Month: June 2025

The Rolling Stones – Out of Our Heads

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades from top to bottom, this is certainly as good a copy as we have ever heard – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These British sides impressed us with their Tubey Magical, fairly natural sound
  • With top engineers like Dave Hassinger and Glyn Johns one would hope for better sonics, but this is pretty much as good as it gets as far as we know
  • 4 1/2 stars: “In 1965, the Stones finally proved themselves capable of writing classic rock singles that mined their R&B/blues roots, but updated them into a more guitar-based, thoroughly contemporary context. The first enduring Jagger-Richards classics are here…”
  • Out of Our Heads is an album with one set of very special stampers that consistently win shootout after shootout, for years now

Like the really good Decca version of Aftermath, this record has amazing transparency, rich bass and relatively little distortion compared to many of the other versions we’ve played.

Also, like Aftermath, some songs sound much better than others. That’s just the way old Stones record are. Part of this album was recorded in Hollywood and part of it was recorded in Chicago — that may explain some of the variation in the quality of the sound.

By the way, stick with true stereo on this album; the mono pressings — at least the ones we played — aren’t worth anybody’s time (scratch that: any audiophile’s time).

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We Forgot How Mediocre the Originals of A Winter Romance Are

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Dean Martin Available Now

We gave a couple of early pressings another chance and they blew it!

The copies we sell as Hot Stampers are the reissues from the 60s. Here is what we had to say about a copy we posted for sale recently:

With a voice that is relaxed, smooth and warm, Dino is the perfect guy to sing these songs.

The sound of this reissue is far better than any of the originals we played, which mostly weren’t very good. Which just goes to prove (once again) that in the world of vinyl, the idea that the original will have the best sound is a pernicious falsehood.

Rich, sweet, full of ambience, dead on correct tonality, and wonderfully breathy vocals – everything that we listen for in a great record is here.

To back that up with actual stamper sheet evidence, here are the grades for the two early pressings we put in our shootout. We’d heard the originals before and never liked them, but sometimes if a particular presssing is cheap and easy to find, we give it another chance.

I think we’re done with the originals now though. They’ve let us down too many times.

Who wants to hear Dean Martin’s gorgeous baritone sounding lean, dry and recessed, or, alternately, murky, nasal, grainy and veiled?

If I didn’t know better I would suspect these originals were modern reissues. This kind of crap sound is all over the Heavy Vinyl records we play, although nobody but us ever seems to notice.

The Point Is

This serves to make a very important point that is near and dear to our hearts:

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Letter of the Week – “Definitely a very and unexpected high quality.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Stephen Stills Available Now

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

Hey Tom, 

Received the LPs today from Stephen Stills and Santana. Definitely a very and unexpected high quality.

I grew up with these LPs. Unfortunately these can no longer be played because of the tobacco of the joints that were left behind.

Our store sells and promotes analog. We sell turntables such as SME, REED, Dohmann and Techdas, etc. http://www.rhapsody.nl

I will definitely promote you to our customers.

Harry

Thanks, Harry, for writing.

These are some great albums, they would sound killer on good equipment and these are the kinds of records that need to be played in stereo showrooms, not the audiophile crap that one hears so much.

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Martin Denny / Quiet Village

More Exotica

  • Quiet Village returns to the site for only the second time in years on this original Stereo Liberty pressing with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This side two is huge and rich, with a big stage, Tubey Magic and correct tonality from top to bottom, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • The tonality is right on the money – it’s remarkably lively, with tight, clear bass (particularly on side two)
  • Listen to how open the drum sound is (also particularly on side two) – that sound is just not to be found on popular albums anymore

This superb sounding copy of Quiet Village has a lot in common with the other Bachelor Pad / Exotica titles we’ve listed over the years, albums by the likes of Esquivel, Dick Schory, Edmundo Ros, Arthur Lyman and others.

But c’mon, nobody really buys these records for the music (although the music is thoroughly enchanting). It’s all about the Tubey Magical Stereoscopic presentation, the wacky 3D sound effects (of real birds and not-so-real ones) and the heavily percussive arrangements. In all of these areas and more this record does not disappoint.

If you’re an audiophile, both the sound and the music are crazy fun. If you want to demonstrate just how good 1959 All Tube Analog sound can be, this is the record that will do it.

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A Few Questions for the Record Reviewing Community Regarding Counting Crows

More Entries from Tom’s Audiophile Notebook

I think I originally posted this in the comments section for Steve Westman’s youtube channel, but, to be honest, I cannot remember as it was way back in 2023 when I wrote it.

Tom Port here. Hello all. I come in peace with a quick question.

Much is made of price points when discussing these modern pressings, and rightfully so.

I admittedly do not know anything about The Counting Crows record being discussed, but I wanted to know more — what was available, from what year, mastered by whom, that sort of thing — so I went to Discogs to see what vinyl versions had been pressed recently.

The original import LP is probably made from a dub, or mastered right off the CD — that used to happen a lot in the 90s. (My beloved Jellyfish Spilt Milk on import vinyl is a dubby joke compared to every other copy I have, including the cassette. Watch for a review of the Omnivore LP coming to the blog soon.)

Then Analogue Productions put out a version in 2012, cut by Ryan Smith, which can be seen here.

There are 16 for sale starting at $127.49. It’s two discs at 45 RPM.

Chris Bellman cut the record in 2017, and his version can be found here.

CB in the deadwax. 2 discs at 33.

There are 43 available from $25.36. Since those were manufactured by Rainbo records, the vinyl may be terrible. Their stuff often is. I gave up buying their pressings in the 90s because they were so often warped and noisy.

Then there is one other which is a bit of a mystery, with no date of release, this one.

No CB in the dead wax. 2016 on the copyright info on the label though.

8 are available for $37.99

Question

Which one sounds the best?

Seems to me that this would be valuable information for your viewers to have. Why spend $100+ for an audiophile pressing when there are so many others around?

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Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde

More of the Music of Bob Dylan

  • These early Stereo 360 pressings were doing just about everything right, with all FOUR sides earning roughly Double Plus (A++) grades
  • You won’t believe how rich, full and lively this album can sound on a copy this good (particularly on sides one, two and three)
  • Includes tons of quintessential Dylan classics: “Rainy Day Women,” “I Want You,” “Just Like A Woman,” and more – they all sound phenomenal
  • Marks and problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 5 stars: “Blonde on Blonde is an album of enormous depth, providing endless lyrical and musical revelations on each play… It’s the culmination of Dylan’s electric rock & roll period — he would never release a studio record that rocked this hard, or had such bizarre imagery, ever again.”

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Prokofiev – Violin Concerti Nos. 1 and 2 / Ricci / Ansermet

More of the Music of Sergei Prokofiev

  • With two outstanding Double Plus (A++) sides, this early London Stereo pressing of Ricci and Ansermet’s performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerti Nos. 1 and 2 will be very hard to beat
  • It’s also remarkably quiet at the high end of Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • Ricci is a fiery player – this pressing will allow you to appreciate his playing in a coherent, natural and realistic way
  • The sound of the orchestra is dramatically richer and sweeter than you will hear on nearly all other pressings – what else would you expect from Decca‘s engineers and the Suisse Romande?

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On Our Top Copy of Face Value, How Did We Know that One Side Lacked Weight?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Phil Collins Available Now

We described our most recent shootout-winning pressing this way:

An early UK copy of Phil Collins’s killer solo debut with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a nearly as good side one.

The recording of this album is still analog and the quality is excellent, thanks to hugely talented engineer and producer Hugh Padgham (Peter Gabriel, Genesis, The Police, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, etc.).

Song after song, Collins’s songwriting and musicianship shine with this breakout record, the first and clearly the best of all his solo albums. The sound on the better copies is vibrant, with superb extension on the top, punchy bass, and excellent texture on the drums and percussion, as well as spacious strings and vocals.

Side two was killer in every way, and the way we know that is we played a bunch of copies and nothing could beat it. This side two took top honors for having exactly the sound we described above.

For Those About to Rock

Of special interest to those of you who would like to do your own shootouts for the album are some of the specific notes we took:

The third track is “much less pinched,” with the most warmth and the least hardness.

Those are the areas that set this killer side two apart — it wasn’t as pinched and hard as most copies, and it had more warmth. Listen for those three things on the third track of the second side and you might just find it’s a lot easier to pick a winner.

Side one was doing great in many areas. Track three (again) was punchy, rich and relaxed, with no hardness.

It had most, but not all of the weight.

Same story as side two. Listen for all those qualities, especially hardness and how much weight you can hear on the first side. You will need big speakers to do this shootout, and don’t be afraid to turn them up.

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Yes, Sometimes There Is Only One Set of Magic Stampers

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Rimsky-Korsakov Available Now

Way back in 2015 we wrote:

There are certain stampers that seem to have a consistently brighter top end. They are tolerable most of the time, but the real magic can only be found on the copies that have a correct or even slightly duller top. Live classical music is never “bright” the way recordings of it so often are.

On the other hand, it’s rarely “rich” and “romantic” the way many vintage recordings are — even those we rave about — but that’s another story for another day.

We recently did the shootout again, and now with a much more resolving, clear, accurate upper midrange and an even more extended top end, the stampers that we used to find “brighter than ideal” are almost always just too damn bright, period.

We will never buy another copy with those stampers except by accident or misfortune.

We was wrong and we don’t mind admitting it. We must be learning something in our shootouts, right?. We ran an experiment, we discovered something new about this album, and that should be seen as a good thing.

If you have been making improvements to your system, room, electricity, etc., then you too own records which don’t sound as good as you remember them. You just don’t know which ones they are, assuming you haven’t played them in a while.

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An Extraordinary Recording of the Carmen Fantasie – This Is Why You Must Do Shootouts

Hot Stamper Pressings Featuring the Violin Available Now

UPDATE 2025

It has been years since a Whiteback pressing on the later label won a shootout. Some reissue copies of CS 6165 have earned Nearly White Hot Stamper grades, but we would be very surprised if one of the Blueback originals we play in the next shootout does not come out on top. They are just too good.

This London Whiteback LP has DEMO DISC sound like you will not believe, especially on side two, which earned our coveted A Triple Plus rating. The sound is warm, sweet and transparent; in short, absolutely GORGEOUS. We call it AGAIG — As Good As It Gets!

As this is one of the Greatest Violin Showpiece Albums of All Time, it is certainly a record that belongs in every right-thinking audiophle’s collection. (If you’re on our site and taking the time to read this, that probably means you.) Ruggiero Ricci is superb throughout.

And side one was just a step below the second side in terms of sound quality, with very solid A++ sound. To find two sides of this caliber, on quiet vinyl no less, is no mean feat. You could easily go through ten copies without finding one as consistently good sounding as this one.

A True Demo Disc, Or Was It?

Ricci’s playing of the Bizet-Sarasate Carmen Fantasie is OUT OF THIS WORLD. There is no greater perforrmance on record in my opinion, and few works that have as much Audiophile Appeal.

Which is why I’ve had a copy of this record in my own collection for about fifteen years marked “My Demo Disc.” But this copy KILLED it. How could that be?

It just goes to show: No matter how good a particular copy of a record may sound to you, when you clean and play enough of them you will almost always find one that’s better, and often surprisingly better.

Shootouts are the only way to find these kinds of records. That’s why you must do them.

Nothing else works. If you’re not doing shootouts (or buying the winners of shootouts from us) you simply don’t have top quality copies in your collection, except in the rare instances where you just got lucky. In the world of records luck can only take you so far. The rest of the journey requires effort.

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