Album Discoveries

Over the many years we’ve been in business, we’ve managed to stumble upon hundreds of titles that have both wonderful music and potentially top quality sound.

They may not be familiar to audiophiles, but we’re hoping to change that fact by offering the best of them to our customers in the form of Hot Stamper pressings.

Bernstein – The Music of Leonard Bernstein / Rogers

More Orchestral Spectaculars

  • A STUNNING pressing with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout – a true Orchestral Demo Disc from 1970
  • Here is a vintage London Phase 4 import pressing with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – a true Orchestral Demo Disc from 1961
  • The Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” sound stunning here – big, rich and Tubey Magical
  • The performances are wonderful – energetic yet lyrical when the score requires it
  • Vibrant orchestrations, top quality sound and fairly quiet surfaces combine for an astounding listening experience
  • We’ve identified a number of Orchestral Demo Discs of superior quality, and they can be found here

This London Phase 4 British import has some of the most spectacular sound we have ever heard reproduced from disc. The sound is so BIG and BOLD that it handily puts to shame 95% or more of all the Golden Age Shaded Dogs, London Bluebacks, Mercury Living Presences, EMIs and Deccas we’ve ever played. If we had a Classical Top 100 list, this record would belong in the Top Ten, right near the top judging by what we heard when we played it.

If you have a system with the speed, power, and size to play this record properly (yes, you will need all three and a whole lot more), it’s hard to imagine it would not qualify as one of the best sounding orchestral recordings you’ve ever heard.

Demo Disc barely begins to do it justice. What sound. What music. What a record!

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Fleetwood Mac – The Original Fleetwood Mac

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • Here is an original UK import pressing with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Most of the time this album sounds like Fleetwood Mac is playing live in the studio, which they probably were, and on big speakers at loud volumes that is a glorious sound
  • 4 stars: “An undeniably strong collection culled primarily from the band’s first incarnation, featuring John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, and Jeremy Spencer.”
  • If you’re a Fleetwood Mac fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this Peter Green era title from 1971 is one of their best sounding

The music on this album was recorded when they were still a blues band — tracks left off their early albums for one reason or another.

As is so often the case with unreleased material, these songs do not have that overproduced, too-many-generations-of-tape sound. This sounds like Fleetwood Mac live in the studio most of the time. In other words, awesome.

If the drum sound on the first track isn’t enough to convince you this is an amazing sounding record, I don’t know what would.

These British imports are the only way to go. The domestic copies are definitely made from dub tapes. They can sound good, but they sure don’t sound this good! (more…)

Brahms – Variations On A Theme By Haydn / Hungarian Dances / Dorati

More Mercury Label Classical Recordings

  • Dorati and the LSO’s performance of these classical works debuts on the site with a lush, tubey, and dynamic Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Both of these sides have an abundance of energy, loads of detail and texture, remarkable transparency and excellent clarity – all qualities the best classical pressings have in abundance
  • What both sides did not have in our shootout was a huge, dynamic, powerful low end
  • Side one is the only side that had the bass deserving of a top Mercury — consequently no copy earned a 3+ grade on side two
  • The sound is big and open, and like so many Mercury recordings with the London Symphony, it’s rich and full-bodied, not thin and nasally as is so often the case with their domestically recorded releases

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Haydn – Symphony Nos. 59 and 81 / Dorati

More of the Music of Haydn

  • This vintage Mercury Living Presence LP brings excellent recording energy and presence to Haydn’s music with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last
  • 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
  • This recording is not your typical dry, bright, nasaly, upper-midrangy Merc – the sound is rich and smooth like a good London, with a big stage and lovely transparency
  • Dorati pushes the Festival Chamber Orchestra to dizzying heights of performance – if you find Haydn boring, try this record, it’s got the pacing and dynamic contrasts that bring the Master of the Symphony’s music back to life
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we’ve awarded the honor of offering the Best Performances with the Highest Quality Sound, and this record certainly deserve a place on that list.

These are some of the best Haydn Symphonies I have heard on disc. Folks, until I heard Dorati and the Festival Chamber Orchestra perform these pieces, I never knew there could be this much FIRE in Haydn’s music. (Please excuse the pun; the 59th Symphony is entitled “Fire”.)

Mercury brings the kind of recording energy and presence to this music that I have frankly never heard before. Credit must go to both Dorati and his players.

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Etta Jones – Don’t Go To Strangers

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Recordings

  • This vintage Prestige recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl boasts two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides
  • The vocal naturalness and immediacy of this copy will put Etta in the room with you – more than anything else, it lets her performance come to life
  • Remarkably spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied (thanks, RVG!) – this pressing was a solid step up over most other copies we played
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…Don’t Go to Strangers is a perfect gem of a recording.”

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Bartok – Music For Strings Percussion And Celeste / Marriner

The Music of Bela Bartok Available Now

  • A vintage copy of this classical Masterpiece, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound on both UK Decca-pressed Argo sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Clear and transparent, with huge hall space extending wall to wall and floor to ceiling, this is the sound that the modern reissue utterly fails to reproduce
  • An abundance of energy, loads of detail and wonderfully textured string tone – everything you want in a top quality orchestral recording is here, and more
  • We surveyed a large group of pressings containing this work, and in the end Marriner’s reading from 1970 had the best sound and the best performance of all that we played
  • “… one of the best-known compositions by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók.”
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performance coupled with the highest quality sound. This record has earned a place on that list.

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Terry Gibbs and Bill Harris – Woodchoppers’ Ball

More Jazz Recordings of Interest

  • Woodchoppers’ Ball makes its Hot Stamper debut on this rare Premier stereo pressing that boasts an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Full-bodied, warm and natural with plenty of space around all of the players, this is the sound of vintage analog – accept no substitutes
  • The sonics here are rich and Tubey Magical, which is the only way this music makes any sense on record
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings, but once you hear just how killer sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music

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Ted Heath – Hits I Missed

More Large Group Jazz Recordings

  • Hits I Missed appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • Both of these sides are huge, rich, weighty and dynamic like few records you have ever heard – it sets the Gold Standard for Tubey Magical Big Band sound
  • This pressing is bigger, bolder and richer, as well as more clean, clear and open than most other copies we played in our recent shootout

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Brewer & Shipley / Tarkio

More of the Music of Brewer and Shipley

  • A Tarkio like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this early pressing
  • It’s the rare copy that’s this lively, solid and rich… drop the needle on any track and you’ll see what we mean
  • “Notable not just for the inclusion of ‘One Toke Over the Line’ but also for the great back porch stoned ambience of the entire recording… Not that it ever takes away from the excellent country-style playing that pops up all over the record.”

Not Really One Toke Over the Line

Please don’t assume that this album has much in the way of uptempo country rockers like One Toke Over the Line, Flying Burrito Brothers style. Nothing could be further from the truth. Practically every other song on the album is better, almost all of them are taken at a slower pace, with none of them having the “poppy” arrangement of that carefully calculated Top Forty hit. The rest of the music on the album, the music you probably don’t know, is much better than the music that you do know if what you know is that song.

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A.C. Jobim – The Composer of ’Desafinado’ Plays

More of the Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim

  • With superb Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it from first note to last, this original Stereo Verve pressing is guaranteed to handily beat any other The Composer of Desafinado, Plays you’ve heard – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This side one is clean, clear and dynamic yet still full of rich, warm 1963 Tubey Magical analog sound, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • We love the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim here at Better Records and we think this album is his best – no serious jazz collection should be without it
  • 4 1/2 stars: “A dozen songs, each one destined to become a standard — an astounding batting average.”

We’re big fans of Jobim here at Better Records, and this pressing was one of the best from our most recent shootout. We had a wonderful time listening to a big pile of pressings — the sound (and music) were out of this world. We were shocked at just how well recorded this album is.

We consider this Jobim album a Masterpiece. It’s a recording that belongs in any serious jazz music collection.

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