SUPERB Super Hot Stamper sound on BOTH sides of this original Scepter pressing, with QUIET VINYL no less. Folks, don’t expect to see records like this coming to the site too often. We can’t find them anymore in this kind of clean condition, so if you like the lovely Ms Warwick, consider taking this one home and giving her (the record, not Dionne) a spin on your table.

Side one is LOVELY — the bass is tight and punchy, the strings have lots of texture, and the background vocals are clean and clear. The grit and grain that plague the average copy are practically nowhere to be found here. The midrange is full of that old analog Tubey Magic, the kind that has completely disappeared from the modern record, (even the modern reissue of a vintage record!). The sound is so open and transparent, you hear directly into the soundfield.

Notice how the limiter on Dionne’s microphone is working overtime. She is practically shouting into it but it never seems to get much louder! Still the energy and the passion come through clearly. That’s the sign of a well-recorded vocal track.

Side Two

Side two is every bit as good, but different of course. It’s incredibly clean and clear, but not quite as rich as side one. It can get a little hard at times. Side one had more Tubey Magic, but side two had more clarity. Both are superb.

The first track on side one simply does not sound good for some reason. Not sure what happened there but a screwup in the studio is my guess. You know what’s shocking about a record like this? The fact that the instruments you hear behind and to the side of the vocalist are REAL instruments, and for the most part they are not really being processed much, they are simply being recorded. How many times do you hear a pop album with sound like that? Almost never in our case, and we play them by the hundreds.

Just played a Linda Ronstadt album that she did with Nelson Riddle earlier today and I can tell you one thing, the sound of that album and this one are on opposite sides of the recording spectrum in terms of naturalness. On a scale of one to a hundred, Linda scores about a two, and Dionne scores 90, maybe more. It’s a JOY to hear a record with this kind of sound.

Play this one for your audiophile friends who own and respect the recordings of Dianna Krall, Patricia Barber and the like. Be sure to repeat the phrase “boy, they don’t make ’em like they used to” whenever there is a pause in the music or conversation.

You might also want to ask them if they think the invention of digital reverb was such a good idea after all.

If they’re good analog buddies that you want to keep being your buddies you might not want to say anything at all. Just keep quiet and let their own ears shame them. This is the record that can do it.

TRACK LISTING

Side One

Check Out Time
Yesterday
We’ve Only Just Begun
Here’s That Rainy Day
The Green Grass Starts to Grow

Side Two

They Don’t Give Medals to Yesterday’s Heroes
Walk the Way You Talk
Make It Easy on Yourself
Going Out of My Head
I Got Love