Month: January 2024

A Big Group of Musicians Needs Big Speakers to Sound This Big

Hot Stamper Percussion Records Available Now

At times this record really sounds like what it is: a bunch of guys in a big room beating the hell out of their drums and singing at the the top of their lungs. You gotta give RVG credit for capturing so much of that energy on tape and transferring that energy onto a slab of vinyl.

Of course this assumes that the record in question actually does have the energy of the best copies. It’s also hard to know who or what is to blame when it doesn’t, since even the good stampers sound mediocre most of the time. Bad vinyl, worn out stampers, poor pressing cycle, it could be practically anything.

Fingers is one of our all time favorite records, a real Desert Island Disc to be sure. I’ve been playing this album for more than thirty years and it just keeps getting better and better. Truthfully, I have to admit it’s the only Airto record I like. I can’t stand Dafos, and most of the other Airto titles leave me cold.

I think a lot of the credit for the brilliance of this album has to go to the Fattoruso brothers, who play keyboards, drums, and take part in the large vocal groupings that sing along with Airto. 

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Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

More Charles Mingus

  • Mingus’s avant-garde Jazz Masterpiece makes it back to the site after an 18-month hiatus with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides
  • This copy is overflowing with the kind of rich, spacious, Tubey Magical sound that can only be found on vintage vinyl
  • One of the most acclaimed jazz records of the 20th century – a dizzying blend of jazz and classical, and also elements of African music and Spanish themes
  • 5 stars: “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history. Charles Mingus consciously designed the six-part ballet as his magnum opus, and – implied in his famous inclusion of liner notes by his psychologist – it’s as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle.”
  • This is a Must Own jazz album from 1963 that belongs in every jazz-loving audiophile’s collection

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What to Listen for on Time Further Out

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Dave Brubeck Available Now

The best copies demonstrate the big-as-life Fred Plaut Columbia sound at its best (even better than Time Out in our opinion).

These vintage recordings are full-bodied, spacious, three-dimensional, rich, sweet and warm in the best tradition of an All Tube Analog recording.

If you want to hear big drums in a big room, these Brubeck recordings will show you that sound better than practically any records we know of. 

The one standout track on this album for audiophiles is surely Unsquare Dance, with its uncannily real sounding handclaps in 7/4. The copies that did the best job of reproducing that “flesh on flesh” sound of actual human hands clapping scored very well in our shootout.

More to Listen For

For starters, listen for a fat snare and rich piano on the first track of side one. When you hear that, assuming you do, you should know you are in for a treat. Our best copies captured those two sounds brilliantly.

On the second track the clarity of the brushed snare is key to how resolving and transparent any copy is. The rich, smooth sound of Desmond’s sax balanced against the clarity of the brushes will help you make sure that the overall sound is tonally correct from top to bottom.

On side two the first track has the Wall to Wall Big Drums in a Big Room sound that positively blows our minds. If you’re a fan of  with jump out of the speakers sound, this is the album for you.

Note that in some places it sounds like the piano is overdriving its mic. We heard that sound on practically every copy we played, so we’re pretty sure it’s on the tape that way.

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Letter of the Week – “Expectations met and exceeded!”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Steely Dan Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom,   

Expectations met and exceeded! This Royal Scam sounds amazing. Granted, my current copy was an MCA repressing, but this one totally crushes it and THEN SOME.

Thanks, Tom. I will be a return customer. I’m a believer!!

-kj

Dear kj,

And then some is right.

The MCA pressings are not worth the vinyl they are made from.

No early Dan album has ever sounded particularly good on that label with the exception of Gaucho, which originally came out on MCA after ABC merged with MCA.

Consider taking our moderately helpful advice regarding which pressings tend to win our shootouts.

Royal Scam should sound its best this way:

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Blood, Sweat & Tears – Child is Father to the Man

More Blood, Sweat and Tears

Reviews and Commentaries for Child Is Father to the Man

  • An original 360 Stereo pressing of BS&T’s debut LP with an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This copy will show you just how big, full-bodied, lively and powerful this music can be on the right pressing
  • Not many records on this site are harder to find with top quality sound and reasonably quiet surfaces than this one
  • 5 stars: “Child Is Father to the Man is keyboard player/singer/arranger Al Kooper’s finest work, an album on which he moves the folk-blues-rock amalgamation of the Blues Project into even wider pastures… One of the great albums of the eclectic post-Sgt. Pepper era of the late 60s.”
  • If I were to make a list of my Favorite Rock and Pop Albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it.

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Paul Simon – Graceland

More Paul Simon

Hot Stamper Pressings of Graceland Available Now


  • With two outstanding Double Plus (A++) sides, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Richer and smoother, two important qualities all the best pressings must have, yet still clear and resolving – this is the sound you want for Graceland
  • Guaranteed to trounce the well-reviewed but nevertheless awful Heavy Vinyl LP in every way, or your money back and the shipping is on us
  • There’s a delicate, extended top end on this pressing that simply does not exist on the new reissue
  • 5 stars: “An enormously successful record, Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured.”

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Sonny Rollins – The Bridge
  • Seriously good Living Stereo sound throughout this 70s reissue pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • It took us close to ten years to track down enough originals as well as the right reissues — so many to choose from, and so many of them just awful sounding — to get our most recent shootout going
  • Both of these sides are remarkably clean and clear with wonderful size, clarity and transparency, with real texture to the instruments and an abundance of energy
  • Of all the reissues we played, this one sounded the best, which came as a (costly) surprise
  • The sax sounds right, and played loud enough it’s almost as if you’re hearing the real instrument and not just a recording of one
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The interplay between Rollins and [guitarist Jim] Hall is consistently impressive, making this a near-classic and a very successful comeback.”

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Barney Kessel – Some Like It Hot

More Barney Kessel

 Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Barney Kessel

  • Kessel’s brilliant 1959 large group outing is back on the site for the first time in years, here with excellent Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this vintage Contemporary pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • With Tubey Magic, richness, sweetness, and dead on tonality from top to bottom, this is a textbook example of Contemporary’s sound when it’s really working
  • Skip the OJC on this title – some sides of the copies we played were good, but make no mistake, there is world of difference between those sides and the Hot Stamper pressings we are offering on our site
  • An All Star West Coast lineup came together for this one: Art Pepper (on sax and clarinet!), Shelly Manne, Joe Gordon and others
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Such tunes as ‘I Wanna Be Loved by You,’ ‘Runnin’ Wild,’ ‘Down Among the Sheltering Palms,’ and ‘By the Beautiful Sea’ are given fairly modern arrangements…”
  • Some Like It Hot is one of those albums with one and only one set of very special stampers that always win the (few) shootouts we’ve been able to do

This copy is spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience. The liquidity of the sound here is positively uncanny. This is vintage analog at its best, so full-bodied and relaxed you’ll wonder how it ever came to be that anyone seriously contemplated trying to improve it. (more…)

Free / Fire and Water

More British Blues Rock

  • Fire and Water is finally back on the site after a four year hiatus, here with hard rockin’ Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides of this wonderful copy of the band’s third release
  • Yes, it takes us about four years to find a copy that sounds this good and plays this quietly – if you want to find your own Hot Stamper pressing, we wish you the best of luck
  • The recording sounds more alive than 99 out of 100 rock records we’ve played, and we’ve played the best sounding rock records ever made
  • Present, spacious and lively, with a solid bottom end – this is the lean and mean sound you want from Free
  • Top 100 and 4 1/2 stars: “From Paul Kossoff’s exquisite and tasteful guitar work, to Paul Rodgers’ soulful vocals, this was a group that was easily worthy of the mantle worn by Cream, Blind Faith, or Derek & the Dominos.”
  • This is our pick for Free’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best recording by an artist or group can be found here on the blog.

To find a copy that plays this quietly and sounds this good is no mean feat, but here one is.

This is one of our favorite recordings and a member of our Top 100, but it only works when you get the right pressing. This one has the big, spacious soundstage and punchy bottom end to bring this album to life.

This is the sound of a real rock ‘n’ roll band — no gimmicks, no tricks — just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. This album has stunning live-in-the-studio rock sound that must be heard to be believed.

It’s got exactly what you want from this brand of straight-ahead rock and roll: presence in the vocals; solid, note-like bass; big punchy drums, and the kind of live-in-the-studio energetic, clean and clear sound that Free practically invented. (AC/DC is another band with that kind of live studio sound. With big speakers and the power to drive them you are there.)

Side one leads off with “Fire and Water,” and boy does it ever sound good. This track will show you exactly what we mean by live in the studio sound. You can just tell they are all playing this one live; it’s so relaxed and natural and real sounding.

One thing that really took us by surprise on the first track is how big and fat the toms are on the better copies and how thin and small they are on the average copy. Play a few copies for yourself and just listen for the size and power of the toms. Most copies will leave you wanting more.

If you’re a fan of big drums and jump out of the speakers sound, this is the album for you.

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Bonnie Raitt / Self-Titled – Our Shootout Winner (with Liner Notes)

More Bonnie Raitt

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Bonnie Raitt

The average Green Label Warner Bros. copy we played was lackluster to say the least.

The words on some of my notes read flat, veiled, dry, dark, edgy.

[Many years later we would characterize the above shortcomings as the Warner Bros. House Sound.]

None too promising, but we persevered and found a good one.

The reissues we heard tended to be modern and thin. Definitely not our sound. 

Bonnie Raitt fans take note: This album did not sell well. It appears that it never even charted, which means that original copies are hard to come by.

On top of that, clean ones tend to be expensive and prices are climbing.

With those things considered, it is unlikely we would ever do this shootout again.

Side One

A++. By track two the sound is rich and solid, yet clear. Lovely Tubey Magic and an unprocessed live quality make this one sound about as right as it’s going to get. The drums are especially real sounding, with little in the way of EQ and compression (not that those are bad things).

The rich piano and vocals on track three seal the deal — It’s Super Hot.

Note that the first track, a cover of Bluebird, was a bad idea from the start. The sour sound did it no favors either.

Side Two

A++. Yes, it’s a dead room, but on the best pressings there is still ambience and space to be heard. 

The vocals, often edgy on other copies, were not edgy here. The sound is rich and clear, the ideal combination.

Based on what were the winners of this shootout, this album should sound better this way:

For those of you who might be interested in finding their own Hot Stamper pressings of other titles, we here provide more moderately helpful title specific advice.

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