Polydor

The Jam – Sound Affects

More New Wave

  • A Sound Affects like you’ve never heard, with excellent Double Plus (A++) grades throughout this vintage Polydor domestic pressing
  • Yes, you read that right – the early and later imports we played were by far the worst sounding pressings in our shootout
  • Both of these sides have energy and presence that positively jumps out of the speakers, two of the qualities that we prize most highly in our Hot Stampers, and two of things among many that Heavy Vinyl does so poorly
  • 5 stars: “From beginning to end, the songs are pure, clever, infectious pop – probably their catchiest – with ‘That’s Entertainment’ and the should-have-been-a-single ‘Man in the Corner Shop’ standing out.

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Phil Manzanera / Diamond Head (Polydor Pressing)

More of the Music of Roxy Music

  • With two outstanding Double Plus (A++) sides, this UK Polydor reissue is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Diamond Head you’ve heard, assuming you do not have one of our Hot Stamper Island pressings – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Demo Disc quality sound barely begins to describe the size and power of this recording
  • This album is an amazing sonic blockbuster, with sound that will leap right out of your speakers like practically nothing you have every heard
  • A shockingly well-recorded album from the ultra-talented Rhett Davies – this is his engineering masterpiece
  • Our long-standing advice for Diamond Head had been to avoid UK Polydor reissues, so imagine our surprise when we found this one holding its own against some of the Island LPs that we thought were in a league of their own
  • The domestics still suck, by the way, and take comfort in the fact that will never change
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Phil Manzanera’s first post-Roxy foray into solo albums is a terrific all-star affair that still holds up enormously well. Calling on favors from Roxy members present and past, and those from the Cambridge/British art rock scene, Manzanera assembled a supergroup for every song.”

The wind is at your back here because this is one seriously well-recorded album. If this copy doesn’t wake up your stereo nothing will.

Like its brother, 801 Live, this album is an amazing sonic blockbuster, with sound that positively leaps out of the speakers. Why shouldn’t it? It was engineered by the superbly talented Rhett Davies at Island, the genius behind Taking Tiger Mountain, the aforementioned 801 Live, Avalon, Dire Straits’ first album, and many many more.

If we could regularly find copies of this audiophile blockbuster (and frankly, if more people appreciated the album) it would definitely go on our Top 100 Rock and Pop List. In fact, it would easily make the Top Twenty from that list, it’s that good.

Looking for Tubey Magic? Rhett Davies is your man. Just think about the sound of the first Dire Straits album or Avalon. The better pressings of those albums — those with truly Hot Stampers — are swimming in it.

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John Mayall / The Turning Point – A Surprisingly Good Later Mayall Album

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • Here is a vintage Polydor pressing with two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This is a superb recording, something that cannot be said for most of Mayall’s output from this period (and none of his later albums, in our experience)
  • More importantly, this is some of the best music we have ever heard from the man – this is a very special group effort the likes of which we had never heard before
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – those on “So Hard To Share” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This album also signifies a distinct departure from the decibel-drowning electrified offerings of his previous efforts, providing instead an exceedingly more folk- and roots-based confab… [Jon] Mark’s precision and tasteful improvisational skills [on acoustic guitar] place this incarnation into heady spaces.”

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Roxy Music / Self-Titled

More of the Music of Roxy Music

  • This vintage UK pressing of Roxy’s amazing debut LP (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in twenty-two months) boasts KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout – this is some of the most dynamic sound the band achieved
  • Andy Hendriksen’s engineering (over the course of a week!) is superb in all respects – we think the best pressings of this first album reveal a recording that is superior to any other by the band
  • A Top 100 album, Roxy’s masterpiece, and a Must Own desert island disc of glamorous Arty Rock
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music’s eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock’s boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures.”
  • When it comes to rock and pop music in 1972, our picks for the best of the best, numbering at the moment a mere 21 titles, can be found here
  • This link will take you to the Hot Stamper pressings of our hardest rockin’ albums currently available
  • Here are the titles that have earned a place on our none rocks harder list

Folks, this is a true Demo Disc in the world of Art Rock. It’s rare to find a recording of popular music with dynamics like these. The guitar solo at the end of “Ladytron” rocks like you will not believe.

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Jimi Hendrix – Hendrix In The West

More Jimi Hendrix

  • Hendrix in the West is back on the site for only the second time in over three years, here with incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound throughout this early UK import pressing, just shy of our Shootout Winner – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This is a fun live album with stellar performances by Jimi – the best of his many posthumous releases
  • The awesome version of “Little Wing” is just killer on this copy – it’s Jimi’s best performance of the song
  • 4 stars: “…it’s a hodge-podge, made of live tracks largely from 1969 and 1970. But it’s a bunch of great live tracks, including some real rarities… In the West is a great sampling of Hendrix’s late-period live material (and his sense of humor) making its long awaited appearance.”

We’re still surprised at how well recorded the album is. It takes a pressing like this to really show you the live Jimi Hendrix magic Eddie Kramer got onto tape. Drop the needle on “Little Wing” and you are going to be floored.

The size and space here are really something, miles beyond most. The resolution and clarity of the open live sound of this copy bring out all the instrumental textures and details of the recording like few we played. More importantly, the extended top keeps the highs from getting hard or harsh the way they do on so many pressings we’ve played.

As these performances are culled from different concerts, the sound varies a bit from track to track, but every track on here sounds good and the best tracks sound amazing.

Almost Famous

It’s hard to understand why this album isn’t more widely known. The performances are great and the sound is excellent for a vintage live recording.

Naturally not every copy sounds as good as this one. We heard a lot of pressings with too much grit and grain, and many that badly lacked presence. When I play a live album, I want to feel like I am there at the show (and to do that I set the volume accordingly, of course) but with most copies that just isn’t possible.

Thanks to Eddie Kramer’s amazing engineering, this album will have Jimi playing live in your listening room, and what a thrill it is to hear it all these years later (and on dramatically better equipment).

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Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced

More Jimi Hendrix

  • This UK Polydor import pressing will blow you away with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “huge and fat and tubey”…”super present and 3D”…”so full and big and weighty”…”great energy”…”HTF [hard to fault]” (side one)…”vox present and breathy”…”rich and lively”
  • The sound is dramatically bigger, cleaner, livelier, richer, tubier, more present and more energetic than you’ll hear on any other copy, or your money back
  • Stunning sound for “Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Fire,” “Foxy Lady” and every other song on his brilliant debut
  • No matter what version you’ve been playing, we guarantee you’ll be blown away by the Master Tape Sound found on this import and only this import
  • 5 stars: “One of the most stunning debuts in rock history, and one of the definitive albums of the psychedelic era.”

It is no easy task trying to find good copies of this album (or any Hendrix album, really). This one is absolutely killer. The bottom end is big and weighty, the top is open and transparent, and there’s plenty of rich, full tubey magic. Good luck finding this kind of sound for Are You Experienced on your own — it took us DECADES! (more…)

On King Crimson’s Red Album, How Good Are the Polydor Pressings?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of King Crimson Available Now

Harsh and congested.

Not remotely competitive with the British originals.

Clean copies on the UK Island label may be hard to find, but they are the only game in town if you are serious about sound.

Want to find your own killer copy?

Consider taking the following moderately helpful advice.

As of 2024, shootouts for this album should be carried out:

How else can you expect to hear the record sound its best?

Based on our experience, Red sounds better:

That’s about it. They are neither easy nor cheap to find, but they are definitely the best sounding.

There’s more collecting help where that came from. Click on the top link below to learn about the pressings that win shootouts.

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Roxy Music – Flesh + Blood

More Roxy Music

More Art Rock Records

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them from top to bottom, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this original British pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in three years)
  • Believe it or not, no copies in our most recent shootout, aside from the two shootout winners, had even Super Hot stampers on both sides, which was surprising since we know the right stampers and there were plenty of them in the shootout
  • If you need top quality sound, and assuming it takes as long to get our next shootout going as it did this last one, please check back with us in 2027
  • No domestic LP or import from any other country has ever been better than passable – we should know, we’ve been cleaning and playing every kind of pressing we could find for this title for forty years
  • Credit as always goes to the brilliant engineering of Roxy’s go-to guy, Rhett Davies
  • Flesh + Blood is the precursor to Avalon, with much the same style and sound – some of Roxy’s best material and biggest hits are here

Best Tracks

This is a transitional album. Some of it sounds like Avalon (“Oh Yeah,” “Over You,” etc) and some of it sounds more like their earlier material. It may not be as consistent as Avalon but it’s well worth owning for its best songs (listed below) and highly recommended for fans of the band.

Standout tracks on side one include In the Midnight Hour / Oh Yeah / My Only Love

Standout tracks on side two include Over You / Eight Miles High / Rain, Rain, Rain

Adventures in Music and Sound

AMG calls Roxy Music the “most adventurous rock band of the early 70s” and I’m inclined to agree with them. Roxy are certainly one of the most influential and important bands in my growth as a music lover and audiophile, joining the ranks of Supertramp, Ambrosia, 10cc, Steely Dan, Yes, Bowie and countless others, musicians and bands who seemed to me dedicated to exploring and exploding the conventions of popular music.

My equipment was forced to evolve in order to be able to play the scores of challenging recordings issued by these groups in the 70s.

You could say that the albums of Roxy Music and others informed not only my taste in music but the actual stereo I play that music on. I’ve had large scale dynamic speakers for the last four decades, precisely in order to play records like this, the kind of music I fell in love with more than forty years ago.

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The Jam – All Mod Cons

More Rock and Pop

More New Wave

  • An early UK pressing of All Mod Cons (only the second copy to ever hit the site) with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • We guarantee that you have never heard these songs sound as big, bold and alive as they do here
  • “In 2000, Q placed All Mod Cons at number 50 on its list of the ‘100 Greatest British Albums Ever.’ In 2013, NME ranked All Mod Cons at number 219 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” – Wikipedia
  • 5 stars: “Terms like ‘classic’ are often bandied about, but in the case of All Mod Cons, it is certainly deserved.”

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Brian Eno – Music for Films

More Brian Eno

More Art Rock Records

  • Music for Films returns to the site on this original UK pressing with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last
  • Rich, smooth, tonally correct, spacious, this collection of recordings made between 1975 and 1978 was compiled and transferred with consummate skill, ensuring that the highest fidelity was maintained – this pressing sounds right
  • 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
  • “It is a conceptual work intended as a soundtrack for imaginary films, although many of the pieces had already appeared in actual films.”
  • 5 stars: “Eno’s analog music definitely benefits from presentation in the digital domain… it is essential Eno, and a landmark collection drawn from among his work.”

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