Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of James Taylor Available Now
The good copies really rock on songs like I Was Only Telling A Lie, yet have lovely transparent, delicate sound on the ballads, songs such as Another Grey Morning or There We Are.
Just turn up the volume and play the opening to Honey Don’t Leave L.A. — this is James Taylor and his super-tight studio band at the peak of their powers. Russ Kunkel hits the drum twice, then clicks his sticks together so quickly you can hardly notice it, then goes back to the drums for the rest of the intro. On a superb copy like this one, the subtleties of his performance are clearly on display.
Until copies like this one came along, we had never even noticed that stick trick. Now it’s the high point of the whole intro.
Sound and Music
As audiophiles, we all know that sound and music are inseparable. In our shootout, after dropping the needle on a dozen or so copies, all originals by the way, we know when the music is working its magic and when it’s not.
As with any pop album, there are always some songs that sound better than others, but when you find yourself marvelling at how well-written and well-produced a song is, you know that the sound is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s communicating the Musical Values of the material.
The most important of all these musical values is energy, and boy do the best copies of JT have it going on.
Val Garay is the man behind so many of our favorite recordings: JT (a Top 100 title), Simple Dreams (also a Top 100 title), Andrew Gold, Prisoner In Disguise, etc.
They all share his trademark super-punchy, jump-out-the-speakers, rich and smooth analog sound.
With big drums — can’t forget those. (To be clear, only the best copies share it. Most copies only hint at it.)
I don’t think Mr Garay gets anything like his due with audiophiles and the reviewers who write for them. This is a shame; the guy makes Demo Disc quality pop records about as good as those kinds of records can be made.
If you have a big speaker system that really rocks, you owe it to yourself to get to know his work. This is truly a knockout disc if you have the equipment designed to play it.
We do, and it’s records like this that make the effort and expense of building a full-range dynamic system worthwhile.
The Best Later James Taylor Music
Musically this is one of Taylor’s best. Every track is at least good and many are wonderful. There are five or six James Taylor records that are Desert Island Discs for me. I know they probably wouldn’t let me take six of the same artists’ records to my island, but I would hope they would make an exception for James Taylor, because his albums really do set a standard that few other popular musicians can meet.
Start with Sweet Baby James, the first album (which we can’t find for you because only the British ones sound good and they are just to hard to find in clean condition) and JT.
The next group to pursue would contain Mud Slide Slim, One Man Dog and Dad Loves His Work, and then maybe Flag.
Demo Disc Quality Sound
This is a true Demo Disc in the areas of sound listed below. Other records with these important qualities can be seen by clicking on any of these links.
Further Reading
- More records that are good for testing energy
- More records that are good for testing dynamics
- More reviews, commentaries and letters for albums engineered by Val Garay
