Vocal 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.

There is lots of work still to be done to populate this section, so please come back from time to time to check our progress, however slow it may be.

Harry Nilsson – A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night

More of the Music of Harry Nilsson

  • A lusciously Tubey Magical Top 100 album with orchestral arrangements by the superbly talented Gordon Jenkins
  • One of our favorite Nilsson releases (of which there are many) – it’s The Ultimate latter-day standards album
  • If you could only have one album of standards from the Great American Songbook, wouldn’t it have to be this one?
  • “This is a must have disc pure and simple as it is the best standards album any contemporary artist has ever recorded. All the ingredients were woven together for a remarkable vision.”

After our first big shootout for this album many years ago we were so blown away by what a great copy could do that we immediately added it to our Rock & Pop Top 100 list and have never once regretted doing so. It’s the only Nilsson album to make the cut. Even more unusual, considering it was recorded in 1973, it’s actually one of the better sounding orchestra-backed male vocal albums that we know of. (more…)

Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo – Lena & Gabor

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

Reviews and Commentaries for Gabor Szabo

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides this copy sounds right from top to bottom
  • Some of the most UNPROCESSED and REAL sounding jazzy pop we have ever played
  • A True Sleeper from 1968 – love the choice of material, love the players, love Lena, love the album!
  • “The contrast of Horne’s full-throated voice and Szabo’s unconventional, modal guitar playing is mesmerizing…”

As music lovers and audiophiles this was a truly marvelous discovery for us years ago. True, we had known about the album for a long time, but as a practical matter it had been all but impossible to find enough clean copies to do a shootout — until now of course. We had a big pile to work with, a pile that took about five years to acquire, and one that includes both Buddah and Skye pressings.

Dave Sanders, a name I was not familiar with, brilliantly engineered the album as well as other favorites of ours, including Szabo’s 1969, Gilberto’s Windy and McFarland’s Does The Sun Really Shine On The Moon? It’s hard to find a recording he did that isn’t full of Tubey Magic, huge studio space and right-on-the-money instrumental timbres.

What to Listen For (WTLF)

This is the most realistic drum kit I have heard on a non-jazz album in my life. The drum sound on the first track is exactly the sound we all know from hanging around small clubs and our friends’ garage bands. There is simply no audible processing on any part of the kit. The drums are centered behind the vocals and lead instruments, with what sounds like to me the barest of miking, surrounded by just the right amount of unbaffled studio space. (more…)

Billie Holiday – The First Verve Sessions

More Billie Holiday

More Titles that Sound Best in Mono

  • Excellent sound throughout with solid Double Plus (A++) sound from the first note to the last – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • All four sides here are clear and full-bodied with wonderfully breathy vocals and the kind of vintage analog sound you won’t hear from any modern reissue or CD, that’s for sure
  • This double LP set captures some of Billie’s best music from the years 1952 to 1954 and features Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Flip Phillips, Freddie Green, Charlie Shavers and more

(more…)

Billie Holiday – Stormy Blues

  • Outstanding throughout with Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the second side and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the other three sides
  • All four sides here have intimate, relaxed, breathy vocals – the only way to hear Lady Day in her prime sounding the way she should
  • This double LP set captures Billie from 1954-1955 and features Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Tony Scott, Harry Edison, Chico Hamilton and other jazz greats
  • “The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever.”

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Sarah Vaughan – You’re Mine You

  • Vaughan’s wonderful 1962 album on the original Roulette stereo pressing makes its Hot Stamper debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides are exceptionally low-distortion, solid and dynamic, with the natural, relaxed, analog warmth and richness missing from the Classic Records pressing (and most likely missing from whatever current reissue is on the market)
  • “This LP finds Sarah Vaughan backed by big-band and string arrangements from Quincy Jones that could easily have been used for a Frank Sinatra date. Vaughan’s voice is typically wondrous… In the repertoire are such tunes as “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “The Second Time Around” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads.”

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Ella Fitzgerald – Get Happy!

  • Ella’s 1959 release for Verve (in stereo!) makes its Hot Stamper debut here with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • The sound is big, rich, lively and dynamic, with Ella’s astounding vocal range rendered as only an All Tube Analog chain can
  • These sides reproduce both the breath, as well as the front and center immediacy, of The First Lady of Song’s vocals, with tubey rich orchestral arrangements in support
  • “As usual, Ella uplifts all of the material and her best moments come on ‘Somebody Loves Me,’ a heartfelt ‘Moonlight Becomes You,’ a scat-filled ‘Blue Skies’ and (somewhat surprisingly) ‘St. Louis Blues.’… the formerly obscure ‘Get Happy’ finds Ella Fitzgerald at the peak of her powers.”

*NOTE: On side two, a small mark makes 1 loud then 1 moderate pop in the middle of track 2, Blue Skies.

The space here is HUGE and the sound so rich. Prodigious amounts of Tubey Magic as well, which is key to the best sounding copies. The sound needs weight, warmth and tubes or you might as well be playing a CD. (more…)

Dean Martin – Holiday Cheer

Another Record We’ve Discovered with (Potentially) Excellent Sound

  • Exceptionally good Double Plus sound (A++) sound or close to it on both sides — big, rich and full
  • With a voice that is relaxed, smooth and warm, Dino is the perfect guy to sing these songs
  • More songs on this copy than on the original?! However many there are, they’re all good
  • Subtitled “Romantic vocals for the warmest kind of winter season”

Both Sides

Big and rich without the excessive, phony sparkle we hear on so many copies. There’s some nice clarity here as well — the background singers on the second track sound rich and clear, just the way they should.

A surprisingly large number of copies suffered from a lack of Tubey Magic, including even the 1959 originals we had on hand. Dino also gets a little hot and sparkly in the upper midrange depending on the song — watch for it.

All the copies we played were stereo. We’ve had very poor luck with mono Dean Martin records in the past and tend to avoid them. (The mono of Dream With Dean is a joke. Don’t waste your money.)   (more…)

Sarah Vaughan – After Hours At The London House

  • Vaughan’s 1959 live album finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • No other copy could touch this pressing for warmth, richness, and, most especially, vocal intimacy and in-the-room presence
  • The multiple takes Sarah Vaughan does on Thanks for the Memory here blow my mind to this very day – pull it up on youtube and hear it for yourself
  • “… the producers invited a small group of friends and well-wishers to another Chicago club, London House, for an after-hours session. Vaughan expanded her trio with a quartet of Count Basie titans, including trumpeter Thad Jones and tenor Frank Wess, and… decided to record a set that, in true after-hours fashion, was completely improvised.”
  • Don’t waste your money on the mono pressings — the sound is third rate at best
  • Leave those monos in the bins for the jazz guys with Garrard turntables and speakers that sit on milk crates
  • Additionally, the original pressings we played were not remotely competitive with the best Hot Stamper reissues we are offering here

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Mel Torme With The Marty Paich Dek-tette

More of the Music of Mel Torme

  • A KILLER copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the first side and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the second; exceptionally quiet vinyl too!
  • Both sides here are incredibly rich and smooth with wonderfully breathy vocals and a solid bottom end
  • “Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-tette is a vocal masterpiece, an extremely satisfying record achieved only by a fusion of an excellent voice, an excellent band, and excellent material.” – All Music, 5 Stars

This vintage Bethlehem 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…)