Month: February 2021

Donovan – A Gift From a Flower To a Garden

More Donovan

  • An outstanding copy with Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on side three mated with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to in for sides one, two, and four
  • This copy has real depth to the soundfield, full-bodied, present vocals, plenty of bottom end weight, and lovely analog warmth
  • Wear Your Love Like Heaven is superb here – rich, natural and relaxed
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… stands out as a prime artifact of the flower-power era that produced it… the sheer range of subjects and influences make this a surprisingly rewarding work.”

*NOTE: On side three, Track 5, The Mandolin Man And His Secret, plays closer to EX++.

This is a longtime Better Records favorite for both music and sound. It may not be one of the more popular titles we do our unique shootouts for, but for those of you who love folky, acoustic guitar pop — we often call it Hippie Folk Rock — you should find a lot to like about this album.

Tubey Magical Acoustic Guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).

Natural vocal reproduction is absolutely key for this album. Many copies had “hyped-up” phony sound — fine for the old consoles and radios of the day (1967) but not too enjoyable on the modern, much more revealing rigs we use today. The tonality of the midrange — where the guitars and vocals are found of course — must be correct for this music to work. This copy really gets it right! (more…)

The ARC SP3A-1 Tube Preamp – A Giant Leap Forward for Me, Circa 1975

Our Playback System (and Why You Shouldn’t Care)

A blast from the past about the single most revolutionary change I made to my system in the 70s.

In the commentary below I talk about buying the Audio Research SP3A-1 tube preamp (with built-in phono stage, as was the rule in those days). The difference it made in the ability of my system to reproduce the subtle complexities of my favorite music was completely beyond my imagination after having spent my early days listening through transistors.

Naturally, my ability to enjoy music increased dramatically as well. It wasn’t long before I was obsessed.

I was running Crown gear at the time, the DC-300 amp and the IC-150 preamp, so you can imagine that owning a state-of-the-art tube preamp was a real game changer for me.

We talk a lot about Tubey Magic on the site and on this blog. This preamp is the very definition of that sound.

Listening for Tubey Magic was simply not possible until we had electronics that could reproduce it, and the ARC equipment of that day had the best balance of Tubey Magic with clarity and freedom from smear that money could buy.

You could call my old Crown system BTM (Before Tubey Magic) and my new Audio Research-based system WTM (With Tubey Magic) if you wanted to be cute about it.

Now we provide the same life-chaning experiences to the audiophiles of the world through our Hot Stamper pressings. Better sound than they ever imagined. It’s practically our credo.

(more…)

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Modern Sounding Stampers?

More of the Music of Elton John

Some British copies on some sides sound too much like a modern reissue; they lack weight and tend to be too “clean” sounding.

We take serious points off when records sound modern, a sound the current spate of reissues cannot get away from and one of the main reasons we gave up on them many, many years ago.

Not our thing, sorry.

All the other major audiophile record dealers sell that junk, so if you like that sound you will have no trouble finding plenty of titles that offer it. It frankly bores us to tears.

Why do audiophiles like the sound of records that sound like good CDs? We like to play records that sound like good records. We like records that sound so real that we can forget that we’re even listening to a record.

Dixie Chicken – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Little Feat Available Now

White Hot Stamper sound on side two — yes, it is possible, and this very copy is Proof with a capitol P.

Most copies of this album sound like cardboard, especially the later pressings on the palm tree and tan labels.

To get the best sound you need originals of this album, and Warner Brothers green label originals are getting pretty darn hard to find as more and more collectors and audiophiles are coming to the realization that the unending stream of heavy vinyl reissues flooding the market leaves a lot to be desired. (Our desire for them is at zero as we no longer bother to order the stuff.)

Folks, this is no demo disc by any means, but the later pressings strip away the two qualities that really make this music work and bring it to life: Tubey Magic and Big Bass. This side two has both in SPADES.

Listen to how breathy and transparent the chorus is on the first track. Now layer that sound on top of a fat and punchy bottom end and you have the formula for Little Feat Magic at its funky best. This is the sound they heard in the control room, of that I have no doubt, and it is all over this side two. No side of any copy we played was better.

This is A Triple Plus As Good As It Gets Little Feat Sound, the best we have ever heard for any of the early albums.

That WB Sound

Side one earned a grade of A+ to A++. It lacked the top end that lets the sound open up in the choruses, a very common problem with early WB pressings which have a marked tendency to be dull. (We know; we’ve played them by the hundreds, from Deep Purple to the Doobie Brothers to America to Van Morrison and scores of others too numerous to mention. There are ten dull WB pressings for every one that’s bright. )

The bass is excellent and the piano really sounds right on Dixie Chicken, but when you flip the record over you will hear what it could have sounded like (and practically never does).

(more…)

Johnny Hammond / Wild Horses Rock Steady

You’ll find Super Hot Stamper sound on this side one, with a side two nearly its equal, making it a Top Copy of one of our most recent CTI/Kudu “discoveries”. Who knew that so many of these CTI records were recorded so well? Does anyone in the audiophile community bother to talk about superb original pressings such as this other than us? Does music that’s currently not available on a heavy vinyl reissue simply cease to exist? I remember a time not that long ago when reviewers for the audiophile mags encouraged their readers to seek out wonderful records such as this. That time has long since passed, and more’s the pity.

With Rudy Van Gelder at the board, Bob James doing the arrangements, and supporting players such as Airto, Billy Cobham, Ron Carter (who has played on more than 2500 albums!), George Benson, Eric Gale, Grover Washington, Jr., Snooky Young and Pepper Adams, you’re sure to have another funky jazz winner on your hands.

And if you have a copy that sounds as good as this one, you definitely do!

If you love the sound of the Hammond B-3 and want to hear what somebody other than Jimmy Smith can do with it in a large group setting, this album should be right up your alley. (By the way, Smith’s Bashin’ is one of our all time favorite jazz albums, one that belongs in your collection.) (more…)

Stravinsky / Song of the Nightingale / Dorati

More of the Music of Igor Stravinsky

Not sure with what pressing we wrote about this album many years ago:

I believe you’ll find that Mercury’s sonics are superior to RCA’s for this music, and I prefer Dorati’s interpretation over Reiner’s as well. 

Now we prefer Ansermet’s.

This is an Older Classical/Orchestral Review

Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we started developing in the early 2000s and have since turned into a veritable science.

We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the Sonic Grades and Vinyl Playgrades are listed separately.)

We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.

Currently, 99% (or more!) of the records we sell are cleaned, then auditioned under rigorously controlled conditions, up against a number of other pressings. We award them sonic grades, and then condition check them for surface noise.

As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is why we currently have a highly trained staff of about ten. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us could ever come along to do the kind of work we do.

The term “Hot Stampers” gets thrown around a lot these days, but to us it means only one thing: a record that has been through the shootout process and found to be of exceptionally high quality.

The result of our labor is the hundreds of titles seen here, every one of which is unique and guaranteed to be the best sounding copy of the album you have ever heard or you get your money back.

The Norman Luboff Choir – Reverie with Demo Disc Quality Sound

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Albums

More Top Shelf Pressings

  • Reverie arrives on the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This pressing brings the big-as-life Norman Luboff Choir right into your listening room – Demo Disc Quality Sound barely begins to do it justice
  • If you have never heard one of these phenomenally Tubey Magical Columbia choir recordings, you may just have your mind blown by how much more natural and real the voices sound compared to anything released on vinyl in the last fifty years
  • Sure, some might call it corny White Bread music, but the sound is so enchanting you may actually find yourself back in 1959, lost in the glorious sound and music of another world

(more…)

Van Morrison – It’s Too Late To Stop Now

More Van Morrison

  • Outstanding sound for this live Van Morrison double album boasting outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades on all four sides
  • Fuller, livelier and more present than on practically any other copy we played, this is the kind of sound that will immerse you in a Morrison’s music like no other
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… he’s in stellar form throughout the double album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, a superb concert set that neatly summarizes his career… An engaging, warm portrait of the man at the peak of his powers.”

(more…)

Rediscovering Sonny Rollins’ Masterpiece with 4 Decades of Pressings

Hot Stampers of Sonny Rollins’ Albums in Stock

One of our good customers has started a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to a comparison he carried out with a few pressings of Sonny Rollins’ classic Saxophone Colossus, including the DCC, the OJC, and one of our Hot Stampers.

We will have some comments to add to his down the road. For now, please to enjoy.

SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS: 4 Decades of Pressings

Robert has approached the various problems he’s encountered methodically and carefully along these three fronts:

(more…)

Frank Sinatra – All Alone

More Frank Sinatra

  • A KILLER pressing of this Classic Sinatra release, and the first to hit the site in more than 5 years, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This is 1962, and tubes and ribbon mics are in charge of the live-in-the-studio proceedings
  • With a vintage early label pressing such as this one, you hear the kind of sound they heard
  • Richness, warmth, Tubey Magic, and clarity are important to the sound, and here you will find plenty of all four
  • “Divided between standards and relatively recent tunes, the most distinctive element of the album are the rich, neoclassical arrangements by Jenkins… a necessary listen for dedicated Sinatra fans.”

(more…)