Album Favorites

If I still had a record collection — all of my records have long since gone to good homes — these titles would be in it.

Grover Washington, Jr. – All The King’s Horses

More of the Music of Grover Washington

  • An early Kudu pressing of Washington’s sophomore release with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • There’s so much life in these grooves – the sound jumps out of the speakers and right into your lap
  • Credit must go to Rudy Van Gelder for recording and mastering this album so well, and to Bob James for his brilliant big group arrangements
  • We cannot recommend this album highly enough – if you have the big speakers a big group of musicians need to perform live in your listening room, his record is going to be nothing less than a thrill
  • 4 stars: “. . . this set has assumed its proper place in Washington’s catalog: as one of his more ambitious and expertly performed sessions.”
  • This is a Must Own jazz album from 1972, one that deserves a place in any audiophile’s collection

Both sides of this original Kudu pressing are OUT OF THIS WORLD. The sweetness and transparency of Grover Washington Jr.’s breathy sax went beyond any copy we’ve ever played. Who knew it could sound like this? We sure didn’t!

It’s spacious and full of life with virtually no distortion. Of special note, this copy has amazingly articulate bass which brings out the undeniable funkiness of the music in a way that no other copy did.

The early 70s were a good time for Rudy Van Gelder. All the King’s Horses from 1972 is an amazing Demo Disc for a large group. But it only sounds good on the copies that it sounds good on, on the pressings that were mastered, pressed and cleaned right, a fact that has eluded most jazz vinyl aficionados interested in good sound.

But not us. We’ve played the very special pressings that prove the album can sound amazing.

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Cannonball Adderley – What I Mean

More of the Music of Cannonball Adderley

  • Adderley’s superb double album reissue from 1979, which includes the complete 1961 album Know What I Mean?, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • With outstanding presence, clarity, space and right-on-the-money timbral accuracy, these pressings are guaranteed to be one of the best sounding jazz records you’ve played in a long, long time
  • A hard record to find, and an even harder record to find with this kind of audiophile sound and playing surfaces
  • This is some of the best sound we have ever heard for this exceptional Golden Age 60s recording, and that is really saying something
  • 4 stars: “This two-LP set combines two fine sessions from 1961. The great altoist is heard with his quintet in 1961 (featuring cornetist Nat Adderley, Victor Feldman on vibes and piano and guest pianist Wynton Kelly) and in a quartet date with pianist Bill Evans.”
  • This is a Must Own album from 1961 that belongs in any jazz-loving audiophile’s collection

Sides one and two of this double LP were originally issued as The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Plus, while sides three and four were originally released as Know What I Mean?

All four sides boast excellent mastering and very good sound. The cymbals have that just right “tap” followed by an open and sweet “shimmer.”

The piano and sax, the heart of the music of course, are rendered as accurately as can be expected.

As good as the OJC sounds, and it can sound very good indeed, this Milestone reissue from the decade before is even better. It has more of a “vintage analog pressing” sound, the kind you would expect to hear on a recording from 1962. (more…)

Fleetwood Mac / Mystery To Me

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • Boasting two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, we guarantee you’ve never heard the band’s 1973 release sound remotely as good as it does on the vintage Reprise pressing
  • This copy is super open and spacious with an abundance of energy and incredible presence
  • The bottom end is just killer and there’s dramatically more richness and fullness than what we heard on practically all other copies in our most recent shootout
  • “Throughout Mystery to Me, the amazing and almost telepathic drums and bass of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie give this effort more panache and muscle than was represented on this effort’s predecessor, Bare Trees. The best Bob Welch offering, ‘Keep on Going,’ has a strong, soulful string arrangement and Christine McVie’s customary sensual and poised vocals … This effort is custom-made for those who like thoughtful offerings and is a valuable set in the scheme of the band.”

Mystery To Me is my All Time Favorite Fleetwood Mac album, and this copy has the sound that I always dreamed this album could have, but didn’t — until now. This is just the third Hot Stamper shootout that we’ve been able to do, since clean copies with the right stampers are ridiculously hard to come by. I’m not kidding. We must have spent the last ten years and more trying to find the right stampers for this record. I can tell you we were dead wrong so many times in the past that we had almost given up. Time and time again, just when I thought we had it figured out, we would go back and play our so-called “hot” copy, to find ourselves miserably disappointed all over again.

Half the copies you find of this record are mud and the other half have no bass. If my math is correct, that leaves zero copies that aren’t muddy and actually have bass. That comports rather well with what I was finding: under test conditions zero of the copies we played sounded any good. We were sorely vexed. Sorely, sorely vexed.

Then the skies opened up and the sun began to shine.

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Loggins & Messina – Self-Titled

More of the Music of Loggins and Messina

  • An outstanding copy of the duo’s sophomore release with solid Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • This pressing allows the music to be totally involving, with breathy voices; clear, natural picking on the strings of the guitars and mandolins; choruses that get good and loud – everything you want from this band is here and more
  • L & M are famous for putting plenty of bass on their recordings, but the trick is to find the pressing that actually keeps that bass tightly under control, like this one
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The first full-fledged L & M album found the duo in good form as songwriters, with Messina turning in the sparkling ‘Thinking Of You,’ and the two collaborating on the hit single ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’ and ‘Angry Eyes.'”
  • If you’re a Loggins and Messina fan, any of the first four albums are Must Owns. This, their second album, released in 1972, is clearly one of their best, and a record I have never tired of in the fifty years I’ve been listening to it.

We’re big fans of this band, not only for their music but also because their recordings are so good. We know this album about as well as anyone can, having done countless shootouts for it over the years. When it’s good, it’s really good, and it doesn’t take a pair of golden ears to hear it.

What we have here is the perfect example of a top quality analog studio pop recording. It’s rich, sweet, and dynamic, with the kind of sound that has practically disappeared from the face of the earth. Not to worry though; it can still be found on certain pressings from the ’70s, the ones that we put so much time and effort into auditioning. Why shouldn’t we? It’s where the BEST SOUND is. (more…)

Bryan Ferry / In Your Mind

More of the Music of Roxy Music

  • In Your Mind makes its Hot Stamper debut with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides of this original UK import pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • May I point out that the copy with the Shootout Winning stampers had exactly the same stampers as the copy that came in last in our shootout?
  • If such an unlikely thing strikes you as odd, please go the blog and read about the scores of other shootout titles for which this was true
  • The stampers are one thing, the sound of the pressing on the turntable is another
  • The sound is big and rich, the vocals breathy and immediate, and you will not believe all the space and ambience – which of course are all qualities that Heavy Vinyl records have far too little of, and the main reason we have lost all respect for the bulk of them
  • A personal favorite, one that I have easily played more than a hundred times
  • We were never able to complete a shootout for it back in the day — the blog has that story — but thankfully things have changed
  • “In Your Mind still burns more fiercely than both the later solo and group albums, at least on certain tracks – like Siren, it balances between rockier and smoother paths, most often favoring the former. Ferry’s lyrics remain in his own realm of intelligent, romantic dissipation, and are some of his best efforts.”

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The Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed

More of the Music of The Moody Blues

  • With two INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage UK import
  • According to my notes, the last White Hot stamper copy went up in 2022 (!)
  • The sonics are huge, rich and lively throughout – you need this kind of space for the orchestral parts to work their Moody Magic
  • An album experience beyond practically anything that had come before (Sgt. Pepper excluded)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Days of Future Passed became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era.”
  • If you’re a fan of the Moodies, this vintage UK pressing from 1967 surely belongs in your collection
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with the accent on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life

This album is more than 50 years old, for god’s sake! In those 50+ years I’d forgotten how good it is.

“Tuesday Afternoon” is the Perfect Pop Song, with the whole of side two flowing effortlessly from it as each song (each day) is linked by means of the surrounding orchestrations until it reaches its zenith with the climax of “Nights in White Satin.”

The sound is very much a part of the entire experience. The strings of the orchestra sound as sweet as any Decca, the soundstage wide and deep as a symphony. For those of you who still think Mobile Fidelity is the king on this one, here’s a record that demonstrates what a real orchestra sounds like.

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Coltrane / Hartman – John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

More of the Music of John Coltrane

  • A vintage copy of this classic Jazz Vocal album with very good Hot Stamper sound from first note to last
  • We had been working on this title for at least five years and had been coming up short time and again, with bad sound and bad vinyl on most of what we’d been buying
  • Five years ago we cracked the code for the right stampers to look for, and we had hoped to do shootouts for this wonderful album on a more regular basis, but that turned out to be a pipe dream
  • They are ridiculously hard to come by, so ridiculously hard that we would be surprised if it doesn’t take another five years to get this shootout going
  • I defy anyone to name a Male Vocal record produced in the last forty years that can hold a candle to this one, sonically or musically
  • A wonderful collaboration between a horn player and a singer, perhaps the greatest of all time
  • 5 stars: “John Coltrane’s matchup with singer Johnny Hartman works extremely well. Hartman was in prime form on the six ballads, and his versions of ‘Lush Life’ and ‘My One and Only Love’ have never been topped. Classic, essential for all jazz collections”

This could very well be the greatest collaboration between a horn player and a singer in the history of music.

I honestly cannot think of another to rank with it. Ella and Louis has the same feel — two giants who work together so sympathetically it’s close to magic, producing definitive performances of enduring standards that have not been equaled in the fifty plus years since they were recorded. And, on the better copies, or should we say the better sides of the better copies, RVG’s sound is stunning. (His mastering, not so much.)

Hats off to Rudy Van Gelder! Here’s an album that justifies his reputation. (more…)

Heart – Little Queen

More of the Music of Heart

  • A Little Queen like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on both sides of this original Portrait pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • “Barracuda” and “Love Alive” are bar none two of Heart’s best songs and they are guaranteed to blow your mind on a copy with sound like this
  • It’s the rare copy that has the energy, dynamics, deep bass, punchy drums and meaty guitars that you get on this pressing
  • A Rock and Pop Top 100 album with Demo Disc sound on a very special pressing such as this – it will rock your world
  • 4 1/2 stars: “After acquiring a substantial following with Dreamboat Annie, Heart solidified its niche in the hard rock and arena rock worlds with the equally impressive Little Queen.”

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Dixie Dregs – Dregs of the Earth

More Jazz Rock Fusion

  • This wild amalgamation of rock, jazz, country, prog and classical music delivers the sound we always dreamed it could with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from first note to last
  • Both sides are rich and smooth like good analog should be, with plenty of energy and rock and roll drive
  • This is the kind of music you may have trouble describing, but one thing’s for sure – it’s really good
  • We’re apparently not the only one who noticed how good the album is: it received a 1980 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
  • “If you were a Dixie Dregs fan in 1980, by this time you knew just what to expect from a new album of theirs. Beautiful, majestic ballads, southern flavored rockers, a blazing bluegrass romp, at least one smokin’ prog tune, and maybe a little classical thrown in. This one does not disappoint.” – ProgArchives.com

If you want to hear what happens when five virtuoso instrumentalists manage to combine their talent for Jazz, Rock, Classical and Country (thank god there aren’t any vocals) into a potent mix that defies classification and breaks all the rules, this is the one. It reminds me of Ellington’s famous line that there are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music. This is the kind of music you may have trouble describing, but one thing’s for sure — it’s good. In fact it’s really good.

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Roxy Music / Self-Titled

More of the Music of Roxy Music

  • A vintage UK pressing of Roxy’s amazing debut LP with two solid Double Plus (A++) sides – this is some of the most dynamic sound the band achieved
  • Andy Hendriksen’s engineering (over the course of a week!) is superb in all respects – we think the best pressings of this first album reveal a recording that is superior to any other by the band
  • A Top 100 album, Roxy’s Masterpiece, and a Must Own Desert Island Disc of glamorous Arty Rock
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music’s eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock’s boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures.”
  • When it comes to rock and pop music in 1972, our picks for the best of the best, numbering at the moment a mere 21 titles, can be found here
  • This link will take you to the Hot Stamper pressings of our hardest rockin’ albums currently available

Folks, this is a true Demo Disc in the world of Rock. It’s rare to find a recording of popular music with dynamics like these. The guitar solo at the end of “Ladytron” rocks like you will not believe.

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