More David Gilmour
More Pink Floyd
- An outstanding pressing of About Face with Double Plus (A++) sound from the first note to the last – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- Here you will find sound quality that is both cleaner and clearer, with much less grit and grain – richness is also key to these better copies
- We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard or you get your money back – it’s a simple as that
- 4 1/2 stars: “About Face is well-honed rock album that is riveting from beginning to end.”
This vintage Columbia 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.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.
What the Best Sides of About Face Have to Offer Is Not Hard to Hear
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes even as late as 1984
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
What We’re Listening For on About Face
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren’t “back there” somewhere, lost in the mix. They’re front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Tight punchy bass — which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Until We Sleep
Murder
Love On The Air
Blue Light
Out of the Blue
Side Two
All Lovers Are Deranged
You Know I’m Right
Cruise
Let’s Get Metaphysical
Near The End
AMG 4 1/2 Star Review
David Gilmour released his second solo venture in 1984, following the apparent dissolution of Pink Floyd. He had released a record on his own in 1978, but About Face is much more accessible.
Gilmour has a stellar band backing him, including Jeff Porcaro (drums), Pino Palladino (bass), and Anne Dudley (synthesizer).
The songs on About Face show a pop sensibility that Pink Floyd rarely was concerned with achieving. Although the album didn’t attract the attention of a Floyd release, several cuts did manage to get airplay. “Until We Sleep” is rife with shimmering synthesizers and cavernous drums, and “Blue Light” was a minor pop hit, with Gilmour’s trademark delay-drenched guitar giving way to a driving, horn-laced rocker. Pete Townshend wrote two of the tracks: “Love on the Air” and the propulsive “All Lovers Are Deranged.” Of course, there’s more than enough of Gilmour’s fluid guitar playing to satisfy, including the gorgeous “Murder,” a gentle acoustic track that explodes with some fiery organ by Steve Winwood and concludes with a fierce coda.
About Face is well-honed rock album that is riveting from beginning to end.