The Music of Sonny Rollins Available Now
Our last White Hot Stamper Gold Label Mono pressing went for big bucks, 900 of them in fact.
Of course, a clean original goes for many times that, which is one reason you have never seen such a record on our site.
How much would we have to charge for a Hot Stamper pressing of an album we paid many thousands of dollars for? Far more than our customers would be willing to pay us, that’s for sure.
You Say You Don’t Have Nine Hundred Bucks for This Album?
Try the DCC pressing from 1995.
The DCC Heavy Vinyl pressing is probably a nice record. I haven’t played it in many years, but I remember liking it back in the day.
It’s dramatically better than the ’80s OJC, which, like many OJC pressings, is thin, hard, tizzy up top and devoid of Tubey Magic. (We have many reviews of OJC pressings on this very blog for those who are interested.)
I would be surprised if the DCC Gold CD isn’t even better than their vinyl pressing.
They usually are.
Steve Hoffmann brilliantly mastered many classic albums for DCC. I like DCC’s CDs much better than their records.
Their records did not have to fight their way through Kevin Gray’s opaque, airless, low-rez, modern transistor cutting system, a subject we discussed in some depth here.
Side One
St. Thomas
You Don’t Know What Love Is
Strode Rode
Side Two
Moritat
Blue Seven
AMG Review
Sonny Rollins recorded many memorable sessions during 1954-1958, but Saxophone Colossus is arguably his finest all-around set. Joined by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Max Roach, Rollins debuts and performs the definitive version of “St. Thomas,” tears into the chord changes of “Mack the Knife” (here called “Moritat”), introduces “Strode Rode,” is lyrical on “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” and constructs a solo on “Blue Seven” that practically defines his style. Essential music that, as with all of Rollins’ Prestige recordings, has also been reissued as part of a huge “complete” box set; listeners with a tight budget are advised to pick up this single disc and be amazed.
Further Reading