Labels We Love – Chrysalis

Genesis – Trespass

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Only the second Shootout Winning copy to ever hit the site and boy is it KILLER! Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
About as quiet as these British copies come – Mint Minus Minus throughout
“… “tasteful, subtle and refined” – Melody Maker

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.

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…)

Steeleye Span – Commoners Crown – We Love Dynamic Choruses, and These Are Amazing!

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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…)

Blondie – Eat To The Beat

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Incredible sound for this followup to Parallel Lines with both sides earning a Triple Plus (A+++)!
Turn it up as loud as you want – the top end and vocals are balanced, smooth and tonally correct, not gritty or edgy
The drums and bass of Die Young Stay Pretty are as real sounding as if you were standing five feet from the band
4 1/2 stars on Allmusic:The British… made Eat to the Beat another chart-topper, with three major hits, including a number one ranking for Atomic and almost the same success for Dreaming.

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…)

Genesis – Foxtrot

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This early Peter-Gabriel-led Genesis album from 1972 boasts killer Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
One of the toughest in the catalog to find with good sound and quiet surfaces – you need the right UK pressing to even be in the ballpark – but this copy delivers the proggy goods like gangbusters
5 stars: “Foxtrot is where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound – which doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is streamlined, for this is a group that always was grandiose even when they were cohesive, or even when they rocked, which they truly do for the first time here. This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it’s a pinnacle of the genre because of it.”

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.

Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs on Awesome UK Vinyl

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Two outstanding sides rating Double to Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) for sound, coming in just behind our shootout winner – quiet vinyl too
This glorious early UK pressing is huge, rich and punchy, with guitar solos that soar like few others you’ve heard
Brilliant engineering by Geoff Emerick at George Martin’s AIR studios – maybe the best sounding album Emerick ever made
Top 100 (soon), AMG: “Guitarist Robin Trower’s watershed sophomore solo disc remains his most stunning, representative, and consistent collection of tunes. Mixing obvious Hendrix influences with blues and psychedelia, then adding the immensely soulful vocals of James Dewar, Trower pushed the often limited boundaries of the power trio concept into refreshing new waters…”

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…)

Blondie – Parallel Lines – Our Four Plus Shootout Winner from 2016

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame.

Can this kind of music get any better? This album is a MASTERPIECE of Pure Pop, ranking right up there with The Cars first album. I can’t think of many albums from the era with the perfect blend of writing, production and musicianship Blondie achieved with Parallel Lines.

As expected, if you clean and play enough copies of a standard domestic major label album like this one, sooner or later you will stumble upon The One, and boy did we ever. This side two had OFF THE CHARTS with presence, breathy vocals, and punchy drums. It was positively swimming in studio ambience, with every instrument occupying its own space in the mix and surrounded by air. There was not a trace of grain, just the silky sweet highs we’ve come to expect from analog done right. (more…)

Peter Gabriel Names a Third Record After Himself

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An excellent pressing of Peter Gabriel’s third release, with strong Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
A Must Own for Gabriel fans, this album is widely considered his breakthrough work as a solo artist
Listen closely and you’ll recognize Phil Collins’ signature drum sound on several of the tracks, including “Intruder”
5 stars: “Generally regarded as Peter Gabriel’s finest record, his third eponymous album finds him coming into his own, crafting an album that’s artier, stronger, more song oriented than before.”

With this, his third release, Gabriel established himself as a true force in the rock world. (more…)

Jethro Tull – Forget the Pink Island Originals

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- Triple Plus (A+++) on side two and nearly as good on side one – this is one of the best copies to EVER hit the site
- We haven’t had any copies of this album at all up since 2013, and no White Hot copies since 2008 – it’s that tough to find
- Guaranteed to MURDER any Pink Label Island original you have ever heard – these are the Hot Stampers
- Melody Maker thoroughly recommended the album in 1968 for being “full of excitement and emotion” and described the band as a blues ensemble “influenced by jazz music” capable of setting “the audience on fire”. Wikipedia

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…)

Peter Gabriel – This Is Our Favorite of His First Four Releases

A KILLER shootout winning UK copy with Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides, on quiet vinyl too
The overall sound here is incredibly big and full, with punchy bass and energy that’s off the charts
Probably his most consistent recording, with the estimable Robert Fripp on guitar – some of his most innovative mainstream music
A 4 1/2 star: “…stunning slices of modern rock circa 1978, bubbling with synths, insistent rhythms, and polished processed guitars, all enclosed in a streamlined production that nevertheless sounds as large as a stadium.”

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This is one of our favorite Peter Gabriel albums around here, and may well be the best recording he ever made. The typical copy, though, barely hints at just how good this album can sound. Only the best early British pressings have any hope of sounding this good.

Thankfully the second PG album does not suffer from the digital spit, grit and hash of So and Security. It’s arguably his best recording overall with superb dynamics and a clean, punchy rock sound that perfectly fits the music. Some of the cymbal crashes on the hot copies of this album really CRASH.

This is The Peter Gabriel Rock and Roll Album. To my knowledge he never made another. (more…)

Peter Gabriel – The First Album – Our White Hot Shootout Winner

Our White Hot Shootout Winner for 2018

A stunning sounding copy with shootout winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
Killer throughout – bigger, bolder, more bass, more energy and presence, and the list goes on
Clearly the hardest of the first five PG records to find with good sound and decent vinyl, which is why these rarely make the site
“…much of the record teems with invigorating energy (as on Slowburn, or the orchestral-disco pulse of Down the Dolce Vita), and the closer “Here Comes the Flood” burns with an anthemic intensity that would later become his signature in the ’80s.”

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Tubey Magical Richness and breathy vocals are the hallmarks of a good British PG 1.

Unlike any that follow, the sound varies greatly from track to track on the first PG album, as does the music. You know you have a good copy when the best sounding tracks sound their best. That may seem like a tautology but is in fact the only way to judge a side when the songs sound this different from one another.

What to Listen For (WTLF)

On side one the fourth track, Excuse Me, with its barbershop quartet harmonies, has (potentially — it depends on how good your copy is) Demo Disc Quality Sound.

On side two of the best copies Waiting for the Big One will indeed be big, as well as powerful and above all dynamic.

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