The Music of Sonny Rollins Available Now
UPDATE
We used to like this record a whole lot more than we do now. Based on what we heard last time we played it, we cannot recommend it.
A classic case of live and learn.
Our previous commentary:
This Prestige Two-Fer Double LP boasts EXCELLENT SOUND, right up there with some the best sounding copies we’ve played.
Three sides out of four sounded surprisingly good, which is three good sides more than the average copy can claim.
Oddly enough, the stampers are identical. Sample to sample variation? Fresh off the stamper transparency? Who’s to say?
I can’t explain it, but I know a better record when I play one. This copy is clearly more transparent, no pun intended.
It’s also been through our extensive cleaning process, which as you can imagine helps the sound immeasurably.
For more reviews of Two-Fer pressings, click here.
Side One
St. Thomas
Strode Rode
The Way You Look Tonight
Side Two
Tenor Madness
Paradox
Side Three
Valse Hot
Solid
Count Your Blessings
Side Four
Mambo Bounce
Newk’s Fadeaway
With a Song in My Heart
No More
When Your Lover Has Gone
This is an Older Jazz 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 developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into a fine art.
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. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the Sonic Grades and Vinyl Playgrades are listed separately.)
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.
Currently, 99% (or more!) of the records we sell are cleaned, then auditioned under rigorously controlled conditions, up against a number of other pressings. We award them sonic grades, and then condition check them for surface noise.
As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is why we currently have a highly trained staff of about ten. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us could ever come along to do the kind of work we do.
The term “Hot Stampers” gets thrown around a lot these days, but to us it means only one thing: a record that has been through the shootout process and found to be of exceptionally high quality.
Not just a good sounding record. A record that was played in a shootout and did well.
The result of our labor is the scores of jazz titles seen here, every one of which is unique and guaranteed to be the best sounding copy of the album you have ever heard or you get your money back.