Month: August 2019

Sibelius / Symphony No. 2 – An Overview

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

  • rich and tubey but clear and lively;
  • big, with great energy;
  • superbly spacious and
  • never harsh or shrill.

(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.”

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Peter Frampton / Where I Should Be – A Personal Favorite

The Music of Peter Frampton Available Now

Peter Frampton Albums We’ve Reviewed

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.

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A Hard Day’s Night – Our Four Plus Shootout Winner from 2012

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.

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Gerry Mulligan – Jeru

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…)

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters

  • An outstanding copy of Hancock’s 1973 release with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too 
  • If you’ve been disappointed by the sound of the album in the past, here’s a copy that can show you a whole new Head Hunters
  • Described as “a key release in Hancock’s career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz” and a member of Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
  • 5 stars: “It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken).”

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…)

Letter of the Week – “I felt like I could actually hear Zappa’s musical vision for this project.”

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…)

The Cars – The King Is Dead, Long Live the King

Hot Stamper Pressings of New Wave Recordings Available Now

This is a commentary from many years ago.

As you may remember from our last go around with The Cars’ debut, we proclaimed that new White Hot Stampers had been discovered, and indeed they had. These, dear reader, are the very ones of which we spoke, and let me assure you, they are every bit as good. They just plain blow the doors off our previous favorites, which is both shocking and wonderful.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King!

Talk about jumping out of the speakers, the energy level of this copy is completely OFF THE CHARTS. You’ve probably heard these songs a million times, but you’ve NEVER heard them sound like this. Both sides have FREAKISHLY GOOD SOUND — dynamic, spacious and ALIVE!

Sides One and Two

Side one is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The material is superb — just check out the first three tracks: Let The Good Times Roll, Best Friend’s Girl, and Just What I Needed — how many albums start off with that kind of a bang? Each of those tracks sounds amazing — if you’ve got big speakers and a phono stage capable of resolving musical information at the highest levels, put this record on, turn it way up and get ready to hear some serious DEMONSTRATION QUALITY SOUND.

The guitars are meaty and grungy beyond belief, the synths have so much texture, and the drums are some of the punchiest you’ll ever hear. The overall sound is rich, full, present, dynamic and ALIVE! We rate side one an A+++ — it’s As Good As It Gets (AGAIG!)

Side two is every bit as good — super transparent, with amazing presence — the best we heard for ANY SIDE TWO — not to mention generous amounts of ambience. Moving In Stereo sounds SUPERB here — just listen to that floating synth and the full-bodied vocals. The top end is Right On The Money; check out the superb extension and the silky quality the cymbals have.

Candy-O Blew Our Minds

When we did our Candy-O shootout back in 2007, we had never before heard Demo Disc sound on a new wave record. Times have changed, though, and we owe much of that change to our EAR 324 Phono stage, which is capable of resolving at a much higher level than anything we had before. That super high resolution has allowed us to find the magic in the grooves that we always hoped was there.

And now we KNOW it is. Just listen to all the texture to the synthesizers or the character of the distortion on the guitar. Roy Thomas Baker (the man behind Queen) engineered this album, and he did a stellar job — it’s an amazing sounding recording, and a pressing like this gives you entree to all of that magic.

The DCC Gold CD is pretty darn good, one of Steve’s best, but it can’t begin to compete with this kind of seriously Hot Stamper vinyl.

Power Choruses

The hottest of the Hot Stampers did one easily recognizable thing better than the Also-Rans, and it was apparent pretty much from the get-go. The multi-multi-multi-tracked choruses on the best copies don’t strain (a very common problem), they are bigger and more powerful, they stretch from wall to wall, and the voices that make them up are separated much more than on other copies. I won’t say you can make out all the players — there are dozens of tracks overdubbed together don’t you know — but you can make out some of the voices. At least you can if you have the kind of high resolution front end that we do. Big speakers help a lot too, giving space for each voice to occupy. What small driver speakers do to an album like this is a travesty, but that’s a horse we have already beaten savagely in more than enough places on the site, so we’ll leave that problem for the listener to solve.

Big Dynamic Speakers

Which means that if you have big dynamic speakers and like to rock, you can’t go wrong here. Neil Young albums have the Big Rock sound, and if you’re more of a Classic Rock kind of listener, that’s a good way to go. We’re behind you all the way, just check out the majority of the Hot Stampers on the site: CSN, Zep, Tull, The Stones — we can’t get enough of the stuff.

Still, variety is the spice of life, and the Cars really deliver the good on this new wave classic. If you love big meaty guitar chords, wild synth sounds, and HUGE punchy drums, this record may be just what you needed… so let the good times roll!

Dvorak / Symphony No. 7 / Monteux/ LSO – Reviewed in 2008

More of the Music of Antonin Dvorak

UPDATE 2026

We played a very good sounding copy of this album in 2008. If you see one for cheap on the Plum label, pick it up, give it a spin and hope for the best.

This fairly quiet (M-) Plum Label Victrola has LOVELY, SPACIOUS, tonally correct sound. Monteux and LSO are wonderful here, so this one gets a top recommendation from Better Records. 

This is an older orchestral review

Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we started developing in the early 2000s and have since turned into a veritable science.

We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were.

We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.

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Traffic – Last Exit – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

More Traffic

More Steve Winwood

This QUIET British Import Island Sunray (Pink Rim) pressing has THE BEST SIDE TWO WE’VE EVER HEARD, which is where the two extended live cuts are found. We played a bunch of these recently (nothing but Brits, the only way to go for this album) and no side two could keep up with this one. It’s got more extension up top, more weight down low, and more energy than we heard anywhere else.  (more…)

Peter Gabriel / Shaking the Tree

More Peter Gabriel

New British import pressings with EXCELLENT SOUND. 

There is not a track here that wouldn’t KILL the sound of that track found on any of the Classic Heavy Vinyl pressings in a head to head shootout. And if you don’t agree we are more than happy to take this copy back and refund your money.

These pressings typically have some surface noise at the start of one side or the other, mostly caused by dust in the jacket that scuffed the vinyl in transit, so they have been priced far below what they would sell for if they were quieter, because the sound is, as I said, excellent.

This “greatest hits’ package comes across as a nice overview of his solo career, since he virtually had no hits in this country until So.

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