Labels We Love – Vanguard

The Weavers At Carnegie Hall, Vol. 2 Is Bad News in Mono

Hot Stamper Pressings of Live Recordings Available Now

We recently did a shootout for this famous Weavers album. These are just a few of the things we had to say about our shootout winner in the notes:

“Tubey and 3D and weighty”…”very full and detailed vox”…”sweet and tubey and present”…”so much space and bass.” Both of these sides are rich and full, Tubey Magical, and tonally correct from top to bottom. The sound is big and open, with the performers front and center (as well as left and right).

Our notes for the early red label mono pressing we played noted that it was “crude, congested and awful.” There are plenty of mono pressings on Vanguard with excellent sound, but this is not one of them.

Here is an extract from the stamper sheet showing the sonic notes and the stamper numbers of the mono pressing we played.

Crude and congested vocals? On a Weavers record? What could be worse?

We didn’t even bother to play side two. Why waste any more time on such an awful sounding record?

When the voice is wrong, you my friend have yourself a completely worthless piece of vinyl.  (Other titles that get the voice wrong and therefore should be avoided by audiophiles of all stripes can be found here.)

The world is full of old records that just sound like old records. We’ve suffered through them by the tens of thousands. (Yes, you read that right. We play thousands of records every year, and we’ve been doing it for more than two decades . They add up!)

Our website, as well as this blog, are devoted to helping audiophiles find pressings that don’t sound anything like the millions of run-of-the-mill LPs that were stamped out with little regard for sound quality for more than seven decades.

Even a million dollar stereo can’t make the average record sound good, and the more accurate and revealing the system, the more limited and lifeless the average record will show itself to be.

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Mississippi John Hurt – The Best of…

More Blues

  • Insanely good sound on all four sides with each earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl for the most part too
  • As is often the case with old records, the title is misleading – this is simply a live recording from 1965 of MJH accompanied by his guitar running through a batch of his favorite folky blues songs
  • “Hurt was remarkably consistent as a performer… the skill and delivery is always steady, professional, and charming. Among the highlights in this set is his intricate and atmospheric slide guitar work on “Talking Casey,” one of the few times Hurt abandoned his trademark three-finger guitar picking style.” 

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Joan Baez – Self-Titled in Mono

More Pure Folk Recordings

  • Excellent sound for Baez’s debut album, with both sides of this early MONO Vanguard pressing earning Double Plus (A++) grades
  • Both of these sides boast glorious All Tube chain recording quality that will be very hard to beat
  • One of Joan Baez’s best sounding albums in our experience, shockingly free of artificiality – play it against your favorite female vocal album to hear the difference
  • A TAS list Super Disc that actually deserves to be on a Super Disc list, how about that
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings, 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
  • 140 weeks on the charts and Five Stars on AMG: “…a brace of traditional songs (most notably ‘East Virginia’ and ‘Mary Hamilton’) with an urgency and sincerity that makes the listener feel as though they were being sung for the first time…”

This former member of the TAS list is the kind of recording that has everything going for it: Golden Age equipment in a live acoustic with a simple arrangement for voice and guitar (or two).

The voice and the material come together nicely. If I were to recommend only one Joan Baez record it would surely have to be this one. Diamonds and Rust is a nice pop album but I think if you go back and play it today you will find that it sounds somewhat dated. Good folk tunes like the ones found on this album, however, never seem to go out of style.

The record sounds like a live demo session because that is exactly what it is:

In 1983 Baez described the making of the album to Rolling Stone’s Kurt Loder:”…It took four days. We recorded it in the ballroom of some hotel in New York, way up by the river. We could use the room every day except Tuesday, because they played Bingo there on Tuesdays. It was just me on this filthy rug. There were two microphones, one for the voice and one for the guitar. I just did my set. It was probably all I knew how to do at that point. I did ‘Mary Hamilton’ once and that was it…That’s the way we made ’em in the old days. As long as a dog didn’t run through the room or something, you had it…”

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This Joan Baez Album Is Bad News in Mono

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Joan Baez Available Now

Here is how we described the sound of one of the better stereo pressings we played recently:

Both sides of this early Stereo Vanguard pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in years) were doing just about everything right, earning superb grades on both sides.

You get pure, rich, sweet, Tubey Magical analog sound from first note to last, with Baez’s remarkably present and breathy vocals front and center where they should be.

The monos we played, however, just sounded like old records, and not very good ones at that.

Thin and edgy vocals? On a Joan Baez record? What could be worse?

When the voice is wrong on a Joan Baez record, you have yourself a completely worthless piece of vinyl.  (Other titles that get the voice wrong and therefore should be avoided by audiophiles of all stripes can be found here.)

We also noted that the sound may be weighty, but it’s not rich. That lack of richness is what is causing Joan’s voice to sound thin and edgy.

Full of Them

Most record collections are full of these kinds of records. They just sit on shelves, never getting played because the sound is not good enough to make the music interesting.

Only an old school audio system can hide the faults of a pressing such as this one. The world is full of those too, even though they might comprise all the latest and most expensive components.

The mono pressings of this title are hopeless. For other albums that don’t sound good in mono, click here.

If you see this album in mono at a garage sale, don’t even waste a buck on it. Not even a quarter. It’s just not worth the vinyl it’s pressed on.

More on the subject of mono versus stereo.

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The Weavers – At Carnegie Hall, Vol. 2

More Live Recordings of Interest

  • The Weavers At Carnegie Hall, Vol. 2 appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this original Stereo Vanguard pressing
  • These are just a few of the things we had to say about this stunning copy in our notes: “tubey and 3D and weighty”…”very full and detailed vox”…”sweet and tubey and present”…”so much space and bass”
  • Both of these sides are rich and full, Tubey Magical, and tonally correct from top to bottom
  • The sound is big and open, with the performers front and center (as well as left and right)
  • Our notes for the early red label mono pressing we played noted that it was “crude, congested and awful.”
  • There are plenty of mono pressings on Vanguard with excellent sound, but this is not one of them
  • 4 1/2 stars: “By April 1, 1960 [at the time of the album’s recording]…the Weavers had overcome the loss of Pete Seeger and fully integrated his replacement, Erik Darling, who proved a banjo virtuoso and exuberant humorist (listen to his kazoo solo on “Bill Bailey Come Home”). They had an excellent act, mixing old favorites dating back to the days of the Almanac Singers (“The Sinking of the Reuben James”) and newer songs that would become standards of the folk boom (“Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream).”

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Vivaldi / The Four Seasons / I Solisti Di Zagreb / Janigro

More of the Music of Antonio Vivaldi

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, this superb Vanguard recording of one of our favorite performances of the work (and only one of a handful of copies to hit the site in over three years) will be very hard to beat
  • Side two of this pressing has all the qualities that make analog so involving and pleasurable – the warmth, the richness, the naturalness, and above all the realism, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • The sound here has the power to transport you completely, with solid imaging and a real sense of space, qualities that allow us to forget we are in our listening rooms and not in the concert hall (particularly on side two)
  • There is a long story to be told about how this recording compares to the famous Living Stereo (LSC 2424), but the short version is that we may just prefer it for the phenomenal immediacy and richness it exhibits in the midrange
  • The dubious vinyl these records are pressed on is the main reason it has sometimes taken us ten years to do a shootout for this potentially amazing sounding LP
  • The bottom line: we know of no better recording of the work, and if you can stand some ticks, you are in for a very special sonic and musical treat
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

Paul Shoemaker wrote about this recording:

Nothing I have heard changes my view that the best Seasons ever was performed by Jan Tomasow and I Solisti di Zagreb and beautifully recorded by Vanguard at the very beginning of the stereo era. If you have almost every other version of the Seasons, you’ll want this one, too.

Folks, we have some good news for those of you who have been waiting for one of the best-sounding, most beautifully performed Four Seasons ever recorded. Let’s just say that this small ensemble recording is as close to perfect as any we have ever heard. The harpsichord is especially good on the Vanguard recording, better than the RCA I would venture. Its placement in the soundfield is subtly natural, precisely the way one would expect to hear it in performance.

All four movements are performed with great spirit, and other than a sour note right at the start — listen for it! — the playing is of the highest quality. I prefer the performance — slightly — to the famous RCA. (more…)

Joan Baez – Joan

More Folky Rock

  • Both sides of this vintage Stereo Vanguard pressing boast very good Hot Stamper grades
  • We guarantee there is 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
  • We run across a clean stereo copy of this album (the only ones that do justice to these complex arrangements as far as we’re concerned) maybe once a year, which why you rarely see it on the site
  • “In 1967, rock, folk, folk-rock, and pop all seemed to be headed in new and ever-more-ornate directions, and Joan was a response to that change and, not coincidentally, is also the most self-consciously beautiful record that Baez ever cut.”

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Country Joe & The Fish – Electric Music For The Mind and Body

More Country Joe and the Fish

More Psych Rock

  • This outstanding pressing on the early Stereolab label boasts Double Plus (A++) sound or very close to it on both sides
  • The overall sound here is rich, full-bodied and lively, with solid and present vocals, as well as excellent clarity all around
  • A very difficult record to find with good sound and clean surfaces, which is why we rarely have them on the site
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Their full-length debut is their most joyous and cohesive statement and one of the most important and enduring documents of the psychedelic era …”
  • If you’re a fan of Country Joe, a Hot Stamper pressing of their classic release from 1967 might just belong in your collection.

Vintage covers for this album are hard to find in clean shape. Most of them will have at least some amount of ringwear, seam wear and edge wear. We guarantee that the cover we supply with this Hot Stamper is at least VG, and it will probably be VG+. If you are picky about your covers please let us know in advance so that we can be sure we have a nice cover for you.

First, a little background on the general sound of Electric Music For The Mind and Body, the band’s debut and an album that is widely considered a true psych masterpiece. Most copies of the album have an unfortunate tendency to be boosted in the midrange, and on top of that they are often veiled and lack space.

Both sides here do a much better job in these areas than most of what we played, which, frankly, was not too good. These sides may not be perfect but they communicate the music well and that counts for a lot in our world.

And to be fair some of the album is actually quite well-recorded, “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine” being probably the best sounding (and best arranged) track on the record.

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Ohm Stereo Imaging Demonstration Record – Potentially Superb Sound

This review is from 2008. If you see one of these in the record bins, pick it up, it won’t cost you much.

This Ohm LP has tracks from some of the world’s finest superdisks such as Flamenco Fever, Hot Stix and For Duke. It also includes various selections from Vanguard. The last copy I played had SUPERB sound.

Note especially the first track on side two performed by the PDQ Bach Ensemble — it’s truly DEMONSTRATION QUALITY. 

The record is pressed on Teldec Virgin Vinyl. The back cover features extensive liner notes, explaining what to listen for on each of these unique selections.

I was heartened to see Gino Vannelli’s name on one of the tracks, taken from Powerful People, a personal favorite of mine.

The album was mastered by none other than Bill Kipper, one of our favorite mastering engineers. We discussed his work in a previous listing:

Think what a different audio world it would be if we still had Bill Kipper with us today, along with the amazingly accurate and resolving cutting system he used at Masterdisk.

As far as we can tell, there are no records being produced today that sound remotely as good as this budget subscription disc.

Furthermore, to my knowledge no record this good has been cut for more than thirty years. The world is awash in mediocre remastered records and we want nothing to do with any of them, not when there are so many good vintage pressings still to be discovered and enjoyed.

The likes of Bill Kipper are no longer with us, but we can be thankful that we still have the records he and so many talented others mastered all those years ago, to enjoy now and for countless years to come.

Keep in mind that it’s all but impossible to wear out a record these days with modern, properly set up equipment, no matter how often you play it.

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Doc Watson – Home Again

More Doc Watson

More Folk Revival Music

Want to find your own shootout winner? Scroll to the bottom to see our advice on doing just that.

  • This outstanding pressing boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • Here is the in-the-room performance intimacy that will surely bring Doc’s music to life in a way you’ve never heard before
  • If you own the veiled, opaque, recessed, ambience-challenged Cisco remaster, you are in for a treat – our Hot Stamper is none of those things!
  • “[H]is most affecting folk-style record, with unexpectedly warm vocals matched to the quiet virtuosity of his playing. [The album] features Watson performing lively, achingly beautiful renditions of popular folk standards. All are played with very imposing dexterity by Watson, joined by his son Merle and Russ Savakus on upright bass.

This vintage Vanguard stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely begin to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back.

Having done this for so long, we understand and appreciate that rich, full, solid, tubey 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.). (more…)