Month: April 2020

Bonnie Raitt / Nine Lives – An Early Shootout Winning Copy of Her Underrated Album from 1986

More Bonnie Raitt

Reviews and Commentaries for Bonnie Raitt’s Albums

I did a little shootout today (7/3/06) with a few copies of this album and this one was CLEARLY SUPERIOR. The others were a bit smeared and thick sounding. This copy has the LIFE of the recording preserved in the grooves. With George Massenburg involved, there’s no way this record could sound “natural”. This copy does sound the way it’s supposed to and that’s the most we can hope for. If you have an aggressive or thin sounding stereo this is not the record for you.  

Side One COOKS from start to finish, with some of her best work — far better (IMHO) than anything she did for Capitol.

Of course the rest of the world disagreed with me about that, as after this album the label dropped her, and her first album for Capitol outsold all the records she ever made put together. But that’s sales. I’m talking about musical quality. Her Capitol albums are much too mellow for my taste. I discovered Bonnie with Home Plate and saw her live numerous times, where she proved she can rock with the best of them (like on this album).

Mellow isn’t the Bonnie I like. If you want an album with more energy, try this one. If you want something to play in the background while you sip wine and engage in polite conversation, both the DCC titles are perfect for that.

Actually that’s not fair: they have much to offer the serious listener whose tastes run more to Norah Jonesy middle of the road fare. I like that kind of material too, but Bonnie Raitt can do both, and I prefer her this way.

Two of her best songs ever are on this album: the rocker “Who But a Fool (Thief Into Paradise)” and the ballad “Angel”, with some of the best slide guitar she ever played while the tape was running. If you don’t like those two songs, send this record back to me and I’ll give you your money back. (more…)

Blue Mitchell – Blue’s Moods

  • A superb copy of Blue Mitchell’s 1960 Riverside classic with solid Double Plus (A++) sound – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording, with the added benefit of mastering using more modern cutting equipment from the ’70s and ’80s
  • (We are of course here referring to the good modern mastering of 35+ years ago, not the typically opaque, veiled and lifeless mastering of today)
  • “Of trumpeter Blue Mitchell’s seven Riverside recordings, only this set — along with three numbers on Blue Soul — feature Mitchell as the only horn. Joined by pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Roy Brooks, the trumpeter is typically distinctive, swinging, and inventive within the hard bop genre.”

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Journey – Departure

More Journey

  • Insanely good sound throughout for this Journey classic from 1980 with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades 
  • 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
  • Exceptionally quiet vinyl with both sides playing Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus (for the most part)
  • “In the past, the group’s good moments came when Neal Schon and Dunbar took off on extended jams, but now Journey works best as a band. And they’ve never rocked harder.” – Rolling Stone

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Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis & Johnny Griffin – Live At Mintons

  • The First Set makes it to the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too 
  • Three-dimensional space and ambience, with Tubey Magic by the boatload – this is guaranteed to be one of the better sounding live jazz records you’ve heard
  • Rudy Van Gelder was masterful at this is the kind of spacious, low-distortion, dynamic, energetic sound
  • “Griffin and Davis, competitive tenors with different sounds, battle each other… Exciting music that deserves to be made more widely available.” [And here is a wonderful copy ripe for the taking.]

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Miles Davis – Live-Evil

More Miles Davis

  • A STUNNING copy of Davis’ superb 1971 release, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on all four sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied sound that blew away every other copy we played
  • A wonderful double album of both live and studio-recorded music, featuring numerous jazz greats, including Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette
  • Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber believed it was “easily the most accessible of Miles Davis’ late-’70s electric releases,” describing its music as “at once both sexually steamy and unsettling.” He said the live recordings “run the gamut from barroom brawl action-funk to sensual bedroom jazz magic, creating two hours of charged eccentricity you’ll never forget.”

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The Theft, Recovery, and Legend of Joshua Bell’s Red Stradivarius Violin | Robb Report

Hot Stamper Pressings Featuring the Violin

Violin Records that Are Good for Testing

We wrote a long piece explaining how the presentation of the solo violin on the famous Reiner Scheherazade on Heavy Vinyl, whether on Classic Records or Analogue Productions, gets the sound of the instrument completely wrong.  Please to enjoy.

The Chico Hamilton Quintet

  • This superb live recording finally makes its Hot Stamper debut, boasting a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two and an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side one
  • A killer mono pressing, with solid weight, lovely richness and warmth, real separation between the instruments and wonderful immediacy throughout
  • Recorded live at The Forum Theater in Los Angeles in 1956, this vintage pressing boasts exceptionally natural sound, as well as the energetic live interplay of these five musicians (including a cellist)

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Dionne Warwick / Soulful – Our Shootout Winner from 2008

There’s a reason this record is on the TAS list, but you’d never know it by playing the average pressing. Most copies of this record just sound like an old Dionne Warwick record. You would never even know how magical this recording is by playing a copy that for all intents and purposes appears to be the pressing that Harry Pearson is recommending on his Super Disc list. The catalog number is the same; the sound is not. Unless you have at least half a dozen copies of this record — and we had more than double that — you have very little chance of finding even one exceptional side.

This has always been the problem with the TAS list. The pressing variations on a record like this are HUGE and DRAMATIC. There is a world of difference between this copy and what the typical audiophile owns based on HP’s list. I’ve been complaining for years that the catalog number that Harry supplies has very little benefit to the typical audiophile record lover. Without at least the right stampers, the amount of work required to find a copy that deserves a SuperDisc ranking is daunting, requiring the kind of time and effort that few audiophiles could ever devote to such a difficult and frustrating project.

Beyond all that, Scepter vinyl is quite problematic. A sealed copy that we cracked open for our shooutout was so noisy, it didn’t even make it past the first round. It takes a lot of work to find a copy of this (or ANY) album that’s truly a Super Disc; just picking up the titles from Harry’s list certainly can’t guarantee good sound. (more…)

Grateful Dead – Skeletons From The Closet

  • A KILLER copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the first side and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the second
  • Both of these sides are out of this world — clean, clear and present yet still pretty rich and Tubey Magical with plenty of bottom end weight
  • Exceptionally quiet vinyl throughout — Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus
  • “… long-lived as a Grateful Dead primer… [it] remains a good introduction to the band’s early — and arguably best — work… Skeletons — for longtime fans — will always be a great disc for a lazy Sunday afternoon.” – All Music

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Pack Up The Plantation

  • The band’s first official live album debuts, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on three sides and an excellent Double Plus (A++) side four 
  • This album gives you the “naked” sound of the real thing – the real voices and the real guitars and the real everything else
  • The best sides here are big, full-bodied, present and lively, just the way we like ’em
  • “The performances by the Heartbreakers are genuine and crisp, and there’s enough sing-along and banter to the audience to identify this as a true classic rock concert recording. Petty and the Heartbreakers tear it up on hits like Refugee, American Girl, and Rockin’ Around With You, and it’s good to hear Stevie Nicks’ appearance on the wonderful “Insider” (originally from Hard Promises). “

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