Month: May 2021

The Pretenders – Learning To Crawl

More of The Pretenders

More Women Who Rock

  • A superb pressing of the band’s third studio album with Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from start to finish – just shy of our Shootout Winner – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • It takes years to get a shootout for this album going – three to five is my best guess, so get while the gettin’s good if you’re a fan of the most muscular rock album this band ever recorded
  • Both sides of this (very specific and hard to find) import pressing were richer, clearer and more energetic than virtually any of the others we played
  • With Robbie McIntosh having joined the band, this is first and foremost a guitar rock record – his brilliant, jangly, grungy riffs drive every song
  • 5 stars: “Three albums into her recording career, Chrissie Hynde found herself having to put the past to bed and carve out a new beginning for herself with Learning to Crawl, but she pulled it off with a striking mixture of courage, strength, and great rock & roll; with the exception of the instant-classic debut album, it’s the Pretenders’ finest work.”

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Dusty Springfield / Dusty In Memphis – Our Shootout Winner from 2011

The Gold Standard for Female Vocal Blue-Eyed Soul is here in White Hot Stamper form! It takes us AGES to pull together enough clean copies to get this shootout going, and this one was a HUGE step up from most of them. We’re always looking for a killer pressing (who out there doesn’t want to hear Son Of A Preacher Man sound great?) but it is difficult to find one that does half as many things right as this one does!

Most copies of this album are noisy, and unfortunately this one is no exception. It can get pretty ticky at times, so if that’s going to drive you crazy this may not be the one for you. If that’s not a problem though, this could be your best chance to get great sonics at a substantial discount! (If we ever find a copy that sounds this good and plays quietly, I guarantee it would cost at LEAST twice as much!). This record was picked as the #9 coolest record of all time in the April 11, 2002 issue of Rolling Stone and chosen by Mojo Magazine as one of the best 100 albums ever released. The All Music Guide review linked above is especially insightful and well worth reading.

Side one is a HUGE step up over most we’ve heard. It’s WAY richer and fuller, WAY bigger, and has possibly the best bottom end we’ve ever heard for this album! The sweet, extended top end here does wonders for Dusty’s voice as well. We rated side one at A+++, and I doubt there are many out there that can compete with it.

Side two may not be quite as stunning at A++, but it still runs circles around the typical pressing. It’s got the top end extension and presence you really need if you want the vocals to sound their best. Just a touch more clarity and this side could very well be competitive with the elites! (more…)

Why M&K Direct to Disc Recordings Rarely Sound Right to Us

 Hot Stamper Pressings of Direct-to-Disc Recordings Available Now

This album was recorded on location. The only other M&K Direct to Disc recording that I like was also recorded on location.

Most of the M&K Direct to Discs were recorded in the showroom of the stereo store that Miller and Kreisel owned, which, like any showroom, was carpeted and draped.

This is why almost all their records sound “dead.” This was their intention, of course. They wanted the sound to be “live” in your living room.

I prefer to hear the kind of ambience that would be found in a real location, and so I have never been much of a fan of their label.

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Is Damn The Torpedoes on MCA Audiophile LP Bright Enough For You?

More of the Music of Tom Petty

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Tom Petty

On this pressing it sure is. If your stereo is dull, dull, deadly dull, this company’s remastering approach, like many of the CBS Half-Speeds, will fix your lack of high end.

A perfect example of Stone Age Audio Thinking – a bright record to fix a dark system.

The only problem is, what happens when you put together a better system, one that’s tonally correct?

Then you will have to get rid of your old record collection and start over, right?

So get your stereo right before you go wasting lots of money on phony sounding records.

And most of the Heavy Vinyl pressings being made today are every bit as bad, but the tonality mistakes are simply reversed. The bass is boosted and the top is too smooth.

Why can’t these ridiculous audiophile labels make up their minds? Should records be bright or dull? Pick a lane!

Tune your system to that crap and you will find yourself in the real predicament down the road, assuming you ever get your stereo working right. Having a collection full of modern remasterings will make any progress in audio that much more difficult to achieve.

Or you could just buy one of these to play your bright records. Problem solved.

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Traffic – Welcome to the Canteen

More Traffic

More Steve Winwood

  • You’ll find outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on this UK copy of the band’s first live album
  • Forget the dubby domestic pressings and whatever crappy Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – these imports are the only way to fly
  • 4 stars: “… the playing was exemplary, and the set list was an excellent mixture of old Traffic songs and recent Mason favorites. “Dear Mr. Fantasy” got an extended workout, and the capper was a rearranged version of Steve Winwood’s old Spencer Davis Group hit “Gimme Some Lovin’.” …Welcome to the Canteen’s status as only a semi-legitimate offering was emphasized by the release of The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. But that doesn’t make it any less appealing as a summing up of the Winwood/Mason/Traffic musical world.”

This vintage Island import 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. (more…)

Stan Getz / Luiz Bonfa – Jazz Samba Encore!

More Stan Getz

More Antonio Carlos Jobim

More Bossa Nova

  • This superb collaboration debuts with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish and ’60s vinyl that’s about as quiet as any we can find
  • Smooth, full-bodied and Tubey Magical, the brilliant Ray Hall engineered this Demo Disc using an All Tube chain back in 1963, and it’s glorious to hear that sound reproduced on modern hi-rez equipment
  • 4 stars: ” Getz relies mostly upon native Brazilians for his backing. Thus, the soft-focused grooves are considerably more attuned to what was actually coming out of Brazil at the time… Two bona fide giants, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá (who gets co-billing), provide the guitars and all of the material, and Maria Toledo contributes an occasional throaty vocal.”

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Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell

More Black Sabbath

More Rock Classics

  • Sabbath’s first album with Dio finally makes its Hot Stamper debut, with outstanding Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides
  • With Martin Birch (Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple) producing, the band put their recent bad albums with Ozzy behind them to record this 4 1/2 Star return to form
  • Forget whatever Heavy Vinyl LP they’re making these days – if you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of this Heavy Metal Classic from 1980, a vintage pressing like this one is the way to go
  • “The Sabs found a worthy replacement in former Elf and Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio, and bounced back to issue their finest album since the early ’70s… The band sounds reborn and re-energized throughout… One of Sabbath’s finest records. “

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Glazunov / Violin Concerto – A Classic Records Winner

Hot Stamper Pressings with Jascha Heifetz Performing

Hot Stamper Pressings Featuring the Violin

This is a 180g Classic LP with very good sound, the best of the violin concertos Classic has released to date and one of the best Classic Records classical titles ever.

It’s one of the early 180 pressings which tend to be quieter than the later 200 gram pressings.

The Classic Records Liner Notes say:

Original pressings of this late Heifetz/Hendl/CSO performance tend to be edgy, which has been remedied on this reissue through cutting directly from the three-track masters by Bernie Grundman. Grundman has also tuned the balance between Heifetz and the Orchestra to better integrate the phenomenal bowing and intonation that Heifetz is famous for with the power of the Chicago Symphony. Another 10++ performance and recording – not to be missed! 

FURTHER READING

Classic Records – Classical (more…)

The Curtis Counce Group – Volume 1 – Landslide

More Contemporary Label Jazz

More Jack Sheldon


  • A STUNNING copy of the group’s 1956 release with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • The clarity and transparency on this vintage pressing are wonderful, but more importantly it’s the unerringly correct tonality that’s most impressive when you play these real Contemporary pressings against the competition
  • Yet another amazing All Tube Contemporary recording from Roy DuNann and Lester Koenig at the beginning of the stereo era
  • 4 1/2 stars: “During 1956-1957, bassist Curtis Counce led an excellent Los Angeles-based hard bop quintet… All of Counce’s recordings are well-worth getting by collectors [and especially audiophiles] interested in 1950s straight-ahead jazz [with top quality sound].”

Jack Sheldon is absolutely amazing and completely original on trumpet here. Check out his stellar work on the first track, Landslide. Not only that, but the sound of his instrument is wonderful — you’ll never hear a trumpet sound so rich and full on a Rudy Van Gelder recording, that’s for sure!

Both sides are over twenty minutes, giving you a lot of well-played West Coast Jazz for your money. (more…)

Four Tops – Reach Out

Another Record We’ve Discovered with (Potentially) Excellent Sound

  • A stunning copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from the first note to the last
  • Both sides here are incredibly clean, clear and lively with a punchy bottom and and plenty of space
  • “… it’s one of the best Four Tops records of the ’60s… Reach Out still did better than any other original LP by the group, almost breaking the Top Ten.” – All Music

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