Month: April 2021

Crosby Stills & Nash – Classic Records Reviewed

crosbcrosb_new

More of the Music of Crosby, Stills and Nash

Reviews and Commentaries for Crosby, Stills and Nash’s Debut

More Crosby / More Stills / More Nash

Sonic Grade: B-

Nice enough I suppose, but where’s the Midrange Magic?

The Classic 180g version was a revelation when it came out years ago. Bernie actually cut it pretty darn right. However, his mastering chain cannot compete with the one used on the best original pressings.

The evidence for this is overwhelming. There simply is no Bernie-Grundman-cut record that is the equal of the best pressings not cut on his current chain that I have heard over the years.

His old cutting system, the one that cut Stardust and Blue and much of the Contemporary catalog, was KILLER. Wonder what happened to it?

Having said that, the Classic version gets you 70-75% of the way there and gives you quiet vinyl to boot, so it must be appreciated for what it is: a very good reissue, maybe even the best one Classic ever made. But not the real thing. Not even close. (more…)

Liszt / The Virtuoso Liszt / Graffman

More of the music of Franz Liszt (1811-1880)

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

3s/ 1s. While solo piano and RCA vinyl are not a match made in heaven, this LP nevertheless has many fine qualities and is worth owning.

Extremely rare and enjoyable. Not the best Living Stereo sound, probably would earn a grade of B or so.

The Beach Boys – Sunflower

More Beach Boys

  • A KILLER copy of Sunflower with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last
  • This pressing is surprisingly rich and smooth, with excellent bass and the kind of breathy immediacy to the vocals that only vintage vinyl can offer
  • 4 1/2 stars: “[Sunflower] signaled a creative rebirth for the band, a return to the beautiful harmonies and orchestral productions of their classic mid-’60s material.”

This album — like Surf’s Up, which was released just after it — can really sound wonderful on a good pressing. If you love Pet Sounds, you’ll find plenty of the Beach Boys’ signature harmonies here, all recorded with real richness and warmth. (more…)

John McLaughlin / Extrapolation – Our Shootout Winner from 2013

INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND DYNAMIC DEMO QUALITY SOUND THROUGHOUT! If you’re looking for a jazz-fusion guitar album that will wake your system up (and show off its best qualities to boot), this is the hot ticket right here. We had been slowly compiling various pressings for a big shootout for ages, and we finally let it rip recently. This was one of the most impressive pressings, earning an A++ on side one and an A+++ on side two. If you’re a fan of ’70s Miles Davis or the Birds Of Fire album, you probably already know that you need this in your collection!  (more…)

Ella Fitzgerald – Whisper Not

More Ella Fitzgerald

  • Big, balanced, lively and musical, these two sides had some of the best sound we heard in our most recent shootout
  • Superb engineering from the man behind so many great sounding Verve records, Val Valentin
  • “These fine-tuned arrangements also provide the perfect launching pad for Fitzgerald to place her own stamp on material associated with other singers.”

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Jackson Browne – Running On Empty

More Jackson Browne

  • You’ll find outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides of this Grammy-nominated release
  • Packed with previously unreleased songs, this live followup to The Pretender was an even bigger hit than that album
  • A hard record to find with audiophile quality sound – this is one of the few copies to ever hit the site
  • “…as impressed as I am with Jackson Browne’s art, I’m even more impressed with the humanity that shines through it.” — Rolling Stone Magazine

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Poco Produced Their Masterpiece of Country Prog Rock in 1970

More Country and Country Rock

Poco’s second album is an unusual blend of country-rock, with some long, jazzy instrumental breaks that center around Rusty Young’s pedal steel, which doesn’t sound like any pedal steel guitar you’ve ever heard. It’s played with a wah-wah pedal and, if that wasn’t enough, the resulting sound is sent through a Leslie organ speaker.

We know it sounds crazy, but it really works. There is nothing else like it on record, nothing that we’ve ever heard anyway.

Country Prog Rock

Most of side two is taken up by a single track, Nobody’s Fool / El Tonto de Nadie, Regresa. It’s a suite in which the band stretches out instrumentally in a somewhat proggy way, although one could make the case that Bluegrass music is all about “stretching out instrumentally.” (more…)

George Benson / Bad Benson

More of the Music of George Benson

More Recordings Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder

White Hot Stamper sound on side two, which means this copy has the power to show you just how well-recorded the album really is, and how much energy and drive there is to both the sound and the music.

No other side of any copy earned the full Three Plus White Hot grade, so this is a very special side indeed. [Now that we are much better at our jobs — see the advice at the end of this review — this happens only a few times a year.]

Side Two

A+++, the best side of any side we played. So clear, transparent and high-rez, yet rich and tonally correct from top to bottom, this is the kind of sound we call Hard To Fault (HTF).

Side One

A+ to A++, a bit fat and smeary, but since that’s pretty much the sound of most tube equipment, it’s still very musical and enjoyable (as is most tube equipment). The details aren’t there, but the thrust of the music comes through just fine.

We didn’t run into any awful CTI originals the way we do with the typical rock record from the ’70s, but it’s the rare copy that has a real top end, or much in the way of transparency, or freedom from smear. This copy has all three, without any sacrifice in richness or Tubey Magic.

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Grant Green – Green Is Beautiful

Hot Stamper Blue Note Albums Available Now

  • Green Is Beautiful finally arrives on the site, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • A copy like this is a real audiophile treat – here is the punchy, clear, natural and lively sound you want for Green Is Beautiful
  • Forget whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl they’re making – the Tubey Magic, size and rock and roll energy of this very special vintage pressing simply cannot be beat
  • Rudy Van Gelder was masterful at this kind of spacious, low-distortion, dynamic, energetic sound
  • “Green Is Beautiful is still explicitly commercial and accessible to non-jazz audiences, and (purist objections notwithstanding) that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

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