Hot Stamper Pressings of British Blues Rock Albums Available Now
This is a Limited Edition Black Label Island Numbered Import 2 LP set.
The sound is passable at best. Unfortunately, like many of the compilations done over the years, this is a very dubby sounding album. It’s smeary, veiled, and lacks space.
The good vintage pressings of the original albums just kill it.
Not all compilation albums are bad. Here are some with the potential for very good sound.
This is a Decca In The Box Blue Label LP with EXCELLENT SOUND! Some of the tracks here sound WONDERFUL, but even more surprisingly, none of them sound bad the way so many Stones compilations do.
Virtually nowhere on this record can you find shrill, thin, edgy, typical compilation Stones sound.
Playing songs like ‘She’s a Rainbow’ or ‘Dandelion’ on this album is so refreshing and enjoyable because they really sound the way you want to hear them. They have that rich and sweet analog quality that’s usually lost on later and/or digital versions.
The best sounding tracks on side one are track two; track three (silky vocals and deep bass); track five (big sound — a bit bright but ALIVE and tons of fun); and track six.
The best sounding tracks on side two are track two (as good as it gets); track four (the same); and track six, with plenty of cowbell. Side two is characterized by perfect top to bottom tonality and lots of energy.
“The U.K. version of this album was a bit odder yet more rewarding than its American counterpart. Apart from the superior sound, the major difference lies in the range of songs…” – AMG (more…)
THE BIG SOUND on both sides lets this Greatest Hits compilation hold its own against the originals. They have plenty of bottom end that drives these songs with energy and life. Listen for the bells on ‘Tin Man‘; they have the correct transients and harmonics.
You never quite get back all of the Tubey Magic of the originals, but the detail and richness should be enough to make you fall in love with this high quality George Martin (re)production.
The album combines material from four different Illinois Jacquet albums (Bottoms Up, The King, The Soul Explosion, and The Blues; That’s Me!). The sound is AMAZING and Jacquet plays with wonderful emotion and skill throughout.
Check out the man’s bassoon playing on ‘Round Midnight, the last track on side four — now there’s a sound you don’t hear too often on a jazz record!
As a bonus, they selected only about half the material from each of these classic albums, turning over to each of them about one side of these two discs. Which simply means that the quality and variety are consistently high on all four of these sides. No unreleased material or alternate takes; in other words, no filler. (more…)
Hot Stamper Pressings of Psych Rock Albums Available Now
This is a very old review. The sound of this “greatest hits” compilation, on even the best copies, is unlikely to be good enough to qualify for Hot Stamper status these days.
We will never really know of course, as we no longer buy these pressings or take the time to clean and play them.
Love is a shockingly well-recorded band, one that deserves to be heard on top quality vintage pressings.
Our review from way back when:
This album was made from dub tapes and has some of that dubby sound (smeary, veiled, lacking in space), but in its defense we can say that it was very well mastered from those copy tapes and for the casual fan of the band is worth picking up if the price is right.
We had a chance to shootout a handful of copies recently and didn’t hear any others that could compete with this Elektra Original Pressing. We are HUGE fans of Love and this copy will show you why.
More of the Music of Buffalo Springfield
Sonic Grade: D
The tonal balance is right on the money on the better pressings, but because this is a compilation, it is made from copies of the master tapes, not real master tapes themselves, so it will always have that blurry, smeary, opaque, airless, sub-generation-tape sound.
Love the music, but you really need to have the real albums to hear these songs at their best.
Hey, that’s what we hear on most of the Heavy Vinyl we audition. Imagine that.
One high point though: the complete nine minute long version of Bluebird. If you see the album for cheap, buy it for that song
A1 For What It’s Worth 3:00
A2 Sit Down, I Think I Love You 2:30
A3 Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing 3:26
A4 Go And Say Goodbye 2:19
A5 Pay The Price 2:35
A6 Burned 2:14
A7 Out Of My Mind 3:05
B1 Mr. Soul 2:35
B2 Bluebird 9:00
B3 Broken Arrow 6:13
B4 Rock ‘N’ Roll Woman 2:44
C1 Expecting To Fly 3:29
C2 Hung Upside Down 3:24
C3 A Child’s Claim To Fame 2:09
C4 Kind Woman 4:10
C5 On The Way Home 2:25
C6 I Am A Child 2:15
D1 Pretty Girl Why 2:24
D2 Special Care 3:30
D3 Uno Mundo 2:00
D4 In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain 3:45
D5 Four Days Gone 2:53
D6 Questions 2:52
Both sides here have lively punchy drums; a big soundfield, front to back and side to side; tonally correct vocals (which obviously are key and sound edgy and thin on most copies), and real resolution to the sound overall, not the opacity and blur you would expect from a greatest hits compilation.
Also, and just as importantly, you lose the sibilance most copies suffer from and the smear on the horns goes away, thank goodness.
I remember being a bit taken aback by how much better my original Artisan pressing sounded compared to the supposedly superior DCC, pressed at high quality Heavy Vinyl at RTI to the most exacting standards possible.
What finally turned me completely against DCC were the awful Paul Simon solo albums they remastered. Two were released, two I had as unreleased test pressings, and all of them were barely second rate compared to a good original pressing.
So much for believing in DCC. Since that time we have learned that placing your faith in any record label or cutting operation is a mistake. You have to play the records to know how they sound. Nothing else works, and nothing else can work. (more…)