever experienced, further proof that this album is truly an engineering
Side Two
Chicago / We Can Change the World
The two last songs here are wedded together, the latter being the chorus of the former. Let me tell you folks: this is ANALOG MAGIC AT ITS BEST. You will never hear a CD sound like this if you live to be a hundred. The midrange is so rich and sweet it makes 99% of all the recordings you’ve ever heard pale in comparison.
The more the individual voices can be heard, free of even the slightest trace of grit or grain, the better the copy. The sound is nothing short of GLORIOUS. This song is Demo Disc material. It rivals Anything on Any Super Disc List compiled by Anybody, and that includes me!
The famous female backup singers here are on scores if not hundreds of albums from the era. Some of the very same girls’ voices can clearly be heard on Pretzel Logic and Aja, to name just a couple of albums we’ve played to death around here. See if you can pick them out of the throng.
One last thing: listen for the organ at the beginning of the song. It should be really punchy with tons of solid low end; it drives the beat like crazy. It’s so funky I’m surprised nobody’s sampled it yet. Maybe they have. How the hell would I know? I don’t listen to that shizzle.
N versus C, S, and Y
In fact, the sound of this album is so good in so many ways, it prompted me to ask the question: Are any of the other albums by Nash’s bandmates as well recorded? Albums by CSN and/or Y, not a chance. They’re well-recorded, don’t get me wrong, but this one is in another league altogether.
Surveying the complete output of all the members would be time consuming, so I’ll cut to the chase. The short answer is three: David Crosby’s If Only I Could Remember My Name, the clear winner of this comparison, followed by two of Neil Young’s: After the Gold Rush and Zuma. Each of them has its own “sound” which is detailed on the site in their respective Hot Stamper listings.
Add Graham Nash’s debut to the list and you have a quartet of recordings that put to shame practically anything from the era. Which is really saying something; the late ’60s to mid-’70s is when all the best modern pop recordings were made, in my audiophile opinion (IMAO).
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now
The best side one we’ve ever heard! Side one was so amazing, clearly a step up over any side of any other copy we played, that we felt obligated to award it our “Four Plus” (A++++) grade. Out of the thousands of Hot Stampers we’ve listed over the years, about twenty have earned Four Pluses on any side. That alone makes this a very special copy indeed.
UPDATE
Our lengthy commentary entitled outliers & out-of-this-world sound talks about how rare these kinds of pressings are and how to go about finding them.
We no longer give Four Pluses out as a matter of policy, but that doesn’t mean we don’t come across records that deserve them from time to time.
And side two was right up there with the best we played this time around as well, finishing in second place with a grade of A++ to A+++. Both sides are so RICH and TUBEY MAGICAL you will not believe this is the same A Hard Day’s Night that has always sounded so hard, harsh and aggressive.
Years ago I would have kept a copy like this for myself, but I found I never had the time to play my own records; they just sat on a shelf and collected dust. With such amazing sound we know this copy will go to a good home and hopefully get played often and loud.
Drop the needle on any song on the first side to see why we went crazy over this one. The emotional quality of the boys’ performances really comes through on this copy. They aren’t just singing — they’re really BELTIN’ it out here! Can you imagine what that sounds like on the title track? We didn’t have to imagine it, WE HEARD IT!
Side two is a KNOCKOUT as well, rating A++ to A+++. We guarantee you’ve never heard these songs sound remotely as good as they do here or your money back. Two sides this good back to back? The Audio Gods must have been smiling when this one was pressed.
This Black Print 360 original stereo pressing from 1962 put every other copy we played to shame – it’s White Hot on both sides. Tubier, more transparent, more dynamic, with that “jumpin’ out of the speakers’ quality that only The Real Thing (an old record) ever has. Hard to imagine any reissue, vintage or otherwise, can beat the sound of this amazing LP – we sure couldn’t find one. (more…)
Jazz-fusion fans are going to have themselves a funky good time with this Hot Stamper copy of Head Hunters! Let me tell you, it is no mean feat to find a copy of this album with this kind of sound. This copy is dynamic and lively with the kind of extension up top that brings this music to life. The bottom end has the kind of weight that these funky tunes demand, and the percussion sounds right on the money. (more…)
More of the Music of Frank Zappa
Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hey Tom,
Who could imagine that I would freak out in Indianapolis? It was a real roll of the dice to pony up the $125 for a Hot Stamper of “Freak Out”–this is a notoriously poor sounding record, and I’ve had 3 cracks at it already. However, it is also one of the 50 most important records of all time — its influence in 1966 on the burgeoning idea that pop music could be treated as an art form, and specifically its influence on pretty much every mover and shaker in music at the time, belies its technical shortcomings. If there was ever a case study in everything you folks profess to be about it is this record.
Wow. For the first time ever, and I’ve had this record for almost 30 years, I felt like I could actually hear Zappa’s musical vision for this project. I had no idea it was even possible for this album to sound even remotely this good. All of the percussion, the intricate orchestral arrangements, the imposingly powerful bass on “Who Are the Brain Police,” it’s all there like I’d never heard it before!
“How Could I be Such a Fool?” is astonishingly beautiful (indicating that Zappa’s dismissive liner notes were perhaps a reflection of his insecurity). There was so much care taken on this album, and I feel like I may be one of a handful of people in the world who’s really heard it. You’ve provided me with a life experience, worth every penny and more. (more…)