Warner – Gold Label Winners

The Everly Brothers – The Golden Hits of The Everly Brothers on the Gold Label

More Sixties Pop

  • A killer sounding Gold Label WB Stereo LP with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Our early pressing here showed us a wonderfully Tubey Magical midrange for the Everlys that we’re pretty sure most audiophiles have never heard
  • So much good material here – “Cathy’s Clown,” “Crying In The Rain,” “So Sad,” “That’s Old Fashioned,” “Lucille,” etc.
  • “There are few sounds in American popular music more thrilling and sublimely satisfying than the harmonies of Don and Phil Everly…”

It took us a long time to find enough records to do this shootout. How many extremely popular 60+ year old records survived into the present era in such clean condition? We can’t be sure when the next shootout will be, but we can be pretty sure it won’t be any time soon.

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The Everly Brothers / The Very Best of The Everly Brothers

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More Sixties Pop Recordings

  • The Very Best of the Everly Brothers returns the site for only the second time in years on this vintage Stereo Gold Label pressing that boasts two solid Double Plus (A++) sides
  • Tubey Magic is the key to the sound of the best pressings, and we guarantee our early Gold Label pressings have the kind of Tubey Magic that no modern pressing of the last 40 years has been able to offer audiophiles
  • This 1961 compilation album allowed the brothers to re-record some of their Cadence hits, and to do it in stereo
  • Our recent shootout taught us something we had no idea would be true, but it’s one that doesn’t surprise us in the least – the earliest pressings can be very good, but they’re somewhat veiled, which means they are definitely not the best sounding
  • “There are few sounds in American popular music more thrilling and sublimely satisfying than the harmonies of Don and Phil Everly, the Everly Brothers, and this album features them singing a dozen great songs that have come to be associated with them.” – All Music

This compilation contains some real Warners recordings (from after 1960, when they signed with the label) mixed with some re-recordings of their best classic Cadence material, to make an album with as many hits and great songs as a single album can hold.

It took us about ten years to find the records for this shootout. Not sure when the next one will be, but we’re pretty sure it won’t be any time soon.

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Peter, Paul & Mary – A Song Will Rise

More Peter, Paul and Mary

More Folky Rock

  • A Song Will Rise is back on the site for only the second time in thirty-two months, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER throughout this early Gold Label stereo pressing
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be amazed at how big and rich the sound is
  • This copy is doing just about everything right – it’s clean, clear, dynamic and present with a lovely bottom end and lots of space around the instruments
  • Tubey Magic is key to the sound of the best pressings, and we guarantee our Gold Label originals have the kind of Tubey Magic that no modern pressing of the last 40 years has been able to offer the discriminating audiophile (with top quality playback)
  • “The fifth album, A Song Will Rise, appeared in March 1965. It was, in a sense, the last of a quartet of albums that made up the early Peter, Paul and Mary sound. Again employing two-acoustic-guitars-and-acoustic-bass instrumentation, it featured a combination of recent cover tunes, songs associated with the groups’ predecessors, such as the Weaver’s ‘Wasn’t That A Time,’ and a collection of revised traditional songs.”

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Peter, Paul & Mary / In The Wind

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Hot Stamper Pressings of TAS List Super Disc LPs in Stock

  • An original Gold Label stereo pressing of this TAS-approved Super Disc that was doing just about everything right, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • Exceptionally quiet vintage vinyl too – Gold Label pressings are almost never this quiet in our experience
  • The sound is big, open, rich and full, with the performers front and center (as well as left and right)
  • Very few folk records offer the kind of realistic, lifelike sound you get from this pressing
  • “Their third recording was one of the group’s stronger outings… In particular, this record was essential to boosting the profile of Bob Dylan, including their huge hit cover of ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ their Top Ten version of ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,’ and the bluesy ‘Quit Your Lowdown Ways’…”

Warners pressings are all over the map. When you find a good one, you can be pretty sure it’s the exception, not the rule. That’s been our experience anyway. This copy gives you more life and energy than others by a long shot. The highs are extended and silky sweet and the bass is tight and punchy.

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Petula Clark – These Are My Songs

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More Sixties Pop

  • An original WB Gold Label pressing with outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides offer huge space with lots of lovely analog reverb swirling around Pet’s vocals – with all due respect, it should MURDER whatever copies you may have
  • The big hit is “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” and it sounds Tubey Magically awesome here
  • For this era of recording, 1967, and for such a big production, the sound in these grooves is glorious

Not many original copies survived in clean enough condition to be played on today’s modern audiophile equipment, but we’re glad to report that this one did.

The better copies are huge, rich and Tubey Magical. They were definitely not going for AM Radio sound on These Are My Songs the way they did on some of her albums, and thank god for that. We’ve probably auditioned close to a dozen of Miss Clark’s releases from back in the day and this one seems to us the best sounding of the bunch.

It’s rare for the loud vocal parts not to strain a bit from compressor or limiter distortion, but the really good pressings hold up through the sections where the chorus and the orchestra are their biggest and loudest.

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Peter, Paul & Mary – Self-Titled

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  • The band’s debut finally arrives on the site with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) stereo sound throughout – relatively quiet vinyl for a pressing of this vintage too
  • This former TAS List title (replaced by a Heavy Vinyl reissue) has real depth to the soundfield, full-bodied, present vocals, plenty of bottom end weight, and Tubey Magical analog warmth the likes of which you may have never heard
  • 4 stars: “The debut album by Peter, Paul & Mary is still one of the best albums to come out of the 1960s folk music revival. It’s a beautifully harmonized collection of the best songs that the group knew, stirring in its sensibilities and its haunting melodies as it crosses between folk, children’s songs, and even gospel”

Tubey Magical Acoustic Guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings). (more…)

Peter, Paul & Mary – Moving

More Peter, Paul and Mary

More Folk Revival Music

  • An incredible sounding original WB Gold Label pressing with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades – this is as good as it gets!
  • The overall sound is clean, clear and present with plenty of the Tubey Magic than makes their recordings such a joy to listen to
  • The vocals (obviously the main draw here) are wonderfully breathy, natural and present 
  • Play me a CD that sounds like this and I will eat it
  • This is PP&M’s second studio album, featuring Puff The Magic Dragon and This Land Is Your Land

This early stereo pressing of Peter Paul & Mary’s 1963 follow-up to their smash debut destroyed most of the competition. The warmth and presence of the vocals on this copy are hard to fault.

Peter, Paul & Mary records live and die by the quality of their midrange reproduction. These are not big-budget, high-concept mulit-track recordings. They’re simple, innocent folk songs featuring exquisite vocal harmonies, backed by straightforward guitar accompaniment.

If the voices aren’t silky sweet and delicate, as well as full-bodied and present, let’s face it, you might as well put on another record.

Puff The Magic Dragon is unfortunately not one of the better sounding songs. Every last copy we played suffered from a touch of compressor distortion that adds a bit of grain to the vocals. We initially thought it was mild groove damage, but we heard the same thing on copy after copy we played.

Still, if the choice is between a little grain on a tubey magical Gold Label copy or no grain on an overly smooth reissue, we’d take this one every time. (more…)

Peter, Paul & Mary – Album

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  • The first copy of this classic from 1966 to hit the site in many years – arguably a better album than Album 1700!
  • Both sides of this original Warner Brothers Gold Label pressing earned Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades
  • These sides are full of ’60s analog Tubey Magic – rich and warm with real immediacy and transparency
  • Features top musicians and PPM versions of folk classics like And When I Die and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine 

Finding great copies of this album is no easy task. Many of the copies we played were just too noisy, and most of the quiet ones just did not impress us sonically. After listening to so much mediocrity we were shocked and gratified that this very copy managed to show us a world of sound we did not expect to hear. (more…)

The Everly Brothers – Both Sides Of An Evening

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More Recordings by Bill Porter

  • You’ll find outstanding sound on this WB Gold Label Stereo original with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the second side and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the first
  • Another amazingly Tubey Magical recording from the legendary Bill Porter (which may explain why Chet Atkins plays on it) 
  • About as quiet as these early copies come – Mint Minus Minus – records pressed in the early ’60s rarely play even this quiet
  • “In some ways, Both Sides of an Evening was the duo’s most ambitious and mature record to date…”

This ’60s stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings cannot BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back. (more…)

The Everly Brothers – The Hit Sound Of The Everly Brothers

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More Sixties Pop Recordings

  • The engineering team of Eddie Brackett and Lee Herschberg provide the exceptional recording fidelity – they would go on to win the Best Engineering Grammy for Strangers in the Night the same year
  • “Snow’s I’m Movin’ On rocks, and Little Richard’s Good Golly Miss Molly clearly provided the blueprint for CCR’s cover several years later. While they may not make you forget the Animal’s version of the House of the Rising Sun, they do a fine version themselves. They were still struggling to find where they belonged on this LP, but they take us on enough highs through the trip to make it a worthwhile 37 minutes.

For those who may not know the man’s work, Eddie Brackett is the engineer behind the best sounding Dean Martin record ever made, Dream With Dean. His credits run for days.

This Gold Label Stereo original pressing (skip the mono by the way) has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings cannot BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back. (more…)