More of Glyn Johns’ Best Recordings Available Now
Reviews and Commentaries for the Recordings of Glyn Johns
This album was produced by one of our very favorite engineers around here, Mr. Glyn Johns, the man behind tons of Better Records faves — Sticky Fingers, The Eagles’ 1st, Who’s Next, and many, many more.
The proper sound for a band like this is RAW AND ROCKIN.’ Any phony EQ or overproduction would really make a mess of what the band does here, which put simply is kickin’ out the jams. It would be fair to call these guys a bar band, but they’re the best darn bar band I’ve ever heard!
The best Faces pressings have amazing live-in-the-studio sound that somehow manages to convey the power of one of the hardest rockin’ bands of all time. What more can you ask for?
You won’t get a minute into this record before you’re blown away by all the ambience and echo. You can really hear the sound of the big room around these guys as they rock out. The vocals sound Right On The Money — smooth, but with all of the raspiness that Rod Stewart is famous for.
The drums are big and punchy and the guitars sound grungy and right.
The sound on both sides is open, spacious, and transparent — nothing like the muddy, congested sound we heard on most of what we played (all green label domestic originals – no reissue or import has ever won a shootout and we don’t really bother much with them anymore).
Here you will find none of the glossy artificiality you might hear on many of the rock records we sell — there’s nothing wrong with that sound, mind you, but this recording captures much more of what the real instruments sound like in the studio.
What to Listen For
Smoother and sweeter sound with less of the grit and congestion that plagues the average copy.
A bigger presentation – more size, more space, more room for all the instruments and voices to occupy. The bigger the speakers you have to play this record the better.
More bass and tighter bass. This is fundamentally a rock record. It needs weight down low to rock the way Glyn Johns wanted it to.
Present, breathy vocals. A veiled midrange is the rule, not the exception.
Good top end extension to reproduce the harmonics of the instruments and other details of the recording, especially the ambience of the space.
Last but not least, balance. All the elements from top to bottom should be heard in harmony with each other. Take our word for it, assuming you haven’t played a pile of these yourself, balance is not always easy to find.
Our best copies will have it though, of that there is no doubt.
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