More Duane Eddy
More Living Stereo Recordings
- Duane Eddy’s 1965 release makes its Hot Stamper debut here with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one and an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side two
- We guarantee the sound is dramatically bigger, richer, fuller, and livelier than any Duane Eddy you have ever heard
- Not many of the man’s records survived in audiophile playing condition, but this one did
- A superb pressing with energy and presence that positively JUMPS out of the speakers, two of the qualities that we prize most highly in our Hot Stampers, and two of things among many that Heavy Vinyl does so poorly
- “Every song is enjoyable. Most of the album is fun and peppy, with a few slower tunes thrown in, like ‘Last Date’ and ‘Theme from a Summer Place.'”
This vintage RCA Victor pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely 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 the band, 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 Twangin’ The Golden Hits 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 1965
- 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 studio space
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 Twangin’ The Golden Hits
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren’t “back there” somewhere, lost in the mix. They’re front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.
- 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 so common to these LPs.
- Tight punchy bass — which ties in with good transient information, also 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 instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Rebel Rouser
Raunchy
Shangri-la
Last Date
Honky Tonk
Theme From “A Summer Place”
Side Two
Tequila
Stranger On The Shore
More (Theme From “Mondo Cane”)
The River Kwai March
Swingin’ Shepherd Blues
Rumble
rateyourmusic.com Review
Every song is enjoyable. Most of the album is fun and peppy, with a few slower tunes thrown in, like “Last Date” and “Theme from a Summer Place”. WARNING! I think most would be disappointed by the fact that (I think) the bigger Duane hits on this album (“Rebel Rouser” obviously) are remakes of his originals. Oh well. I didn’t grow up in that era, and I like these versions fine.
Best song: “Honky Tonk”. This shuffle rocks on for 6 minutes (unusual for pop/rock in the early/mid ’60’s) and is perfect from beginning to its explosive ending. Again, admittedly, I don’t know the original by Bill Doggett. While it is undoubtedly a classic, I simply love Duane’s version.
Other highlights include “Raunchy”, “Rumble”, and the light “Swingin’ Shepherd’s Blues”. Oh, you’ve got to love the gold bars on the cover. The wood grain shows a little too clearly through the gold paint…funny.
-linkst3r