More of the Music of Alice Cooper
The last White Hot Stamper copy we put up had the two best sides back to back we heard in our shootout, with a killer side two that really brought this music to life.
Which is not easy to do, given that the average copy of this album is a sonic mess —
There are a lot of green label Warner Bros. records from the 70s that sound like that, one might even call it their “house sound.”
When you play most of the later pressings, it’s obvious that they’ve gone overboard in cleaning up the murk, leaving a sound that is lean, flat and modern — in other words, unmusical, inapt and more often than not disastrous.
Finding the right balance of fullness and clarity, especially on this album, may not be easy, but it can be done. This side two was far and away the best we heard and proves that the album can sound good.
Part of the problem is the experimental nature of the recording itself. Wikipedia notes:
The first recording sessions for the album took place in Greenwich, Connecticut in a mansion called the Galecie Estate. To achieve certain vocal sounds and echoes, microphones were run through rooms of various sizes and a greenhouse. Others sessions were held at Morgan Studios in London, where singer Donovan contributed to the album by singing on its title track.
The overall sound of this album is BIG and powerful. It’s just a bit messier than we would have liked, no doubt the result of the sonic experimentation and multiple studios used.
Notes from Our 2010 Shootout
Side Two
We call this side two Master Tape Sound, it being so much better than any other copy. Finally it has real dynamics, an extended top end, plenty of deep bass and weight down low, clear vocals — all without sacrificing the Tubey Magical Richness that we know must be on the tape. No other copy on either side managed to balance such a wonderful combination of analog qualities.
It took us about two years to find enough clean copies to do this shootout, and records like this are getting harder to find every day, so the next shootout will probably have to wait for 2014 or 2015, and even then I will be surprised if any of them sound better than this side two. (Of course some copy actually will sound better, because the stereo will be better by then. We work on it all the time and it gets better every year. But finding another copy this good? I wonder if that’s really in the cards.)
Side One
This is also the best side one we played in our shootout, but the sound is not quite up to the standards set by side two, so the highest grade we are giving out for side one is A++, Super Hot Stamper sound.
It has basically all the same qualities we found on side two, just not as much of them. For example, this side one has more top end than other copies, but not as much top end as is found on side two.
It was one of the few copies that managed to get any real three-dimensional space in the soundfield, bringing the vocal up front, with the rest of the band arrayed behind Alice from wall to wall.
Want to find your own top quality copy?
Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that tend to win our shootouts.
This record has been sounding its best for many years this way: