Soul / RnB / Reggae, etc.

King Floyd / Self-Titled – Another Surprisingly Well Recorded Album Discovered

More King Floyd

More Soul, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues

  • King Floyd’s sophomore release finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • We were shocked at how well recorded this album is – the first track is a bit rough, but after that you feel like you are right in the studio with these guys
  • With its presence, clarity, and timbral accuracy, this pressing is guaranteed to be one of the best sounding groove-laden soul records you’ve heard in a very long time
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the marke

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Stevie Wonder – Music of My Mind

More Stevie Wonder

  • A STUNNING copy of this Stevie Wonder classic, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Anyone who has followed the site for a while surely knows how difficult it is to find the pre-Innervisions Stevie Wonder titles with top quality sound and clean surfaces
  • This pressing gives you everything you ever hoped for from this music and then some — it’s full-bodied and spacious with plenty of the all-important Tubey Magic that only the right pressings have to offer
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Music of My Mind was also the first to bear the fruits of his increased focus on Moog and Arp synthesizers, though the songs never sound synthetic, due in great part to Stevie’s reliance on a parade of real instruments — organic drumwork, harmonica, organs and pianos — as well as his mastery of traditional song structure and his immense musical personality… his first truly unified record…”

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Ray Charles – Love Country Style

More Ray Charles

  • With a Triple Plus (A+++) Shootout Winning side two and a side one right up there with it, this copy is practically as good as it gets
  • This early pressing has killer Hot Stamper sound on both sides – here’s the midrange magic that’s surely missing from whatever 180g reissue has been made from the tapes (or, to be clear, a modern digital master copied from who-knows-what-tapes)
  • Another of Ray’s albums in the style of Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music – maybe not the equal of those classics, but not far from them either
  • All the Amazon User Reviews give the album a Five Star rating – hard to do better than that!

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Commodores – Self-Titled

More Commodores

  • The band’s illustrious self-titled release finally arrives on the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout
  • Punchy and smooth, with the kind of rhythmic energy that brings out both the pop-soul of “Easy” and the funk of “Brick House”
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and ‘life” on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • 4 stars: “The Commodores’ early years were spent on the Southern funk circuit, where their energetic, catchy tunes, and keyboard-oriented funk made them both a college and a radio staple… This collection highlights early up-tempo and ballad hits.”

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Ray Charles – Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul

More of the Music of Ray Charles

More Soul, Blues and R & B


  • An outstanding pressing of Charles’ 1963 release, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • These sides are doing it all right — richer, fuller, better bass, more Tubey Magic, and the list goes on
  • Ray Charles was a genius and the music on this record is just more proof of the undeniability of that fact
  • 4 stars: “The high points are very high — ‘Busted,’ his hit reworking of a composition by country songwriter Harlan Howard, is jazzy and tough, and one of his best early-’60s singles…”

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Prince – For You

More Prince

More Soul, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues

  • Both sides here are out of this world — incredibly full-bodied, musical and Tubey Magical with a massive bottom end 
  • “On his debut album, For You, Prince shows exceptional skill for arranging and performing mainstream urban R&B and funk…” – All Music
  • If you’re a fan of Prince’s, a killer copy of his album from 1978 belongs in your collection

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Little Milton – We’re Gonna Make It

More Soul, R&B and Blues

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

  • This pressing had the sound we were looking for – it’s clear, rich and natural, with not a trace of “modern mastering” (thank goodness)
  • The title track spent three weeks at Number One on the charts back in ’65 – it’s a True Soul Classic
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Towering above it all, though, is Milton’s powerful voice: a solid combination of gospel intensity and fluid phrasing that sprang from Roy Brown, moved through B.B. King, and found its way to both Bobby Bland and Milton, among others.” (more…)

The Jacksons – Triumph

More Michael Jackson

  • If you’ve heard one of our amazing Hot Stamper pressings of Off the Wall – the best sounding record Michael Jackson ever made – then you know exactly the Tubey Magical sound of the best copies of Triumph
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • 4 stars: “Released during the summer of 1980, just as the hits from Michael’s Off the Wall were sliding off the charts, Triumph became the Jacksons’ first Top Ten pop album since 1972’s Lookin’ Through the Windows…”
  • If you’re a fan of The Jacksons, this is one of their best.
  • The complete list of titles from 1980 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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Aretha Franklin – Laughing On The Outside

More Aretha Franklin

  • An excellent sounding copy from the first note to the last
  • Forget whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – if you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of this wonderful album, a vintage pressing like this one is the way to go
  • Aretha’s records for Columbia feature a more pop-oriented sound than her later works. This is a great record for those interested in checking out the early roots of one of the greatest singers of all time!
  • “She gives new songs like ‘I Wonder’ (for which Aretha wrote the words), ‘If Ever I Would Leave You’ and ‘I Wanna Be Around’ distinctive, unforgettable interpretations, the kind that set standards for time and singers to come.” – All Music

This Columbia 360 pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back. (more…)

Roberta Flack – Killing Me Softly

More Roberta Flack

  • With two top sides, this copy is close to the BEST we have ever heard on Roberta’s brilliant Killing Me Softly
  • The superb clarity and transparency here is balanced with the kind of rich warmth that is the hallmark of vintage ANALOG from 1973
  • It’s increasingly hard to find good sound and reasonably quiet vinyl for this album – this is one of the few that made the cut in recent years
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The title track was another smash for Roberta Flack, and the album continued in the same tradition as Chapter Two and A Quiet Fire. She made simmering ballads, declarative message songs, and better-than-average up-tempo numbers, and at the time was among the top-selling female vocalists in any style.”
  • If you’re a fan of the lovely Miss Flack, this is a Top Title from 1973.
  • The complete list of titles from 1973 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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