Digital – CDs, Digital Recordings, etc.

The Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Albums – More Mistaken MoFi EQ

Hot Stamper Pressings of Pop and Jazz Vocals Available Now

Sonic Grade: F

That weird boost around 10k that Stan Ricker likes to add to practically every record he masters wreaks havoc on the sound of Tony Bennett’s voice.

I would be very surprised if the current in-print Compact Disc doesn’t sound more tonally natural, and for us audiophile record lovers – not lovers of audiophile records, but guys who love records with audiophile sound – that’s simply another nail in the coffin for one of the most laughably inept remastering labels in the history of that sad enterprise.

If you love this album, and you should, the regular early Fantasy pressings are the only game in town.

Ray Charles & Betty Carter – DCC Clear Vinyl Pressing

More Soul, Blues and R&B Albums with Hot Stampers

This Dunhill Compact Classics LP pressed on CLEAR VINYL is one of DCCs earliest forays into analog production from way back in 1988.

Unfortunately it sounds like a bad CD.

Screechy, bright, shrill, thin and harsh, it’s hard to imagine worse sound for this music.

No warmth.

No sweetness.

No richness.

No Tubey Magic. In other words,

No trace of the original’s analog sound.

I have to wonder how records this awful get released.

You can be sure that Hoffman’s Gold CD murders it in every way.

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The Original A Hard Day’s Night on CD

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now

The Old CD – You Know, the Original Mono One that the General Public Used to Say Was So Great…

(That is of course the stereo record you see pictured to the left.)

I have the early generation mono CD of this album. Although my car has a very good stereo system, you would never know there was any magic to the sound of these recordings by playing that CD. The whole thing is hopelessly flat and gray.

It starts to perk up by the song Things We Said Today, the 10th (!) track.

Before that it just sounds compressed, with all the voices and instruments mashed together. There’s no transparency to the sound. It reminds me of listening to this music on the radio. If that’s the effect George Martin was going for with the old mono mix, he succeeded brilliantly. I prefer the twin-track unapproved stereo mixes found on the LPs.

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Girls Girls Girls – Skip It on Vinyl (But Get the Brilliant 2 CD Set)

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

Years ago we had a British Import Demon Records 2 LP set that sounded decent — better sound than you’d find on any domestic copy — and the songs, spanning the period from 1976 to 1986, are GREAT! 

But the CD has much better sound than any vinyl I have yet to hear.

Buy the CD, it’s one of the best compilations — of any artist’s music — I know of.

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Big Speakers, Loud Levels and Plenty of Bass Work Their Magic on Stand Up

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Jethro Tull Available Now

It’s common for pressings of Stand Up to lack bass or highs, and more often than not the copies that we play in our shootouts — shootouts which are strictly limited to import pressings on Island or Chrysalis — lack both.

The bass-shy ones tend to be more transparent and open sounding — of course, that’s the sound you get when you take out the bass.

90-plus percent of all the audiophile stereos I’ve ever heard were bass shy, no doubt for precisely that very reason: less bass equals more detail, more openness and more transparency. Go to any stereo store or audiophile show and notice how bright the sound is. (Yet another good reason not to go to those shows. We stopped decades ago.)

Just what good is a British Classic Rock Record that lacks bass?

It won’t rock, and if it don’t rock, who needs it? You might as well be playing the CD. (The average CD of Stand Up — I have a couple of them — is terrible, but the MoFi Gold CD is superb in all respects.)

The copies that lack extreme highs are often dull and thick, and usually have a smeary, blurry quality to their sound. When you can’t hear into the music, the music itself quickly becomes boring. Most Island pressings suffer from these shortcomings.

If I had to choose, I would take a copy that’s a little dull on top as long as it had a meaty, powerful, full-bodied sound over something that’s thinner and more leaned out. There are many audiophiles who can put up with that sound — I might go so far as to say the vast majority can — but I am not one of them.

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Santana – Viva Santana!

More Santana

  • Santana’s MONSTER triple album compilation finally makes its Hot Stamper return here with Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on all SIX sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • These vintage Columbia pressings are guaranteed to rock like no other copy you’ve ever played
  • Full of mostly-live, previously unreleased versions of favorites, mixed with a number of new works, this collection is a must-have for Santana fans
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Released in 1988, Viva Santana! is a generous 30-track overview of Santana’s first 20 years of recording… both Carlos Santana and his supporting musicians were on fire.”

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Ruben and the Jets – An Astonishingly Badly Remixed CD

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Frank Zappa Available Now

The album was reissued on CD in 1985, and almost all of the rhythm tracks were re-recorded at that time. Since all of the reissues that followed have contained the new versions of the material, early pressings of this album, such as this one, are the only way to hear this album the way it was originally recorded.

I made the mistake of buying the new CD and was appalled — yes, that’s the right word for it — by both the modernized sound and the wrong-headed re-recording of the rhythm tracks.

The only way to hear this music properly is on the early Blue Label Verve LP. (more…)

Basia – Time and Tide

More of Basia

More Records We Only Offer on Import Vinyl

  • This outstanding pressing of Time and Tide boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The sound is rich and Tubey Magical, yet transparent and spacious in the way that only the best vintage pressings ever are
  • Allmusic: “This is sophisticated pop music that sounds ideal for playing in any number of upholstered locations — a black-tie cocktail party, a fashion-show runway, the back seat of a limousine. Basia’s lightly accented voice adds an exotic flavor to the Euro-disco style of the music.”

Man, here is the Audiophile Pop Sound we go absolutely CRAZY for here at Better Records. Toto Shmoto, THIS is Pure Pop for Audiophile Now People like nothing you have ever heard.

You will have a very hard time finding another modern recording (this one is from the ’80s so those of you who don’t like synths steer clear) with the kind of formidable MIDRANGE POWER heard here.

It must be on the tape, right? Who knew?! Somehow it managed to make it to the record.

Demo disc qualities? Too many to list! Spacious, rich, present, punchy bass, yada yada yada, you know all our favorites by now I’m sure. They’re all here and more.

YOU Pronounce It

Basia (nee Barbara Trzetrzelewska) exploded on the scene with this outstanding debut. Songs like New Day For You and Promises were all over AOR radio, which made me immediately dismiss her as a TOP 40 One-or-Two-Hit-Wonder, but I was wrong. This whole album is overflowing with cleverly arranged, beautifully sung, well-written popular songs about the stuff pop songs are mostly written about: love.

Time and Tide

Her one Killer Pop Song for the Ages is here: Time and Tide. If you aren’t impressed by the complexity and sheer length of the melody line, then you are one hard-to-please pop person. That song ranks up with the greatest Three Minute Wonders ever produced.

A Final Note

The CBS Gold CD of the album is far better than the stock copy I own, and actually quite good. But it sure won’t sound like this.

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Peter Gabriel’s So – An Overview

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Peter Gabriel Available Now

We wrote this about a killer copy that came our way years ago:

Here is a copy of So with the big and bold Peter Gabriel sound we love.

If you want your art rock to actually rock as well as be arty, this is the copy for you.

It’s not a perfect recording by any means, but when it sounds this good you can just forget its shortcomings and marvel at how consistently good the material and the production are.

No Mean Feat

It’s exceptionally hard to find good sounding copies of this album. With a digital recording such as this, the margin for mastering error is very slim. Most copies just aren’t worth the vinyl they’re pressed on. More often than not they will sound harsh, gritty, grainy, edgy, and thin.

We did a shootout many years ago that taught us a few things. The most surprising finding? The Brit copy I had in my own collection sucked — how about that! As a rule, I like the Brit pressings best for PG, but that rule got broken after playing all these domestic copies, some of which really sound good, clearly better than the Brits we had on hand.

Are rules made to be broken?

Yes they are.

This is a digital recording, and most of the time it is BRIGHT, SPITTY and GRAINY the way digital recordings tend to be, which plays right into the prejudices of most audiophiles for the “100% analog” approach they favor.

After hearing a bad copy, what audiophile wouldn’t conclude that all copies will have these bad qualities?

After all, it’s digital. It can’t be fixed simply by putting it on vinyl.

Ah, but that’s where logic breaks down. Proper mastering can ameliorate many if not most of a recording’s shortcomings. When we say Hot Stampers, we are talking about high-quality mastering doing exactly that.

Mass Produced Plastic Problems

But of course the mastering is only one part of the puzzle. I have multiple copies with the same stampers. Some of them are terrible, some of them are wonderful — you just can’t rely on the numbers to guide you with a piece of mass-produced plastic like this. You have no choice but to play the record to know what it sounds like. (And that’s a good thing. Keeps you honest. There’s no “cheating” when you have nothing to go by but the sound.)

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Ten Years After – A Killer Audio Fidelity Gold CD

Hot Stamper Pressings of Psychedelic Rock Recordings Available Now

Our old commentary:

The BGO Import CD of this album is excellent. No match for a Hot Stamper of course, but dramatically better than the average classic rock CD, and quite a bit better than the domestic CDs we’ve auditioned, which are flat and badly lacking in Tubey Magic.

UPDATE 2014

The Audio Fidelity Gold CD mastered by Steve Hoffman is even better.

If you don’t want to buy a Hot Stamper LP, that CD is your best bet (assuming it sounds as good as mine, something one should not assume, but that’s a story for another day).