Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Sergio Mendes Available Now
UPDATE 2026
Many years ago we were impressed with the sound of some of the later pressings of Sergio’s albums.
It turns out that we were wrong about those later pressings being better than the early ones, which are the ones we tend to like these days, mostly because our all tube system from the 90s was much darker and dramatically less resolving than the one we use now.
Although we didn’t know it at the time, there was still a long way to go and hundreds of more records to play before we could call our system reasonably accurate. Discovering this cartridge and learning how to tweak it — using the right records — took our playback to a level we had never imagined it could go.
That was about twenty years ago. Before then I was lost as lost could be, something I recognize in my fellow hobbyists, especially the ones who write about records as if it were 1982.
Here is what we liked about the reissues in the 80s and 90s.
They were cut super-clean, with extended highs and amazing transparency, and played with virtually none of the congestion in the loud parts that we heard on the early pressings.
But that kind of clarity comes at a price, and it’s a steep one.
The best early pressings have whomp* down below only hinted at by the “cleaner” reissues. It’s the same way super-transparent Half-Speeds fool most audiophiles, and that definitely includes me back then.
For some reason audiophiles rarely seem to notice the lack of weight and solidity down below that has been sacrificed for the improved clarity. Probably because it’s the rare audiophile speaker that can really move enough air to produce the whomp we are talking about.
But hey, look who’s talking! I was fooled too. You have to get huge amounts of garbage out of your system (and your room) before the trade-offs become obvious. When you find that special early pressing, one with all the magic in the midrange and top without any loss of power down below, then my friend you have one of those “I Can’t Believe It’s A Record” records. We call them Hot Stampers here at Better Records, and they’re guaranteed to blow your mind.
*More on Whomp
For whomp, the formula goes like this: deep bass + mid bass + speed + dynamics + energy = whomp.
We’ve found more than a hundred records that are good for testing weight, bass and whomp. If you have any of our better Hot Stamper pressings of these titles, they should be able to pass these tests with flying colors.
Some of the worst offenders that are lacking in bass and whomp can be found here.
Audiophile Sound to Die For
As you may have noticed, we here at Better Records are HUGE Sergio Mendes fans. Nowhere else in the world of music can you find the wonderfully diverse thrills that this group offers. We go CRAZY for the breathy multi-tracked female vocals and their layers of harmonies, the brilliant percussion, and, let us never forget, the critically important piano work and arrangements of Sergio himself.
Brasil ’66, Equinox and Stillness are ALL Desert Island Discs for us, but we enjoy the hell out of their other albums as well. This stuff never sounds dated to us. We love the albums of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao and Astrud Gilberto from the period, albums which no doubt served as templates for the style Sergio wanted to create with his new ensemble, but Brazil 66 is clearly a step up in every way: songwriting, arranging, production, and quality of musicianship.
Stillness is still the ultimate, on the level of a Dark Side of the Moon or Tea for the Tillerman, but the first album and Equinox and specific tracks on their other albums are not far behind.