We’ve played at least three Shaded Dogs of LSC 1901 since we started doing shootouts for this recording and all three were awful.
The only version of this wonderful performance from 1955, one of the best we know of, is this very late reissue that we discovered more than twenty years ago, a sleeper of a record if ever there was one.
Years ago we described a Hot Stamper pressing this way:
The size and scope of this recording is enormous, with the orchestral sections clearly staged wide and deep. Where is the old tube smear and compression and opacity? It must not be on the tape, because I hear no trace of it.
This copy is cut clean, its dynamics intact, which just goes to show how much better the master tape must be than we’ve been led to believe by the original Shady Dogs and the hacks at Classic Records (note: their Heavy Vinyl reissue is awful).
RCA managed to cut this record amazingly well decades after the tape was first recorded, not for audiophiles, but for music lovers. Maybe that’s the secret.
When you hear how good it sounds, you may have a hard time believing that it’s a budget reissue from 1976, but that’s precisely what it is. Even more extraordinary, the right copies are the ones that win shootouts.
UPDATE 2025
Some of our newer commentary for the Gold Seal pressing we like goes like this:
This Hot Stamper copy of this correctly remastered version of LSC 1901 (which just happens to be a recording from the earliest days of stereo, 1955!) is guaranteed to kill any and all original Shaded Dogs, as well as the more common reissues; White Dogs, Red Seals, Victrolas, Classic Heavy Vinyl, you name it — this pressing will beat the pants off of it and in the process show you precisely what is wrong with each and every one of them.
This vintage RCA Gold Seal pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
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.
Further Reading