More Loggins and Messina
- With a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side one, this vintage pressing is practically as good a copy as we have ever heard (and one of the few to ever hit the site)
- Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this incredible Triple Plus side two in our notes: “breathy and transparent”…big and tubey”…”extended up top”….”so 3D and rich!”
- Both sides here are rich, full and Tubey Magical with a massive bottom end and lots of space around the instruments
- It’s also one of the only Loggins solo albums we’ve ever liked; it’s a favorite from back in the day
- 4 stars: “Loggins is in good form throughout the record, and if even only the title track entered his readily-acknowledged canon, this has a fine, sustained mood: a soft late 70s vibe that makes it a nice artifact of its time, as well as one of his stronger records, as illustrated by its platinum status — something it achieved without any blockbuster singles.”
This killer copy shows you just how good this record can sound, which is surprisingly good, considering how many copies of the album are just plain awful. Finally, most of the grit, grain, and transitory opacity have fallen away, leaving in its place the rich, full-bodied and Tubey Magical ’70s sound one would expect.
As obvious as it may sound (especially to anyone on this site), the master tape is a whole lot better than the average copy of the record would have you believe. This copy is proof positive. Without a doubt this is one of the best pressings of the album we have ever heard.
The better copies take top honors for rhythmic energy and real frequency extension both high and low. Most copies have no real top end; if you own one give it a listen and we think you’ll agree with us.
Great bass, plenty of Tubey Magic, clarity and richness — practically no other copy in our shootout could do what this one was doing.
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 Celebrate Me Home 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 in 1977
- 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 Celebrate Me Home
- 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.
Side One
Lady Luck
If You Be Wise
I Believe in Love
Set It Free
Why Do People Lie
Side Two
Enter My Dream
I’ve Got the Melody (Deep in My Heart)
Celebrate Me Home
Daddy’s Back
You Don’t Know Me
AMG 4 Star Review
Freed from Loggins & Messina, Kenny Loggins retreats from that duo’s folky conceits, turning to smooth soft rock, filled with leisurely paces, lush strings and electric pianos and easy attitude — so it’s no surprise when you discover this is a co-production by Billy Joel’s chief collaborator Phil Ramone and Bob James.
There is a bit of surprise that this album doesn’t really have any big hits to its credit, especially since Loggins would later have several Top Ten records, but this is a consistent record, maintaining its mellow mood even when the tempo picks up for the relatively insistent “I Believe in Love.”
Loggins is in good form throughout the record, and if even only the title track entered his readily-acknowledged canon, this has a fine, sustained mood: a soft late ’70s vibe that makes it a nice artifact of its time, as well as one of his stronger records, as illustrated by its platinum status — something it achieved without any blockbuster singles.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,