Month: March 2020

Lou Donaldson – Sophisticated Lou

  • Lou Donaldson’s 1973 release makes its Hot Stamper debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last 
  • Punchy and present, open and transparent – only the best Blue Note pressings let Donaldson’s soulful energy come through the way it did here
  • “Supported by a lush string section, Donaldson plays sensitive, pretty versions of such familiar items as ‘Stella By Starlight,’ ‘What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,’ ‘Autumn in New York’ and ‘Time After Time,’ plus a new reading of his ‘Blues Walk’ and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life.’ … a nice change of pace after several albums of funky soul-jazz.”

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Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart – Bongo Fury

Reviews and Commentaries for Captain Beefheart

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

  • This classic Zappa & Beefheart album boasts STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last
  • This pressing is head and shoulders above the pack, with the kind of big, punchy, full-bodied sound this music absolutely demands
  • Muffin Man is obviously the high point here – it’s one of my All-Time Favorite songs and never fails to bring a smile
  • “This is the last album to feature the highly technical jazz fusion of Mothers of Invention, whose roots can be traced back to 1973 circa Over-Nite Sensation.”

Sometimes the copy with the best sound is not the copy with the quietest vinyl. The best sounding copy is always going to win the shootout, the condition of its vinyl notwithstanding. If you can tolerate the problems on this pressing you are in for some amazing music and sound. If for any reason you are not happy with the sound or condition of the album we are of course happy to take it back for a full refund, including the domestic return postage.

Both sides here are big, bold and lively with strong vocal presence and a big bottom end. Many copies have a tendency to get a bit gritty and grainy up top, but just listen to how smooth and sweet the cymbals sound here. Some of its other strengths are that it’s full-bodied, and tonally correct from top to bottom. The bass is meaty and punchy, and the top end is wonderfully extended. You can hear lots of ambience the cymbals and hi-hats. There’s really nothing between you and the music.

Some of this album is recorded live and some of it is studio material. The live tracks offer some of the best live Frank Zappa sound you will EVER hear.

The album is just plain wacky fun. You get the maximum entertainment value with this one. Muffin Man is obviously the high point — it’s one of my personal favorite Zappa tracks. This, in my opinion, is the last record Zappa made that’s any good. (more…)

Bob Brookmeyer – The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer

 

  • This superb 1956 mono album makes its Hot Stamper debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • We have never seen the original, but our retitled pressing here from 1964 will show you just how big, solid and musical this session by Rudy Van Gelder can sound
  • If you can tolerate the somewhat noisier surfaces on side two you are in for some amazing Bob Brookmeyer music with top quality sound
  • “Bob Brookmeyer plays valve trombone and piano on two songs apiece with his 1955 quartet, a group also including guitarist Jimmy Raney, bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Mel Lewis… the music is pleasing and reasonably creative.”

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Astrud Gilberto – The Shadow Of Your Smile

The space is HUGE and the sound so rich. The vocals have dramatically less hardness and the orchestra sounds right for once. Prodigious amounts of Tubey Magic as well, which is key to the best sounding copies. The sound needs weight, warmth and tubes or you might as well be playing a CD.

If you don’t like at least some reverb on your vocals, this album is probably not for you. The standard recording approach for Male and Female Vocals in the ’50s and ’60s was to add reverb to them. Sometimes it sounds right and sometimes it’s too much. For “too much” play some of Nat King Cole’s records from the era to hear what I mean. (Try “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” from 1963 if you want a good place to start.)

Like any processing of the sound in the studio — compression, limiting, reverb, EQ, etc. — it can be used with taste and discretion and make the recording better, or it can be overdone and ruin everything. For our part we think Astrud Gilberto’s recordings use reverb more or less tastefully. And of course there sure aren’t going to be any versions of this music coming along any time soon without the added echo. Getting the reverb to sound right is one of the things a good Hot Stamper has to do on a record like this. (more…)

Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare

  • Alice Cooper’s debut solo album finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • This one is killer – it’s lively and rich, with plenty of deep punchy bass, a nicely extended top and a huge three-dimensional soundfield
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… a concept album tied into the story line of the highly theatrical concert tour he launched soon after the album’s release… there’s plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around.”

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Johnny Hodges – The Big Sound

  • Hodges’ superb and quite rare release arrives on the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it
  • Spacious and transparent, this mono copy has the big three-dimensional soundstage that makes an All Tube recording from 1957 such a joy to listen to
  • Featuring some of the swingingest cats from Duke Ellington’s band, all playing the music they love and performing at the peak of their powers
  • 4 stars: “No surprises, but the session was as good as one might hope. Gathered here was the Ellington band with Billy Strayhorn at the piano…This was an integrated unit, not some detached studio band for Hodges to blow over, under, around, and through. It was wonderful Hodges and fine Ellington.”

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The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Visions of the Emerald Beyond

On the first track of side one we will happily state for the record: no record rocks harder. When you hear Ponty’s double-tracked violins explode out of each speaker on the first track, you will know what we mean when we say this record is as big and as bold a recording statement as any you have ever heard.

It’s yet another triumph from one of our favorite engineers, Ken Scott.

This may be jazz, but it’s jazz that ROCKS harder than 98% of the rock records we’ve ever played, and we’ve played rock records by the thousands. (more…)

Benny Goodman / The Benny Goodman Story – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

This is a SUPERB SOUNDING Benny Goodman Mono album from 1955, here reissued with, in some ways, even better sound. Benny Goodman still had it in 1955, and he and his band really punch some life into this music that they had been playing for 20 years. The Capitol engineers really capture the power of his band, with correct tonality throughout. The originals (which are very hard to find) have a little more midrange magic but less punch. Each is good in its own way. This may be a reissue but it’s a damn fine one.

Out of the half dozen copies we listened to, this is the second best sounding. It’s a little smoother and easier on the ears. 

One interesting quality to practically every copy is the fact that the first bit of brass at the opening of side one sounds smeared, but quickly the transients come into the picture and restore the correctness of the brass. I have no idea why that should be; it must be on the tape.

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Eric Clapton – Behind The Sun

  • Clapton’s 1985 release returns to the site with Nearly Triple Plus (A+++) sound – exceptionally quiet vinyl too 
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • “The level of musicianship is impressive. Additional percussion by Phil Collins and Ray Cooper help to make this one of Clapton’s most rhythmically adventurous projects to date… I recommend it to both casual and serious fans. You cannot go wrong with an album featuring such strong tracks as “She’s Waiting, “See What Love Can Do”, “Same Old Blues”, “Forever Man”, and “Just Like A Prisoner”.”

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Cannonball Adderley – Domination

More Cannonball Adderley

More Oliver Nelson

  • This is an AMAZINGLY well-recorded album – big, rich, and positively exploding with the fun jazz energy Adderley is known for
  • And don’t forget Oliver Nelson’s swinging arrangements for this group, surely a match made in Heaven
  • Why isn’t this LP better known? It’s one of the best jazz albums we’ve “discovered” recently, with the Big Sound we Big Speaker guys flip for
  • “Both Adderleys feature through a series of monumental sounding charts by Oliver Nelson on some very enterprising material.”
  • Another Record We’ve Discovered with (Potentially) Excellent Sound

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