Hot Stamper Pressings of Orchestral Spectaculars Available Now
UPDATE 2026
I wrote this commentary about ten years ago if memory serves. Since then we have done a number of shootouts for Slaughter on Tenth Avenue and have never failed to be impressed with the sound and the music.
Many of Arthur Fiedler‘s recordings are favorites of ours. We may even have a few on the site at the moment. All of them are guaranteed to satisfy.
This copy of from many years ago was so good on side two it practically left me speechless.
I wondered: How is this title not on the TAS List?
Why is it not one of the most sought-after recordings in the RCA canon?
Beats the hell out of me.
But wait just one minute. Until a month ago I surely had no idea how good this record could sound, so how can I criticize others for not appreciating a record I had never taken the time to evaluate myself?
Which more than anything else prompts the question — why is no one exploring, discovering and then bringing to light the exceptional qualities of these wonderful vintage recordings (besides your humble writer and his staff, of course)?
HP has passed on. Who today is fit to carry his mantle into the coming world of audio?
Looking around I find very few prospects. None in fact.
But then again, I’m not looking very hard. I could care less what any of these people have to say about the sound quality of the records they play.
They all seem to like records that don’t sound very good to us, so why put any faith in their reviews for other records?
Reviewer malpractice? We’ve been writing about it since 1994..
Back to our most recent Shootout Winning copy of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Side Two
White Hot and simply amazing on every level. Rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, with depth and transparency like few recordings you may have heard, the music flows from the speakers effortlessly. You are there.
The loudest brass and string sections of the music are never brash or shrill, something that no other side could manage.
Side One
My notes read: The Big Living Stereo Sound, and man is it ever! The players are arrayed on a huge stage, with transparency that lets you hear all the way to the back of the hall.
This record will have you asking why so few Living Stereo pressings actually do what this one does. The more critical listeners will recognize that this is a very special copy indeed. Everyone else will just enjoy the hell out of it.
Hi-Fidelity
What do we love about these Living Stereo Hot Stamper pressings? The timbre of every instrument is Hi-Fi in the best sense of the word. The instruments here are reproduced with remarkable fidelity. Now that’s what we at Better Records mean by “Hi-Fi”, not the kind of Audiophile Phony BS Sound that passes for Hi-Fidelity these days. There’s no boosted top, there’s no bloated bottom, there’s no sucked-out midrange. There’s no added digital reverb (Patricia Barber, Diana Krall, et al.). The microphones are not fifty feet away from the musicians (Water Lily) nor are they inches away (Three Blind Mice).
This is Hi-Fidelity for those who recognize The Real Thing when they hear it. I’m pretty sure our customers do, and whoever picks this one up is guaranteed to get a real kick out of it.
What about the bad sounding Living Stereo pressings?
When vintage RCA Living Stereo records don’t sound good, we put them on this list and they go into our hall of shame.
Side One
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue – Rodgers
Gavotte: The Blues – Gould
Three Dances From Fancy Free – Bernstein
Side Two
Dances From The Three Cornered Hat – Falla
Polka From “The Age of Gold” – Shostakovich
Rodeo: Saturday Night Breakdown – Copland
Estancia: Malambo – Ginastera
Ballet Suite No. 1: Sabre Dance – Khachaturian
Reviews
A great collection of 20th Century music. Each selection provides a wonderful interpretation of modern music for the dance. Some, such as “The Sabre Dance” and “Hoedown”, are well known. Others, such as de Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat” and Bernstein’s three exquisite dances from “Fancy Free” deserve a place in every music lover’s heart. Richard Rodgers’ “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” may be the most exciting music he ever composed. Arthur Fiedler leads the Boston Pops in the definitive versions of these works. A must-have for any music collection. – Amazon – markmcg@webtv.net
It’s a starry, moonlit night in 50’s Manhattan…
…And this album is the perfect soundtrack to it. In this compilation are the creme de la creme of modern nocturnal classical pieces, with the exception of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance. Here is the anthem of Manhattan itself, “Slaughter On Tenth Avenue” by Richard Rodgers, “Gavotte and Blues” by Morton Gould, “Fancy Free: Gallop, Danzon and Waltz” by Bernstein, “The Three Cornered Hat” By De Falla and the “Age of Gold Polka” by Shostakovitch, a piece to help bring up images of an old string-marionette puppet show.
…will mentally put you in a cherry paneled den with subdued lighting, in a big red leather easy chair, puffing on the most aromatic pipe you own, (if you smoke,) reading your favorite Raymond Chandler novel. I can’t recommend it highly enough! (The album, not smoking!) – Amazon – Photoscribe
Further Reading