Demo Discs for Tubey Magic

The Sons of The Pioneers – Down Memory Trail with The Sons of The Pioneers

More of The Sons of The Pioneers

More Country and Country Rock

Down Memory Trail finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
These sides have a richness and sweetness that’s disappeared entirely from modern recordings yet they’re still incredibly clean, clear and spacious
If you want to know why people love Living Stereo records, playing either side of this record should be more than sufficient
“Another nostalgic journey through the west”

This vintage RCA Victor pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound. (more…)

Les Paul and Mary Ford / Lover’s Luau

More Records with Exceptionally Tubey Magical Sound

More Vintage Columbia Pressings

Lover’s Luau makes its Hot Stamper debut on this original Columbia 6 Eye Stereo pressing with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides -exceptionally quiet vinyl too considering this record came out in 1959
This recording is the very definition of Tubey Magic, and should serve as a Demo Disc / Reminder – use it to demonstrate to friends and family just how far we have fallen in terms of recorded sound
“The sound of Les Paul and Mary Ford is so unique, it has never been duplicated. The genius of Les Paul from his pioneering of multi track recording to the absolute mastery of the guitar, is without question the best.”

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Roy Orbison – The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison

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Stunning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on two sides – you’ve never heard Roy Orbison sound better than he does here
Rich, smooth, sweet, full of ambience, dead on correct tonality – everything that we listen for in a great record is here
The phenomenally talented Bill Porter recorded many of Orbison’s classic songs from the early ’60s that are found on this compilation
4 1/2 stars: “… no one conveys pain and longing more sublimely or succinctly than Roy Orbison. But his songs are also masterpieces of production: so technically precise that his deceptively simple tunes and lush melodies flow even more smoothly behind his desperate baritone croon and quivering falsetto.”

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Peter, Paul & Mary – Self-Titled

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The band’s debut finally arrives on the site with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) stereo sound throughout – relatively quiet vinyl for a pressing of this vintage
This TAS List title has real depth to the soundfield, full-bodied, present vocals, plenty of bottom end weight, and Tubey Magical analog warmth the likes of which you may have never heard
4 stars: “The debut album by Peter, Paul & Mary is still one of the best albums to come out of the 1960s folk music revival. It’s a beautifully harmonized collection of the best songs that the group knew, stirring in its sensibilities and its haunting melodies as it crosses between folk, children’s songs, and even gospel”

Tubey Magical Acoustic Guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings). (more…)

Graham Nash – Songs for Beginners

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With two amazing Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this original pressing has the analog magic in its grooves
We love the All Analog Tubey Magical sound of the recording, especially on a copy as rich and full-bodied as this one
Arguably the best of the solo CSN albums – a founding member of our Top 100 Rock and Pop List and, with grades like these, a True Demo Disc
4 1/2 stars: “From the soaring “I Used to Be a King” through the gossamer “Simple Man” to the wah-wah-laden “Military Madness,” the record is filled with gorgeous melodies, flawless singing, and lyrical complexities that hold up decades later.”

When you hear Chicago here you will not believe how cinematic the sound is! It’s everything we love about analog and then some.

Most of the credit must go to the team of recording engineers, led here by the esteemed Bill Halverson, the man behind all of the Crosby Stills Nash and Young albums. Nash was clearly influenced by his work with his gifted bandmates, proving with this album that he can hold his own with the best of the best. Some songs (We Can Change The World, Be Yourself) are grandly scaled productions with the kind of studio polish that would make Supertramp envious. For me, a big speaker guy with a penchant for giving the old volume knob an extra click or two, it just doesn’t get any better.

Others (Sleep Song, Wounded Bird) are quiet and intimate. Their subtlety is highlighted by the big productions surrounding them. This is the rare album in which every aspect of the production, from the arrangements to the final mix, serves to bring out the best qualities in the songs, regardless of scale. (more…)

Benny Carter and Tube Versus Transistor Tradeoffs

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More Thoughts on Tubes in Audio

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Here’s how we weighed the tradeoffs in the sound of the originals versus that of the reissues, with VTA advice to follow.

This superb sounding ORIGINAL Black Label Contemporary pressing of Benny Carter’s swingin’ jazz quartet is the very definition of a top jazz stereo recording from the late ’50s mastered through an all tube chain.

There’s good extension on the top end for an early pressing, with TONS of what you would most expect: Tubey Magic and Richness. If that’s what you’re looking for, this copy has got it!

We prefer the later pressings in most ways, but this record does something that no later pressing we have ever played can do — get Benny’s trumpet to sound uncannily REAL. If you want to demonstrate to your skeptical audiophile friends what no CD (or modern remastered record) can begin to do, play side two of this copy for them. They may be in for quite a shock. (more…)

Marty Robbins – More Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

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This superb follow up to Marty’s 1959 release arrives on the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
These sides are doing most everything right — they’re full-bodied, clear, and solid, with the Tubey Magical Midrange that can only be found on recordings from this era
4 1/2 stars: ” Robbins’ originals are authored in an authentically vintage style, interspersed with public domain titles that are the real article, some established works by Bob Nolan of the Sons of the Pioneers, and a handful of new compositions (notably by Jim Glaser).”

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Neil Young – After The Gold Rush

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This outstanding pressing earned solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on both sides for its remarkably Tubey Magical sound from start to finish
This is the vinyl embodiment of the Classic Analog Rock sound we love – smooth, rich, full-bodied, warm, punchy, dynamic and clear
5 Stars in Allmusic, Top 100, and a Demo Disc that is guaranteed to knock your socks off
“It’s a magnificent, style-setting album which saw the Canadian’s elevation to rock hero. For those who like their emotion raw.”

*NOTE: On side one, a mark on the edge makes 9 light to very light tics. On side two, a mark on the edge makes 30 moderately light to light tics at the beginning of Track 1, Oh Lonesome Me.

Vintage covers for this album are hard to find in clean shape. Most of them will have at least some ringwear, seam wear and edge wear. We guarantee that the cover we supply with this Hot Stamper is at least VG and may be a bit better than that.

Folks, a Hot Stamper collection of the Greatest Rock Records of All Time would not be complete without a knockout copy this album. That’s why it’s been a Better Records All Time Top Ten Title right from the start. (more…)

The Norman Luboff Choir – Reverie with Demo Disc Quality Sound

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Albums

More Top Shelf Pressings

Reverie arrives on the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
This pressing brings the big-as-life Norman Luboff Choir right into your listening room – Demo Disc Quality Sound barely begins to do it justice
If you have never heard one of these phenomenally Tubey Magical Columbia choir recordings, you may just have your mind blown by how much more natural and real the voices sound compared to anything released on vinyl in the last fifty years
Sure, some might call it corny White Bread music, but the sound is so enchanting you may actually find yourself back in 1959, lost in the glorious sound and music of another world

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Marty Robbins – More Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

More Marty Robbins

More Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

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Stunning sound throughout for this original Columbia Six-Eye stereo LP; Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the second side and Double Plus (A++) on the first
Transparency and Tubey Magic are critical to the sound of the arrangements and you will find both are abundant here
Very quiet for an early Columbia Six-Eye pressing – Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus throughout
“Robbins’ originals are authored in an authentically vintage style, interspersed with public domain titles that are the real article…” – All Music

Two superb sides, with the kind of ’60s Tubey Magical Analog Sound that’s been lost to the world of recorded music for decades — decades I tell you! Nobody can manage to get a recording to sound like this anymore and it seems clear to us that no one can remaster a recording like this nowadays, if our direct experience with more than hundred such albums counts as evidence.

Albums such as this live and die by the quality of their vocal reproduction. On this record Mr. Marty Robbins himself will appear to be standing right in your listening room, along with the other other musicians playing on the sessions of course. (more…)