Columbia/Epic

Columbia and Epic are labels we love.

Simon and Garfunkel – Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

More of the Music of Simon and Garfunkel

  • A Parsley, Sage… like you’ve never heard, with excellent Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on both sides of this vintage Stereo 360 pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Their best recording, a Top 100 album and a Demo Disc for Tubey Magical voices and guitars (particularly on side one)
  • Especially smooth, present, breathy vocals (also particularly on side one) – this is the sound we love here at Better Records
  • Having played them by the hundreds, we’ve found that midrange presence and resolution are precisely what go missing on the modern Heavy Vinyl reissue, and that if those qualities are important to you, vintage vinyl is the only solution to your problem
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…an achievement akin to the Beatles’ Revolver or the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album, and just as personal and pointed as either of those records at their respective bests.”
  • Fans of this folky duo should definitely find a place for this 1966 release, which is also their best sounding album
  • One specific set of stampers always win our shootouts, and when you hear them you will know why – the sound is big, rich and clear like no other
  • We’ve discovered a number of titles in which one stamper always wins, and here are some others

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Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, we guarantee you’ve never heard Midnight Love sound this good – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Drop the needle on “Sexual Healing” then sit back and relax as the rich, warm sound of analog sets the mood!
  • There’s good frequency extension up top and down low, with plenty of meaty bass and silky highs (check out those bells)
  • 4 stars: “Midnight Love is a classic Marvin Gaye effort. In addition to this project thriving with Gaye’s enthusiastic spirit, it has his harmonious background vocals, his stunning vocal arrangements and his creative penmanship, as he wrote all the selections.”

This copy has two qualities which are essential for this music to really work its soulful magic: silky vocals and a BIG meaty bottom end.

Check out all the texture to the synths on Turn On Some Music – this is a highly resolving pressing which takes Marvin Gaye’s music — the last he would make before his death — to another level.

Many copies of Midnight Love suffer from a phony hi-fi-ish quality, sacrificing much of the warmth that is the all-important hallmark of analog. Is that any way to listen to this great Soul Classic? (My sources say no.)

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Journey – Captured

More Live Recordings of Interest

  • Journey’s 2-LP live album debuts on the site with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on all FOUR sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Guaranteed to be a huge improvement over anything you’ve heard, these pressings are big, punchy, and full-bodied – Steve Perry’s leads really soar
  • Spaciousness, richness and freedom from grit and grain are key to the best pressings, and here you will find all three
  • “‘Separate Ways’ and ‘Faithfully’ were still a few years away, but the band had plenty of hits by this time and they blast through them all, including a blistering version of ‘Any Way You Want It.’ The band [is] in rare form and vocalist Steve Perry uses Captured as his coming out, while the thousands of diehards sweating in the blistering sun give the album an underlying hum of energy that tops even Perry’s.” 

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The Clash – London Calling

More of The Clash

  • A vintage UK import with incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on all FOUR sides – just shy of our Shootout Winner (side four actually won the shootout) – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Guaranteed to be a huge improvement over anything you’ve heard, this Brit is big, punchy, and full-bodied with excellent presence
  • A shockingly well-recorded album that comes to life with the combo of a great copy and a hi-res, full-range system
  • 5 stars: “A stunning statement of purpose and one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever recorded.”

Audiophile sound for this punk rock classic?! You better believe it, baby! The sound here is superb for all four sides.

What really sets this album apart sonically is The Clash’s use of reggae and dub influences. You can really hear it when you tune in to the bottom end; your average late 70s punk record won’t have this kind of rich and meaty bass, that’s for sure. Drop the needle on “The Guns Of Brixton” (last track on side two) to hear exactly what I’m talking about. On a Hot Stamper copy played at the correct levels (read: quite loud!) the effect is positively HYPNOTIC.

Bill Price engineered and as we like to say, he knocked this one out of the park. The best sounding record from 1979? I have the feeling it just might be.

Nobody would have accused The Clash of being an audiophile-friendly band, but a copy like this might make you think twice about that! We had a blast doing this shootout and we hope whoever takes this home has just as much fun with it.

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Santana – Caravanserai

More of the Music of Santana

  • Solid Double Plus (A++) sound brings Santana’s 1972 release to life on this vintage Columbia pressing (one of only a handful of copies to ever hit the site)
  • The sonics are rich, full-bodied and musical with punchy drums and guitar solos that really get loud
  • Remarkable transparency – you hear into the huge, deep soundfield with almost nothing between you and the musicians
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – those on “Future Primitive” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…make no mistake: this is one of Santana’s finest accomplishments.

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Donovan – Wear Your Love Like Heaven

More Donovan

  • An Epic Yellow Label copy of Donovan’s 1967 release with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • This pressing was a big step up from practically all of what we played – it’s guaranteed to put Donovan right in the room with you
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… one of the brightest, most pleasant works Donovan ever recorded… Donovan’s voice is better than ever, playful and unassuming…”
  • If you’re a Donovan fan, this vintage pressing from 1967 surely belong in your collection

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Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith

More Judas Priest

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish, we guarantee you’ve never heard Defenders of the Faith sound this good
  • If you want to hear this music explode out of the speakers and come to life the way the band wanted you to hear it, this record will do the trick
  • These sides are bigger and richer and have more of the rock solid energy that’s missing from the average copy
  • 4 stars: “…there’s a remarkably high percentage of hidden gems waiting to be unearthed, making Defenders possibly the most underrated record in Priest’s catalog.”

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Thelonious Monk / Monk’s Blues

More Thelonious Monk

  • Seriously good Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER brings Monk’s 1969 release to life on this vintage Stereo 360 pressing – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides are rich, full and open throughout, with excellent transparency and real weight to the piano
  • This is not your typical Monk album – here he joins a big band, conducted by the great Oliver Nelson
  • It’s an interesting collaboration that may not succeed in every way, but it’s certainly a fun listen and even more so when you have an outstanding copy like this one
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you

I wish more Blue Note records had this kind of sound — natural, full-bodied, and sweet up top. The bass here is well-defined with real weight and lots of punch. Monk’s piano sounds correct from the highest notes all the way down to the lower register, and Charlie Rouse‘s sax sounds just right — totally free of the “RVG squawk” we often hear on some Blue Notes. The clarity and transparency are superb throughout.

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John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, and Paco De Lucia – Passion, Grace and Fire

More Guitar Jazz

  • Passion, Grace and Fire makes its Hot Stamper debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Fast and clean, yet still full-bodied and natural, this is exactly the way you want your analog guitar battle to sound, which is why this copy won our Shootout!
  • The guitars are surprisingly real here – energetic, solid and present
  • 4 stars: “Passion, Grace and Fire, If this can be considered a guitar ‘battle’ (some of the playing is ferocious and these speed demons do not let up too often), then the result is a three-way tie. This guitar summit lives up to its title.”

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Poco – Self-Titled

More Country and Country Rock

  • Poco’s Masterpiece of Country Prog Rock returns to the site for the first time in years, here with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from start to finish
  • These are just a few of the things we had to say about this stunning copy in our notes: “very rich bass and vox”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”full, breathy and 3D”…”lots of space”…”huge and open and tubey”…”dynamic guitar”
  • Big, rich, energetic, with an abundance of Analog Tubey Magic, this original Yellow Label Epic pressing has exactly the right sound for this music
  • A bonafide Desert Island Disc and 4 stars on the AMG: “These songs represent the group’s blend of country and rock at its finest and brightest, with the happy harmonies of ‘Hurry Up’ and ‘Keep on Believin” totally irresistible. Jim Messina’s ‘You Better Think Twice’ is a perfectly constructed and arranged song, one that should have been a huge hit but mysteriously never found its place in the Top 40 pantheon.”
  • When it comes to rock and pop music in 1970, our picks for the best of the best, numbering less than 30 titles, can be found here.

Poco’s second album is an unusual blend of country-rock, with some long, jazzy instrumental breaks that center around Rusty Young’s pedal steel, which doesn’t sound like any pedal steel guitar you’ve ever heard. It’s played with a wah-wah pedal and, if that wasn’t enough, the resulting sound is sent through a Leslie organ speaker.

We know it sounds crazy, but it really works. There is nothing else like it on record, nothing that we’ve ever heard anyway.

Country Prog Rock

Most of side two is taken up by a single track, “Nobody’s Fool / El Tonto de Nadie, Regresa.” It’s a suite in which the band stretches out instrumentally in a somewhat proggy way, although one could make the case that Bluegrass music is all about “stretching out instrumentally.”

The extended forays are held together by the brilliant pedal steel playing throughout. I have the feeling that Jim Messina, who left the band shortly after this album was released, was the guiding force behind breaking out of the 3-minute pop song format that Poco began with. Whoever may be responsible, they deserve credit for making what is in our minds one of the best Country Rock / Country Prog records of all time.

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