Month: October 2023

Stevie Wonder – The Secret Life of Plants

More Stevie Wonder

More Soul, Blues and R&B Albums

  • A superb copy of Wonder’s wonderful documentary soundtrack from 1979 with Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides
  • The sound here is bigger and livelier than on most other copies we played – above all it’s balanced, avoiding the tonality issues we heard on so many other pressings
  • “… there is beauty here. Stevie’s unquenchable desire for experimentation and love for melody are in full effect, and some of the magic and mystery of the botanic planet is evoked.”

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What Was Harry Up To in 1969?

More of the Music of Harry Nilsson

This forgotten gem sank like a stone in 1969, but time has treated this album well. It holds up to this very day. The production is superb throughout. Judging by this early album and the one before it, it appears he was already a pro in the studio, as well as an accomplished songwriter, and, most importantly, the owner of one of the sweetest tenors in popular music, then or now.

Harry checks off a few very important boxes for us here at Better Records:

What Were You Doing In 1969?

If the answer is “Recording an album of innocent, touching, and completely unironic pop music,”” well, you could only be Harry Nilsson.

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Listening in Depth to Off The Wall

More of the Music of Michael Jackson

On the better copies the multi-tracked chorus and background vocals are as breathy, rich, sweet and Tubey Magical as any pop recording we know of.

An extended top end opens up the space for the huge, dense production to occupy.

There is Midrange Magic To Die For, exceeding anything to be found on Thriller.

Side One

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

The first single from the album was designed to go to Number One and it certainly met all expectations in that regard.

On the properly mastered and pressed copies the vocals and percussion will be a bit brighter than those on most of the tracks that follow. The percussion is often somewhat brittle on even the best copies; it’s surely on the tape that way.

It should be big, clear and lively right out of the gate.

 Rock With You

The balancing act to the first track, Rock With You has some of the richest, smoothest, sweetest, most ANALOG sound on the entire album. There is no track on Thriller that sounds as Tubey Magical, assuming you have a top quality pressing.

As is always the case with rich and smooth sound, transparency is key. The sound should not be thick and dark, it should be both rich and clear.

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough gets hot in the higher frequencies with the volume cranked. Rock With You is just the opposite; the louder you play it the better — the more right — it sounds from top to bottom.

Working Day and Night
Get on the Floor

Side Two

Off the Wall

On the better copies the multi-tracked chorus and background vocals are as breathy, rich, sweet and Tubey Magical as any pop recording we know of. An extended top end opens up the space for the huge, dense production to occupy. There is Midrange Magic To Die For exceeding anything to be found on Thriller.

The top end at the start of a side is sometimes lacking so pay attention to see if more top end can be heard later on in the song.

Watch for smear on the horns. They are rich and smooth and on some copies their transient bite will get blurry.

Girlfriend

Girlfriend can achieve the status of a top Demo track on the better copies, no question about it. Turn it up to hear some of the biggest, tightest, most note-like bass on the album. The best copies pull off that monstrous bottom end without bloat, while maintaining some of the loveliest, most tubey rich mids on the album.

On the better copies the stage is wide and the vocals as breathy as on any track on the album. Potentially the Demo Disc track of side two.

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Hampton Hawes – All Night Session, Vol. 3

More Hampton Hawes

More Contemporary Label Jazz Recordings

  • Exceptional Demo Disc Sound on this STUNNING Contemporary Stereo LP boasting top grades on both sides
  • This is a textbook example of Contemporary sound at its best, with Tubey Magic, richness, sweetness, dead-on timbres from top to bottom thanks to the engineering brilliance of Roy DuNann and producer Lester Keonig
  • The last of three albums of material recorded by Hawes, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Red Mitchell, and drummer Eldridge “Bruz” Freeman on the night of November 12 and into the morning of November 13, 1956
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…contains three spontaneously improvised variations on the blues, one very cool extended rendition of Duke Ellington’s ‘Do Nothin’ ‘Till You Hear from Me’ and a strikingly handsome treatment of Harold Arlen’s ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.’ The briskly paced ‘Blues #4’ is especially progressive and exciting.”
  • “It’s hard to put into words how good it feels to play jazz when it’s really swinging…I’ve reached a point where the music fills you up so much emotionally that you feel like shouting hallelujah — like people do in church when they’re converted to God. That’s the way I was feeling the night we recorded All Night Session!” – Hampton Hawes

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Julie Is Her Name – Now on Youtube

Hot Stamper Pressings of Pop and Jazz Vocals Available Now

One of our good customers has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

In the video below, Robert discusses how Tubey Magical his system is when playing an All Tube Chain recording from 1955, this without the benefit of any tubes in his system whatsoever. Quite the trick!

Everything was fine until he decided to track down a clean, quiet, good-sounding copy of Julie Is Her Name for a friend. As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished, and after buying scores of copies of Julie London’s records off the internet ourselves, we know firsthand how painful it is to have one noisy record after another arrive on our doorstep.

JULIE IS HER NAME: Worth the Effort!

 

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Ella Fitzgerald – Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book

More Ella Fitzgerald

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Recordings

  • These early Verve Stereo pressings are close to the BEST we have ever heard, with roughly Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades on all FOUR sides – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • This copy will teleport a living, breathing Ella Fitzgerald directly into your listening room like no album of hers you have ever heard
  • The First Lady of Song’s voice is noticeably breathier, fuller, more relaxed and more musical here than on practically all the other stereo copies we played
  • The mono pressings were constistenly flat, dry and veiled – lesson learned, we will never bother with another one
  • The single disc pressing of volume 2 was ridiculously bright – based on this shootout, it seems clear that the original double album is the only way to go
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book is an exquisite album, a classic in vocal jazz, and one of Fitzgerald’s best recordings.”

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Led Zeppelin IV – The First Two Tracks on Side One Are Key

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

We always have a great time doing Zep IV shootouts. It’s one of those all-too-rare cases where amazing music and amazing sonics potentially coexist on the same slab of vinyl. You just need to find the right slab and be able to clean it right, a proposition that turns out to be much harder than it might sound.

You probably know by now just how tough it is to find audiophile quality sonics on this album. Far too many copies just leave us cold. However, the best pressings, whether British or domestic, are so good, and so much fun at the loud volumes we play them at, that in the end it turns out to be worth all the time, trouble and expense it has taken to find them.

On these two tracks, the best pressings of Led Zeppelin IV were capable of producing some of the biggest, boldest sound we have ever heard.

It’s clearly a Demo Disc for big speakers that play at loud levels. The louder you play it, the better it sounds.

Warning: do not attempt to play this album on any system that looks like this one.

The two tracks we discuss below are the ones that can truly test the energy and musical drive of whatever pressing you are playing. If you are fortunate to be able to have one of our better Hot Stamper copies on your table, the energy and musical drive of Black Dog and Rock and Roll might just take your breath away.

Side One

Black Dog

The key to both of the first two tracks is to find a copy with a solid bottom end. Next look for an extended top end, easily heard on all the splashing cymbals.

Now listen for a tonally correct Robert Plant.

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Tchaikovsky / Paganini – Violin Concertos / Campoli

More of the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

More of the music of Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840)

  • A vintage Decca pressing of these superb concertos with stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on both sides, just shy of our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This copy (only the second to hit the site in two years) showed us the balance of clarity and sweetness we were looking for in the violin – not many recordings from this era can do that
  • Campoli brings his warmth, feeling, and technical precision to these classical masterpieces
  • Some old record collectors (like me) say classical recording quality ain’t what it used to be – here’s the proof
  • Our favorite performance of the Tchaikovsky is still the RCA with Heifetz, but the best copies of this record are not far behind
  • With the wonderful Paganini-Kreisler piece on side two, this record comes very highly recommended

The second work on side two, Kreisler’s reworking of the first movement of the Paganini Concerto No. 1, is hard to fault. Pull up some youtube videos to see just how amazing and exciting it is.

A true demo disc violin recording.

And better than the original London pressing we had of the recording – the reissue is actually tubier, with none of the dryness you sometimes hear on London discs, and very dynamic.

(We know a thing or two about Decca recordings with dry strings. We took a deep dive into the subject here.)

Higher-rez and more present too. (more…)

Sons of the Pioneers – Cool Water

More of The Sons of the Pioneers

More Country

  • A Cool Water like you’ve never heard, with seriously good Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound throughout this vintage pressing
  • These sides have a richness and sweetness that’s disappeared entirely from modern recordings yet they’re still incredibly clean, clear and spacious
  • If you want to know why people love Living Stereo records, playing either side of this record should be all the convincing anyone would ever need
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • “The original release, issued at the height of the stereophile boom of the late 1950s, was a vivid display of close, intimate presence and discreet channel separation.”

This vintage RCA Black Label Living Stereo LP has two excellent sides, making this without a doubt one of the better sounding pressing we have ever had the distinct pleasure to play! We were as shocked to hear this copy as you will no doubt be (if you end up with it of course).

And the music — sophisticated arrangements of western classics featuring the group’s trademark harmonies — has maintained its charm remarkably well since 1959, more than sixty years after this All Tube recording was made. The orchestra and the male singers sound so natural you’ll wonder what the hell modern recording engineers think they’re up to. Engineers apparently knew how to make good recordings in 1959 — this record is all the proof you need — so what excuse can they possibly have for the dismal dreck they’ve been turning out for the last 30+ years?

The woodwinds here have that lovely airy, breathy quality that they do in real life. The singer’s voices are rich and full. The presentation is relaxed and involving. When’s the last time you heard a modern record with any of those qualities? Do you think the people recording Patricia Barber appreciate qualities such as these in a vocal recording? My ears tells me they don’t.

But there’s no point complaining about the modern world and its manifest shortcomings. Let’s be thankful that these wonderful records, recorded with such skill and care, still exist.

And that Better Records can offer you superb sounding pressings of them like this one.

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Back In Black – None Rocks Harder

More of the Music of AC/DC

This review was written shortly after we discovered what an amazing recording Back in Black was after finally getting around to doing our first big shootout for the album, right around 2008 or thereabouts.

Robert Ludwig must have had a phenomenally good transistor cutting system in 1980, aided in no small part by superbly musical tube compressors, perhaps the same ones he used on Led Zeppelin II, and we’re very glad that he did.

All that massive tube compression on the low end is at least partly responsible for Back in Black being one of the best sounding rock records ever made, especially if you have the kind of big speaker system that plays at loud levels like we do.

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