Month: May 2021

Company Better Records Searches and Sells Most the Best Prints of Vinyl Albums!

Most the Best Prints of Vinyl Albums Available Now!

Years ago we were contacted by a Russian reporter who wanted to do a story on Better Records and our Hot Stampers. How could we possibly turn down the chance to spread the word to our liberated friends on the other side of the world about these amazing sounding pressings?

Note that the key feature of the article is how high the prices are. This is apparently big news in Russia, yes?

The full newspaper page shows three records, each of which is many hundreds of dollars. Crazy Americans? Maybe so, but we say put that on your revolving object and spin it if you don’t believe these are the most musical records. You will see that each cent spent for them is justified.

SOUND AND COLOR

Selectors from California

Company Better Records searches and sells most the best prints of classical vinyl albums

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Elvis Presley / Elvis Is Back! – Our Shootout Winner from 2015

More of the Music of Elvis Presley

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Elvis Presley

For those who wish to find their own Hot Stamper pressings of the album, we say more power to you. Our helpful advice can be found at the bottom of the listing,

What a great Elvis album. Fever is the killer jam on the first side and the material throughout is of very high quality.

Finding clean real Elvis records — not those crappy compilations and vault-leftovers, but real Elvis albums from his golden period when he was the true King of Pop (sorry Michael) — has never been a walk in the park. We do the best we can.

Fortunately there are some reissues from the ’60s and ’70s that have the potential for excellent sound. This is no doubt one of them. The originals we see are pretty much a lost cause; they’re practically always scratched and full of groove damage. We’d be lucky to find one clean one every five years. (more…)

Bridge Over Muddy MoFi Water

More of the Music of Simon and Garfunkel

This pressing is the poster boy for muddy sound.

Naturally, it has to be one of the worst sounding versions of the album ever made.

It was mastered by Jack Hunt, a man we know to be responsible for some of the thickest, dullest, most dead MoFi crimes against good sound from their shameful catalog.

(The CBS Half-Speed is actually quite good by the way.)

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Ray Bryant Trio – Con Alma

More Ray Bryant Trio

More Vintage Columbia Pressings

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

  • This 6 Eye Stereo original copy of Bryan’s superb 1961 release offers outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides
  • Impossibly rare on the original label in stereo with audiophile playing surfaces, this superb Columbia 30th Street Studio recording has that “Time Out” sound we love, so spacious and natural
  • Full-bodied and warm, exactly the way you want your vintage analog to sound – the piano is surprisingly real here — solid and dynamic
  • “… one of pianist Ray Bryant’s favorite trio records. Supported by either Bill Lee or Arthur Harper on bass and drummer Mickey Roker, Bryant is typically soulful, swinging and reasonably explorative…”
  • “Ray Bryant ranks this album, along with his Prestige/New Jazz release Alone With The Blues, as his two favorites and who could argue with him: they are both great albums.”

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Jesse Colin Young – Together

  • Together returns to the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • The sound here is richer, fuller, more musical and more natural – Young’s breathy voice is reproduced with a solidity and immediacy that’s not easy to find on vinyl
  • As an eclectic collection of both covers and original material, this album showcases Jesse’s versatility and expansive artistic range
  • “[Young] played favorite songs from a variety of genres… Having covered those bases, Young also introduced some timely originals, such as “Peace Song,” an anti-war anthem, and “Good Times,” which was very reminiscent of the rustic sound Van Morrison had found recently on such albums as Tupelo Honey.”

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Wes Montgomery – California Dreaming

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

  • This excellent Wes Montgomery title returns to the site for the first time in two years with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one and outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on side two
  • Both sides here are OUT OF THIS WORLD, incredibly big, bold, clear, rich and dynamic – this is DEMO DISC Quality Big Production Guitar-led Jazz
  • Credit goes to Rudy Van Gelder once again for the huge space that the superbly well-recorded group occupies
  • Forget the critics, this is one of Wes’s Best Albums of All Time I tell you!

This White Hot Stamper has the REAL Wes Montgomery/ Creed Taylor/ Rudy Van Gelder MAGIC in its grooves. You will not believe how big, rich and full-bodied this pressing is. Since this is one of Wes’s best albums, hearing this incredible White Hot copy was a THRILL for us and we’re sure it will be as big a thrill for you too.

As Good As It Gets Sound

So natural, transparent and clear. Listen to all the space around the guitar. (On the Cisco you might hear 20% of that space. That’s Heavy Vinyl for you. What a load of crap.)

Beware any and all imitations (even the one I used to like somewhat, the Cisco version). They barely BEGIN to convey the qualities of the real master tape the way this pressing does. This White Hot Stamper exhibits huge amounts of ambience and spaciousness, with far more energy and the kind of “see into the studio” quality that only the real thing ever seems to have. (more…)

Resolution and Warmth Are Key to the Best Pressings of Stardust

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Willie Nelson Available Now

This copy is hi-res without sacrificing the analog warmth that makes the recording exceptional, especially for one from 1978.

Georgia On My Mind is a DEMO QUALITY track on this album. You aren’t going to believe all the ambience. The top end is gorgeous — sweet, delicate, and silky with loads of extension. The sound is extremely hi-res without sacrificing any of the warmth that makes this music so special.

Just listen to the rimshots and the bell in Georgia On My Mind — we guarantee you have NEVER heard those instruments sound so present, clear, and immediate. 

Willie’s voice is natural and tonally correct, with all the breathy texture you could ever hope to hear. The acoustic guitars and Booker T.’s organ are perfection.

Awareness

Many copies of this album suffer from an phony hi-fi-ish quality (which is probably the reason why Stardust made the TAS List in the first place). You’ve got to play a big stack of copies to come up with a pressing that offers this kind of relaxed, natural sound. That’s our job here at Better Records — playing bad records so you don’t have to.

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Miles Davis – Water Babies

More Miles Davis

  • This superb compilation album makes its Hot Stamper debut here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout
  • Tubier, more transparent, more dynamic, with that “jumpin’ out of the speakers” quality that only The Real Thing (an old record) ever has
  • Huge amounts of three-dimensional space and ambience, along with boatloads of Tubey Magic – here’s a 30th Street recording from 1967 and 1968 that demonstrates just how good Columbia’s engineers were back then
  • “Time has revealed this band to be as daring and fascinating as any in the long Davis career, and Water Babies contains some of its best music. There is simply so much happening here; hear it.”

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The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet / Free Jazz – “A staggering achievement.”

More Ornette Coleman

More Five Star Albums Available Now

  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • Tubier, more present, more alive, with more of that “jumpin’ right out of the speakers” quality that only The Real Thing (The Real Thing being an Old Record) ever has
  • 5 stars: “As jazz’s first extended, continuous free improvisation LP, Free Jazz practically defies superlatives in its historical importance. . . Jazz had long prided itself on reflecting American freedom and democracy and, with Free Jazz, Coleman simply took those ideals to the next level. A staggering achievement.”

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Muddy Waters – Muddy, Brass & The Blues

More Muddy Waters

  • This pressing of Muddy, Brass & The Blues offers outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Copies that are this open, clear, and resolving are the ones that present the music as it was meant to be heard
  • Waters blends the blues with R&B elements on this superb album, one that’s nearly impossible to find with sound this good and surfaces this quiet
  • “Stripped of his guitar once again (the cover photo notwithstanding), Waters proved what a great R&B singer he was — there are moments on this album where he almost crosses over into Otis Redding territory.”

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