A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame.
Guaranteed to MURDER any Pink Label Island original you have ever heard – these are the Hot Stampers.
Folks, this is the best copy we are going to have on the site for a very long time. It took years and hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get this shootout going and this killer copy is the result. (more…)
Our 2-pack sets combine two copies of the same album, with at least a Super Hot Stamper sonic grade on the better of each “good” side, which simply means you have before you a pair of records that offers superb sound for the entire album. (more…)
know of. Tons of bass too. We also quite like the big drums and meaty guitars he was able to bring to XTC’s English Settlement (a record we just never see anymore; wonder where they all went?). (more…)
A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame.
A+++ MASTER TAPE SOUND ON BOTH SIDES! This smokin’ hot British pressing just couldn’t be beat in our huge (and very enjoyable) shootout. The sound on this bad boy positively JUMPS out of the speakers and fills the room! Both sides are incredibly big and bold with superb clarity, amazing transparency, considerable dynamics and loads of energy. The sound is ridiculously full-bodied with texture and weight to all the various elements. If you’re a fan of this album, widely regarded as Gabriel’s masterpiece, your mind is going to be BLOWN. (more…)
A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame and a Forgotten Classic from Peter Gabriel.
This British Charisma Pink Label original has As Good As It Gets (AGAIG) White Hot Stamper sound for side one! And mostly quiet vinyl on both sides. Man, does it ever ROCK. The sound just jumps out of the speakers.
The overall sound is rich, warm, and full-bodied with incredibly punchy drums. We just could not believe how right this copy sounded — we rated it A+++ for its tonally correct, super-low distortion Master Tape Sound. (more…)
This original pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even 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…)
Yet another in the long list of recordings that really comes alive when you Turn Up Your Volume.
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 second track on side two, Demon Lover, 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. (more…)
This is Mike Chapman’s Big Beat Sonic Masterpiece — yes, bigger and better than Parallel Lines — akin to the debuts of The Knack and The Cars, and every bit as huge and punchy as either.
Eat to the Beat lives and dies by its energy, its bass and above all by its transient snap. The drums and bass of Die Young Stay Pretty are as real sounding as if you were standing five feet in front of a the band. On the best copies it’s hard to imagine that song sounding any better. The drum and bass are massive in their attack. It’s the very definition of punch. (more…)
This vintage British pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even 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.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds. (more…)
We’ve been wandering around in the dark for more than a decade with Bridge of Sighs — that is, until we found a clean early UK Chrysalis pressing. Now we know just how good this album can sound, and that means astonishingly good. The three-dimensional space is really something else on the better UK copies. (more…)
