Soul / RnB / Reggae, etc.

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

More Smokey Robinson

More Soul, Blues and R&B

  • These sides are tonally correct and highly resolving, as well as relaxed and smooth – Motown’s trademark phony upper midrange boost is gone
  • Here is the sound we wish we could find on more Motown records – believe me, we’ve tried
  • We don’t offer Greatest Hits albums often but this one sounds too good to ignore
  • 4 stars: “Scrumptious! All hits, except for two excellent B-sides: the exquisite ‘Choosey Beggar,’ a marvelous ballad with an Asiatic feel, and the poignant ‘Save Me’…”

Both sides are outstanding from start to finish. Motown’s trademark phony top end boost is gone. Most copies we played had some of that sound, including a boosted upper midrange, but our Hot Stampers will keep the problems under control while at the same time giving you presence, energy and space, layered on a good solid base of low end. (more…)

Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay

More of the Music of Otis Redding

  • This outstanding pressing boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides, and plays as quietly as the originals Atco LPs ever do
  • It’s a well-recorded album – the better copies are big, rich and smooth, yet the vocals are clean, clear and present
  • We love Otis Redding’s albums, but finding clean copies of his classics is all but impossible these days
  • 5 stars: “…this is an impossible record not to love … Cropper chose his tracks well, selecting some of the strongest and most unusual among the late singer’s orphaned songs… No one could complain about the album then, and it still holds more than four decades later.”

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B.B. King – Lucille Talks Back

More B.B. King

More Electric Blues

  • B.B. King’s superb 1975 release finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Unusually rich, full-bodied, lively and present sound which brings out the best in this music
  • “I’m always impressed by how crafted the music sounds on this album while still managing to feel spontaneous and natural. This is exactly what this sort of jazz/blues music should sound like. The percussion, the horns, the guitar solos, the vocals. Everything just sounds so right in a low-key but effective way. All the parts fit together perfectly. …Energy, passion and emotion flow through this album; B. B. King and company make it all sound effortless.”

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Ray Charles – Soul Meeting

More Ray Charles

More Milt Jackson

  • This killer pressing of Ray Charles and Milt Jackson’s 1958 collaboration boasts Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl for this title too
  • Full-bodied, warm and natural with plenty of space around all of the players, this is the sound of vintage analog – accept no substitutes
  • Kenny Burrell lends his innovative guitar stylings to this soulful jazz collaboration
  • 4 1/2 stars: “With Oscar Pettiford, Connie Kay, and Kenny Burrell in the various lineups, this is bluesy jazz in a laid-back manner; it surprised many hardcore R&B fans when these albums were originally issued.”

This wonderful pressing has superb sound throughout! It’s EXTREMELY rare to find a stereo copy of this title in anything but beat condition. (more…)

Sade – Promise

More Sade

More Titles Only Offered on Import LP

  • Sade’s Best Album returns with stunning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides of this UK disc are guaranteed to be amazing sounding compared to whatever you’ve heard
  • There’s no denying the power of Sade’s sultry voice when you can actually hear it – she is on fire on this album
  • Her best song is on side one here – Is It a Crime – and the big band arrangement will surely send chills up and down your spine, especially with Triple Plus sound quality

Not many copies manage to have this kind of consistently sweet sound across both sides. Here are the kind of present, breathy vocals this music absolutely requires to work its magic.

If you know this album at all, you know that most pressings are just too damn dark sounding. Sade herself is typically recessed in the mix and veiled; it takes an exceptional copy such as this one to make her voice both present and breathy. (more…)

Prince – Controversy

More Prince

More Soul, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues


  • This copy of Prince’s fourth studio album boasts outstanding Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • Prince’s albums will never be demo discs, but the best pressings give you the sound that he was going for in the studio, and you can’t ask for more than that
  • These vintage Prince albums are getting hard to find nowadays – prices have doubled and tripled in the last year or two
  • “Controversy emerged in 1981 at a pivotal time not just for Prince, but for America. It’s often regarded as a bridge between Dirty Mind and 1999, but it’s fascinating record in its own right.” – Pitchfork (9.0)

The best copies sound pretty much the way the best copies of most Classic Rock records sound: tonally correct, rich, clear, sweet, smooth, open, present, lively, big, spacious, with breathy vocals and little spit, grit, grain or grunge. That’s the sound of analog, and the best copies of Controversy have that sound. (more…)

Bob Marley – Live!

More Bob Marley

Records We Only Sell on Import Vinyl

  • This Killer Island British import copy of Live! boasts Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it throughout
  • As you can imagine, any Reggae Island UK import is very hard to come by – not to mention expensive – with audiophile playing surfaces, but here’s one
  • You won’t believe how big and rich this music can sound (especially if all you know is domestic or modern pressings)
  • Recorded in 1975 and released between Natty Dread (1974) and Rastaman Vibration (1976), Marley was at the peak of his powers at the time
  • A real contender to make the next update of our Top 100 list – it’s that impressive
  • 4 1/2 stars: “One of the most memorable concert recordings of the pop music era.”

This copy gives you EXCELLENT LIVE SOUND, not to mention KILLER PERFORMANCES of many of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ reggae classics. We were absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the sound of the better copies. The Hot Stamper pressings we found were so darn good that this title almost made our Rock and Pop Top 100 list.

Audiophiles don’t seem to be much into reggae, but we had a blast doing shootouts for some of the classic Marley albums. The music is wonderful (check out the All Music Guide review, where they call this “one of the most memorable concert recordings of the pop music era”) and the sound on the best pressings can be truly spectacular.

None of us here had any idea what an amazing live recording this album was until we threw a copy on the table just for kicks and heard an extremely well-recorded live reggae concert jumping out of the speakers.

The domestic pressings are not bad, but they are clearly made from copy tapes and can’t hold a candle to the better imports from across the pond. (more…)

War – The World Is A Ghetto

More of the Music of War

More Jazz / Rock Fusion Records with Hot Stampers

  • A STUNNING copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it throughout
  • Both of these sides are so open and three-dimensional, with tons of bass and driving rhythmic energy like no other
  • 4 stars: “‘The Cisco Kid’ and ‘The World Is a Ghetto’ understandably dominated the album’s exposure, but there’s much more to enjoy here, even decades on. Beyond the quality of the musicianship, the classy, forward-looking production has held up remarkably well…”

Engineered by the brilliant Chris Huston, this recording displays all his trademark gifts. His mixes feature lots of bass; huge, room-filling choruses that get loud without straining or becoming congested; and rhythmic energy that few pop recordings could lay claim to in 1972.

As for the choruses, allow me to paraphrase another listing, the from Commoner’s Crown.

This is one of the rare pop/rock albums that actually has actual, measurable, serious dynamic contrasts in its levels as it moves from the verses to the choruses of many songs. The first track on side two, Four Cornered Room, is a perfect example. Not only are the choruses noticeably louder than the verses, but later on in the song the choruses get REALLY LOUD, louder than the choruses of 99 out of 100 rock/pop records we audition. It sometimes takes a record like this to open your ears to how compressed practically everything else you own is

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Bob Marley & the Wailers – Burnin’

More Bob Marley

    • Burnin’ returns to the site after more than 6 years, with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout
    • Bigger and bolder, with more bass, more energy, and more of that “you-are-there-immediacy” of VINTAGE ANALOG that set the best pressings apart from reissues, CDs, and whatever else you care to name
    • Features some of the band’s most legendary releases, including Get Up, Stand Up and I Shot The Sheriff
    • 5 stars: “… [these] songs illuminated the desperation of poor Jamaican life, but they also looked forward to religious salvation, their themes accentuated by the compelling rhythms and the alternating vocals of the three singers.”

Two killer sides for this Island pressing. We’ve been auditioning quite a few Bob Marley records lately and this is one of the better sounding recordings he ever made.

This is widely regarded as one of the most essential reggae albums ever recorded. There are two big hits here — Get Up, Stand Up and I Shot The Sheriff — but there’s plenty of other great songs as well.

We’re always searching for more copies, but it takes time to acquire enough for a good shootout. Bob Marley vinyl tends to get snatched up pretty quickly no matter where you are, probably because he’s one of those artists who seems to endear himself to each new generation of music lovers. You can see teenagers wearing Bob Marley shirts in just about every part of the world to this day, so it’s no wonder that his records don’t sit in the bins for long. (more…)

Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On

More Marvin Gaye

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • A KILLER sounding copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last
  • One of the better sounding Marvin Gaye records we do shootouts for – this copy is big and rich, just the way we like ’em
  • 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 groundbreaking album from 1973, you need a vintage pressing that sounds as good as this one does
  • 5 stars: “… no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let’s Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later — much copied, but never imitated.”

It’s surprising how good some of the classic soul albums from the early ’70s can sound. Let’s Get It On is up there with Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions as albums that offer sound every bit as good as the music.

We had a big stack of copies (it took us ages to pull so many together) and many of them left us cold. When I’m listening to music this important, I don’t want to miss a thing. On the best copies, it was a truly special experience to hear Gaye’s music sound so good. (more…)