Radio-Friendly Pop

A lot of great music got played on the radio, and we don’t hold that against them.

Harry Nilsson – The Point!

More Harry Nilsson

  • An original pressing (only the second copy to ever hit the site) with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • Side one was very close in sound to our Shootout Winner – the overall grades for this copy are only one half plus lower than our $450 WHS presing that sold
  • Both of these sides are relatively rich, yet still clear and highly resolving – the boosted midrange, the biggest problem with the copies we played, is under much better control here than it was on most of what we played
  • Analog gets this music to sound right, although the long out of print DCC CD that Steve Hoffman mastered is excellent if you can find one
  • 4 stars: “Especially at this stage of his career, Harry Nilsson was uniquely suited for writing and recording children’s music, given his sweet melodicism and love of whimsy. The tale is fantastical enough to be of interest to children (and the moral is strong enough to reassure them and their parents), but the songs and music are so strong that the album continues to be a source of wonder, even as those children become adults.”

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Hall and Oates – H2O

More Hall and Oates

  • A vintage copy of this Hall and Oates classic from 1982 with killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from start to finish – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • It’s lively, open, present and natural – the soundfield is big and spacious and the bottom end is killer
  • Much more consistent than most of their releases, this one boasts three monster hits including “Maneater,” “Family Man” and my all time favorite by the band, “One on One”
  • 4 stars: “Private Eyes solidified Hall & Oates’ status as one of the most popular acts in America in the early 80s, and…… with 1982’s H2O, they capitalized on its success, delivering an album that turned out to bigger than its predecessor, as it climbed higher on the charts and launched three Top Ten singles…”

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Steve Miller Band – Fly Like An Eagle

More Steve Miller Band

  • Fly Like An Eagle returns to the site after a three year hiatus, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • A surprisingly difficult record to find with good sound and quiet surfaces — they pumped these out by the millions and most copies aren’t worth eve the bad vinyl they’re pressed on
  • The sound is clear, full-bodied and detailed with tremendous space, critical to reproducing the recording’s spacey (and pretty cool) effects
  • The title track and “Take The Money And Run” both sound excellent (but so does pretty much everything else)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The key is focus, even on an album as stylishly, self-consciously trippy as this, since the focus brings about his strongest set of songs (both originals and covers), plus a detailed atmospheric production where everything fits.”
  • If you’re a Steve Miller fan, or perhaps a fan of mid-’70s Classic Rock, this title from 1976 is surely a Must Own.

On this copy, you get richness and warmth, front and center immediacy, extension up top and down low, and loads of energy. The synths have texture, the guitars are full-bodied and the bottom end is nice and meaty.

The soundfield is especially open and transparent, with three-dimensional space that brings out the trippy effects the band threw in all over the place. When they sound this good, they really work some Seventies Analog Magic. (more…)

Paul McCartney – Wings at the Speed of Sound

More Paul McCartney

More Beatles

  • Killer sound throughout this vintage Capitol pressing of Wings’ follow-up to Venus and Mars, with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • This copy has a “cinematic” quality – it’s just plain bigger, with more depth to the soundfield, and more energy than we remember from the last time we did the shootout
  • The big hits, “Let ‘Em In” and “Silly Love Songs,” as well as minor gems such as “Beware My Love,” are outstanding here, with good body and a smoother, more natural, but still extended top end
  • The right stampers are key on this title, and these are definitely the right ones
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
  • “…At the Speed of Sound ostensibly invites the listener to spend a day with McCartney and Wings—a day in which the listener is gently harangued as well as entertained.” – Rolling Stone

The better copies such as this one had the qualities that really make the songs come to life and give you a taste of the old McCartney magic.

Import Vs. Domestic

We’ve played plenty of both and in our experience the best domestic pressings are clearly superior. This is not true for many of McCartney’s albums but it is definitely true for this Wings at the Speed of Sound and his first, McCartney.

The copies that were flatter, more transistory, more opaque, less present; the ones that had no real extension up high or down low, or little in the way of Tubey Magic — here we are basically describing the all-too-common typical pressing — simply did not make the cut and ended up in the trade pile. That’s not our sound and never has been.

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The Beach Boys – The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album

More of The Beach Boys

  • With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, this early Capitol pressing could not be beat
  • This copy gets the midrange right, and since that is where The Beach Boys’ voices are, that puts it ahead of everything else we heard
  • What’s shocking to those of us who have played The Beach Boys records by the bucketful is how rich and open the best pressings of this album are
  • You will have an awfully hard time finding another Beach Boys album that sounds as good as this one, and you may just find that it simply can’t be done
  • 4 stars: “This mix of favorites and originals makes this a balanced holiday album that should please both Beach Boys admirers and those unfamiliar with the group
  • This is our pick for The Beach Boys’ best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best recording by an artist or group can be found here on the blog.

Having done this for so long, we understand and appreciate that rich, full, solid, Tubey Magical sound is key to the presentation of this primarily vocal music. We rate these qualities higher than others we might be listening for (e.g., bass definition, soundstage, depth, etc.). The music is not so much about the details in the recording, but rather in trying to recreate solid, palpable, and real Beach Boys singing live in your listening room. The best copies have an uncanny way of doing just that.

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The Association – Insight Out

More of The Association

  • An Insight Out like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be amazed at how big and rich the sound is
  • The Tubey Magical sound, the lively, tight playing by The Wrecking Crew, not to mention some killer chart topping 60s pop, make this the Association album to own
  • With this copy the Sound of the Sixties will fill your room like never before – wall to wall, floor to ceiling, with layers upon layers of analog depth
  • These original Gold Label stereo pressings are potentially the best sounding, with the ideal balance of richness and transparency
  • Potentially – again, the label is no guarantee of top quality sound, only proper cleaning and careful shootouts can do that
  • “The harmonies and choruses are among the most beautifully textured singing in a rock outfit this side of the Beach Boys.”
  • One of our favorite Sixties pop records

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Dionne Warwick / Very Dionne

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Recordings

More Recordings Engineered by Phil Ramone

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout this vintage Scepter pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in years)
  • This side one is superb – the bass is tight and punchy, the strings have lots of texture, and the background vocals are clean and clear, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • The midrange is full of that old analog Tubey Magic (particularly on side one), courtesy of Larry Levine and Phil Ramone, the kind that has completely disappeared from the modern record (even the modern reissue of a vintage record)
  • Note that the first track on side one simply does not sound good for some reason – we’re not sure what happened there but a screwup in the studio is our guess
  • “The album’s wide variety of styles summed up much of what made Warwick’s back catalog so universally appealing. In addition to a handful of new Burt Bacharach and Hal David sides, the platter boasts tasteful reworkings of pop music staples. One unmitigated zenith is ‘I Got Love’ from the Ossie Davis Broadway production Purlie. Once again, Warwick — under [Marty] Paich’s direction — equals if not surpasses Melba Moore’s stage presentation.”

Folks, don’t expect to see records like this coming to the site too often. We can’t find them anymore in this kind of clean condition, so if you like the lovely Ms Warwick, consider taking this one home and giving her (the record, not Dionne) a spin on your table.

Notice how the limiter on Dionne’s microphone is working overtime. She is practically shouting into it but it never seems to get much louder. Still the energy and the passion come through clearly. That’s the sign of a well-recorded vocal track.

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The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

More of the Music of The Beach Boys

  • A Pet Sounds like you’ve never heard, with stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from start to finish – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • Fairly quiet for this pressing – noisy vinyl is the rule, not the exception
  • 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
  • The Beach Boys revolutionized the popular music of the day with their genius for harmony, and a copy like this has their voices sounding the way they should
  • 5 stars: “The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound.”

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Spandau Ballet – True

More Spandau Ballet

More Pure Pop Recordings

  • Boasting two surprisingly rich and natural – dare we say Analog? – sides, this early UK Chrysalis pressing had the sound we were looking for on the band’s third studio album
  • Forget the dubby domestic pressings and 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 Brit Pop album, an import pressing like this one is the only way to go
  • “… a set of tunes aimed squarely at the charts. The one that succeeded most spectacularly, of course, was the title cut, a glossily-updated Motown-style ballad that became one of the decade’s biggest hits – aided by a video that cast singer Tony Hadley as a young Frank Sinatra, crooning about the sound of his soul.”
  • This is clearly the band’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here on the blog
  • In our opinion, True is the only Spandau Ballet record you’ll ever need. Click on this link to see more titles we like to call one and done

Forget the dubby domestic pressings. Like so many British bands on the Chrysalis label, when it came time to master the album for our domestic market, not theirs, the people in charge (whoever they may have been) took the easy way out and simply ordered up a dub of the tape to send across the pond.

Too many wonderful albums by highly accomplished bands had their records ruined by sub-generation masters. (Ruined for audiophiles. The general public couldn’t care less.)

But this is the real British-pressed vinyl from the real master tape, and that makes all the difference in the world. It 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.

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Whitney Houston – Whitney

More Whitney Houston

  • A vintage Arista pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in close to three years) with surprisingly natural sound for an 80s release, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades from first note to last – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Full-bodied, big, rich and solid, this album has the kind of analog sound we did not expect to find, but were pleasantly surprised, thank goodness
  • Lot of hits here: “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”
  • 4 stars: “Whitney Houston became an international star with this album. It sold more than ten million copies around the world, yielded a string of number one hit singles across the board…”

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