• This superb copy of Fogelberg’s sophomore release boasts Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on both sides, just shy of our Shootout Winner
• One of the better copies from our most recent shootout, the sound is super big, full, lively and spacious with deep punchy bass
• “… easily placed him alongside such California hitmakers as Joni Mitchell, the Eagles, and Jackson Browne… ‘As the Raven Flies’ revealed Fogelberg to be capable of making edgy, guitar-driven rock and exhibited his range as a vocalist.”

These Nearly White Hot Stamper pressings have top quality sound that’s often surprisingly close to our White Hots, but they sell at substantial discounts to our Shootout Winners, making them a relative bargain in the world of Hot Stampers (“relative” being relative considering the prices we charge). We feel you get what you pay for here at Better Records, and if ever you don’t agree, please feel free to return the record for a full refund, no questions asked.

This vintage Epic pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with Fogelberg, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.

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 maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.

What the best sides of Souvenirs 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 1974
• 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.

This pressing has the kind of sound we look for in a top quality Folk Rock record: immediacy in the vocals (so many copies are veiled and distant); natural tonal balance (most copies are at least slightly brighter or darker than ideal; ones with the right balance are the exception, not the rule); good solid weight (so the bass sounds full and powerful); spaciousness (the best copies have wonderful studio ambience and space); and last but not least, transparency, the quality of being able to see into the studio, where there is plenty of musical information to be revealed in this sophisticated recording.

Here is a more comprehensive breakdown of what we were listening for when evaluating a Hippie Folk Rock album such as this.

What We’re Listening For on Souvenirs

• 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 for the guitars and drums, 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 musicians 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

Part Of The Plan
Illinois
Changing Horses
Better Change
Souvenirs
The Long Way

Side Two

As The Raven Flies
Song From Half Mountain
Morning Sky
(Someone’s Been) Telling You Stories
There’s A Place In The World For A Gambler

AMG  Review

On his second album, Dan Fogelberg expanded slightly on his sparse, countrified folk sound, adding a distinctively more pop feel, thanks to help from producer Joe Walsh. Songs like “Illinois” and “Long Way” wouldn’t have been out of place on his debut, while “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler” highlighted Fogelberg’s growth as a songwriter.

Such growth was most evident on the rollicking, anthemic “Part of the Plan,” a buoyant, radio-friendly pop hit that brought Fogelberg to a larger audience and, at the time, easily placed him alongside such California hitmakers as Joni Mitchell, the Eagles, and Jackson Browne. “As the Raven Flies” revealed Fogelberg to be capable of making edgy, guitar-driven rock and exhibited his range as a vocalist.