Blues, Electric Blues and R&B

Taj Mahal – Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home

More Soul, Blues and R&B

  • With roughly Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides, this copy of Taj Mahal’s third studio album will be very hard to beat
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard (particularly on side two, three, and four), and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • A stunning double album that combines killer electric tracks on the first disc, Giant Step, with more intimate “decidedly rural” acoustic sound on the second, De Ole Folks at Home
  • 4 stars: “Parties searching for an apt introduction when discovering Taj Mahal’s voluminous catalogue are encouraged to consider Giant Step as a highly recommended reference point.”

The best copies are not hard to spot. They have the richest, breathiest, most present vocals, surrounded in the most space. The balance between the guitar, bass and drums on the electric side is correct.

On the acoustic side the harmonics of the stringed instruments — banjo and guitar — ring out clearly and naturally.

A sweeter midrange, with less grit and spit on the vocals, was especially welcome. (more…)

B.B. King – Lucille

More Electric Blues

  • Boasting solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER throughout, you’ll have a hard time finding a Lucille (the album, not the guitar) that sounds remotely as good as this vintage Bluesway pressing – impossibly quiet vinyl too, the quietest we’ve come across in twenty years of doing shootouts for this title
  • An exceptionally hard album to find with good sound, but here it is – clean, clear and spacious with a solid bottom end – qualities that bring out the best in B.B.’s Blues
  • It has taken us years to find clean copies with the right stampers for Lucille, but finally our efforts have paid off with this knockout Hot Stamper
  • “The soulful empowerment that comes from Lucille resonates vocally from Mr. King and the signature vibrato and trill of the guitar’s namesake. The album itself is a dedication to thick, yet airy blues filled with quirk and real-world relatives, staying thoroughly intimate through its production. At thirty-seven minutes, the nine-tracked record isn’t a lengthy export, but its replay value is priceless.”
  • If you’re a fan of the Mr. King, this vintage pressing of his 1968 classic surely belongs in your collection
  • The complete list of titles from 1968 that we’ve auditioned to date can be found here. As of 2026, there are about 100 or so reviews for them, most of them describing the better copies from our shootouts
  • We don’t mess around. We play all the clean copies of good titles that we can get our hands on. It’s the only way to find the hi-fidelity recordings that actually sound good — they’re the ones that were mastered and pressed properly — and you have to clean them and play them to have any hope of figuring out which are which.
  • Everything else is a guess, and we prefer not to guess. We want to know.

Lucille is by far the toughest 60s B.B. King record to find these days in audiophile playing condition. Most copies are just beat, and the ones that aren’t tend to be rare and pricey. The reason for all of the above is simple enough: it’s one of the man’s most consistently enjoyable, best sounding albums. Who can blame people for playing it to death when the music is so good?

Mobile Fidelity remastered the record in the 90s for their consistently awful Anadisq series on Heavy Vinyl, and we used to sell it, albeit somewhat reluctantly. It’s not nearly as bad as most of their catalog from the period, but I would it goes without saying that our Hot Stamper pressing will show you a Lucille that a Heavy Vinyl pressing or Half-Speed can only hint at.

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Taj Mahal – Recycling the Blues & Other Related Stuff

More Soul, Blues and R&B

  • Taj’s 1972 release appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • The sound is huge – big, wide, deep, and open, with a punchy bottom end and rhythmic energy to spare, as well as cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
  • “The first side features laidback in-the-studio work with some nice gospel-inflected back-up from the Pointer Sisters. The second… side offers a good look at Mahal’s stage show.”

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John Lee Hooker – Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive

More of the Music of John Lee Hooker

  • Both sides of this vintage ABC pressing were giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • It’s one of the best sounding John Lee Hooker albums we’ve heard – exceptionally well recorded at Wally Heiders’ right here in L.A.
  • Features a host of “the greats” lending a hand, including Van Morrison, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, and Steve Miller
  • “…this album continues his work with mostly younger musicians and predates similar projects The Healer and Mr. Lucky by about 20 years.”

With superb sound from beginning to end on this pressing, Hooker is in the room with you, as he should be. The sound is big, rich and lively with a huge bottom end, lots of space, wonderful transparency and real immediacy.

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Muddy Waters – Hard Again

More of the Music of Muddy Waters

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish, this vintage Blue Sky pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in four years) will be very hard to beat – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides are big, lively and jumpin’ out of the speakers – just right for this down and dirty music
  • A Grammy Winner, an AllMusic Five Star album – simply a superb recording and one of our favorites for 70s blues
  • 5 stars: “Christgau attributed the record’s intense quality to ‘the natural enthusiasm of an inspired collaboration,’ and remarked on its standing in Chicago blues, ‘except maybe for B.B. King’s Live at the Regal and Otis Spann’s Walking the Blues… I can’t recall a better blues album than this.'”

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – In Step

More of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

  • SRV’s penultimate release from 1989, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides have that big, bold electric blues sound, with plenty of energy and presence that’s surely missing from whatever 180g reissue is being foisted on the unsuspecting record buying public today
  • Mastered by Bernie Grundman, if you can believe it, a man we’ve had plenty to say about over the years (most of it not flattering), but whose work here proves the man did know how to cut great records at one point in his career
  • 5 stars: “The magnificent thing about In Step is how it’s fully realized, presenting every facet of Vaughan’s musical personality, yet it still soars with a sense of discovery. It’s a bittersweet triumph, given Vaughan’s tragic death a little over a year after its release, yet it’s a triumph all the same.”

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Alberta Hunter / Amtrak Blues

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • A vintage pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in years) with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • The sound is absolutely wonderful – Alberta is uncannily present and real on this copy
  • Both of these sides are open, clear and lively as any record you’ve heard in a very long while
  • 4 stars: “Alberta Hunter’s second recording since launching her remarkable comeback (she was 83 when this album was cut) finds the veteran blues singer (a survivor of the 1920s) still in surprisingly strong form and full of spirit.”

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Muddy Waters / Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • An early Blue Sky pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in years) with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them from top to bottom – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This side two is big, lively, and jumpin’ out of the speakers, and side one is not far behind in all those areas – just right for this down and dirty music
  • If you’re looking for a Hot Stamper Blues album to add a little variety to your collection, you can’t do much better this copy of Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live
  • “Accompanied by Johnny Winter and his band, Muddy Waters turns in an enthusiastic performance on Muddy ‘Mississippi’ Waters Live. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the sound quality and performances are mostly energetic… Muddy ‘Mississippi’ Waters Live is a nice addition to the Muddy Waters catalog…” -AllMusic

If you’ve got the system to play a record like this (the bigger the better), you can have Muddy Waters perform live in your listening room — eyes closed of course; you won’t be able to see him, but you sure will be able to hear him, and in shockingly realistic sound.

It’s amazing how well recorded Muddy’s later albums are. Who knew?

His earlier records on Chess may be better; can’t say, haven’t found too many that were in playable condition. But they sure won’t sound like this, or be pressed on quiet Blue Sky vinyl like this.

Muddy Waters won the Grammy three years in a row, for Hard Again (1977), I’m Ready (1978) and this album. At least one, and maybe even all three belong in any serious record collection (along with Dixon’s I Am the Blues).

This is Muddy Waters at his best. He’s going down to Florida, where the sun shines damn near every day, so catch him before he gets on his train. There won’t be many copies on the site like this one.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – Soul To Soul

More of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

  • This copy was giving us the sound we were looking for on this classic of Electric Blues guitar, with both sides earning KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this incredible copy in our notes: “relaxed and open”…”rich bass and vox”…”so full and tubey and 3D”…”rich and weighty”…”silky vox”…”jumping out [of the speakers]”
  • A superb pressing with hard-rockin’ energy, rich, solid bass, open top end, and freedom from congestion
  • This is one of the best copies to hit the site – good SRV albums are getting tough to find nowadays
  • “[SRV] wanted to add soul and R&B inflections to his basic blues sound, and Soul to Soul does exactly that. [T]he Curtis Mayfield-inspired closer, ‘Life Without You,’ captures Vaughan at his best as a composer and performer. It’s such a seductive number – such a full realization of his soul-blues ambitions…”

Vaughan’s guitar playing is as fiery as ever, and the addition of keyboards and saxophone here gives the music broader scope and range than was possible on his previous albums.

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Harry Belafonte / Sings The Blues

 More Living Stereo Recordings

  • Here is a vintage pressing of Sings the Blues with seriously good Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom
  • So hugely spacious and three-dimensional, yet with a tonally correct and natural sounding Harry, this is the way to hear it
  • Lively, balanced and vibrant, with a healthy dose of the Tubey Magical Living Stereo richness these recordings need to sound the way they should
  • This is yet another title that has taken us more than ten years to do and believe us when we tell you they usually don’t come as quiet as this
  • “Belafonte nails every song on the album … his version of ‘Cotton Fields’ is as good as there is and his ‘God Bless the Child’ is outstanding”

If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1958 All Tube Analog sound can be, this killer copy may be just the record for you.

Naturally the vocals have to be the main focus on a Harry Belafonte record. He should sound rich and tubey, yet clear, breathy and transparent.

To qualify as a Hot Stamper the pressings we offer must be highly resolving, not crude and ambience-challenged the way so many modern LPs seem to be.

You should be able to hear every element of the recording, with the voice and instruments surrounded by the natural space of the studios in which the recording was made.

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