- Hathaway’s 1978 compilation album finally arrives on the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout
- Richer, warmer, more natural, more relaxed, these vintage pressings are what analog is all about, that long-lost sound that never calls attention to itself and just lets the music flow
- The legendary Roberta Flack joins Hathaway on two or our favorite duets of all time: “You’ve Got A Friend” and “Where Is The Love” – the results are nothing short of magical
- 4 stars: “…taste the musical genius of the late Donny Hathaway… he delivers a strong, understated reading of Leon Russell’s song. He blends deliciously with Roberta Flack… their chemistry is breathtaking.”
This vintage Atco stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely begin to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back.
Having done this for so long, we understand and appreciate that rich, full, solid, Tubey Magical sound is key to the presentation of this primarily vocal music. We rate these qualities higher than others we might be listening for (e.g., bass definition, soundstage, depth, etc.).
Hot Stamper sound is rarely about the details of a given recording. In the case of this album, more than anything else a Hot Stamper must succeed at recreating a solid, palpable, real Donny Hathaway singing live in your listening room. The better copies have an uncanny way of doing just that.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but less than one out of 100 new records do, if our experience with the hundreds we’ve played over the years can serve as a guide.
What the best sides of The Best of Donny Hathaway have to offer is not hard to hear:
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1978
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional space of the studio
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
What We’re Listening For on The Best of Donny Hathaway
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness common to most LPs.
- Tight, note-like bass with clear fingering — which ties in with good transient information, as well as the issue of frequency extension further down.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the players.
- Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren’t “back there” somewhere, way behind the speakers. They’re front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would have put them.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
You Were Meant for Me
A Song for You
You’ve Got A Friend
Someday We’ll All Be Free
Giving Up
Side Two
Where is the Love
The Ghetto
Valdez in the Country
This Christmas
AMG 4 Star Review
Listen to “Song for You” and taste the musical genius of the late Donny Hathaway — he delivers a strong, understated reading of Leon Russell’s song. He blends deliciously with Roberta Flack on “Where Is the Love,” and on a poignant rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend”; their chemistry is breathtaking.
“Someday We’ll Be Free” has an inspiring message that is bogged down by a meandering tempo — the hook is compelling but isn’t repeated enough. Van McCoy’s “Giving Up” is done in a torching style; the emotional ballad scored for Gladys Knight & the Pips before their Motown days. Hathaway’s “This Christmas” has become as regular as “Jingle Bells” around the holiday season, with kettle drums adding spice to the memorable arrangement.
“The Ghetto” wasn’t Hathaway’s biggest hit sales-wise or chart-wise, but it’s probably his most revered tune. A rolling piano, inspired backing voices, an incessant tambourine, a drummer, and bass that appeared to be joined at the hip, along with Hathaway’s caricature vocals, make “The Ghetto” a captivating piece of music.