Favorites – Rock-Pop

If I still had a record collection, these 250 or so titles would be in it. That’s no longer in the cards because all of my records went into shootouts long ago, from whence they either went to good homes as Hot Stampers or got sold off or traded in.

James Taylor – Self-Titled

More James Taylor

More Debut Recordings of Interest

  • This early UK Apple pressing of James Taylor’s debut LP boasts excellent sound from first note to last
  • We do this shootout about once every ten years, so if you are James Taylor fan, this may be your last chance to get a killer copy of this album in audiophile playing condition from us
  • If I were to make a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The absolute conviction that runs throughout this music takes the listener into its confidence and with equal measures of wit, candor, and sophistication, James Taylor created a minor masterpiece…”
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” with an accent on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life.
  • James Taylor’s first album is a good example of a record audiophiles probably don’t know well, but we think they might really enjoy getting to know it better

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The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet

More Rolling Stones

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides of this vintage London pressing of this surprisingly well-recorded Stones album from 1968
  • The long lost Tubey Magic of these early pressings has them sounding better than we ever thought possible using the audio equipment of the 60s
  • This is exactly the way you want Beggars Banquet to sound, and it sure doesn’t take a pair of golden ears to hear it
  • One of a select group of Rolling Stones Must Own titles we prize above all others – Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed round out the trio
  • 5 stars: “Basic rock & roll was not forgotten, however: ‘Street Fighting Man’… was one of their most innovative singles, and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’… was an image-defining epic.”
  • If you’re a Stones fan, this vintage pressing of their 1968 classic belongs in your collection
  • No Expectations, the second song on the first side, is one of the greatest Demo Tracks for Tubey Magical guitar reproduction we know of. The next year, Glyn Johns would pull off another acoustic guitar recording of that quality with Love in Vain on Let It Bleed.

Good pressings are certainly not easy to come by — this kind of rich, full-bodied, musical sound is the exception, not the rule. And there’s actual space and extension up top as well, something you certainly won’t hear on most of the vinyl that’s been pressed over the 50+ years since this album was released.

What sets the best copies apart from the pack is a fuller, richer tonal balance, which is achieved mostly by having plenty of bass and less upper midrange. Those are the copies that sound tonally correct to us, and you should have no trouble appreciating the difference.

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Gerry Rafferty – City To City

More Gerry Rafferty

  • This early British pressing boasts a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • City To City is a Must Own album – no right-thinking audiophile can fail to be impressed by the songwriting and production of Rafferty’s masterpiece of British Folk Pop
  • You won’t believe how rich, Tubey Magical, big, undistorted and present this copy is (until you play it anyway)
  • If all you know are audiophile or domestic pressings, you should be prepared for a mind-blowing experience with this UK pressing
  • 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
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Rafferty’s turns of phrase and tight composition skills create a fresh sound and perspective all his own… resulting in a classic platter buoyed by many moments of sheer genius.”
  • A list of Must Own rock and pop from 1977 would have to have this album on it, somethere near the top I would think
  • In our opinion, City to City is Rafferty’s best sounding album, and probably the only Rafferty solo release you’ll ever need.
  • Click on this link to see more titles we like to call one and done. Night Owl (1979), Snakes and Ladders (1980) and Can I Have My Money Back (1971) strike us as weak albums, strictly for hardcore fans.

Here you will find the kind of rich, sweet, classically British Tubey Magical sound that we cannot get enough of here at Better Records. (more…)

James Taylor – JT

More of the Music of James Taylor

  • This outstanding copy of Taylor’s breakthrough album from 1977 boasts excellent sound on both sides
  • It’s a superb recording – a member of our Top 100, in fact – but it takes a pressing like this to show you just how BIG and LIVELY it can sound
  • The big hits “Your Smiling Face” and “Handy Man” both sound great here – thanks Val Garay!
  • This and Sweet Baby James are the man’s best recordings, and his best albums too, but he has so many great albums that it almost seems unfair to him to point that out
  • 4 stars: “JT was James Taylor’s best album since Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon because it acknowledged the darkness of his earlier work while explaining the deliberate lightness of his current viewpoint, and because it was his most consistent collection in years.”
  • If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1977, this album would definitely be on it

The good copies really rock on songs like Honey Don’t Leave L.A. or I Was Only Telling A Lie, yet have lovely, delicate vocals on ballads such as Another Grey Morning or There We Are (two of our favorite songs on the album).

Just turn up the volume and play the opening to Honey Don’t Leave L.A. — this is James Taylor and his super-tight studio band at the peak of their powers. Russ Kunkel hits the drum twice, then clicks his sticks together so quickly you can hardly notice it, then goes back to the drums for the rest of the intro.

On the best copies, the subtleties of his performance are clearly on display. Until the right copies came along, we had never even noticed that stick trick. Now it’s the high point of the whole intro.

Here are more of our favorite records with exceptionally punchy bass.

And here are more of our favorite records with exceptionally punchy drums.

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The Cars – Candy-O

More of The Cars

Hot Stamper Pressings of New Wave Recordings

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this excellent copy of The Cars’ New Wave classic (one of only a handful to hit the site in nearly three years)
  • We guarantee this is some of the best sound you’ll ever hear on any Cars album – Roy Thomas Baker‘s production makes this one jump out of the speakers like few recordings we’ve heard (and not many of them are from 1979, that’s for damn sure)
  • An underrated album by the band – we consider it a Must Own, along with their brilliant debut, two records that belong in any audiophile’s rock and op collection
  • 4 1/2 stars: “As it stands, it may be one of the best second albums ever made, full of great songs, inspired performances, and sporting a still-perfect sound. If this had been the Cars’ debut album, people might consider it a classic. Coming after The Cars, it has to be rated a little lower, but not by much.”
  • If you’re a Cars fan, or maybe just somebody looking for a killer Demo Disc to play, this title from 1979 surely deserves a place in your collection

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Yes – Close To The Edge

More of the Music of Yes

  • Close To The Edge returns to the site for only the second time in fourteen months, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close it throughout his vintage copy
  • An incredibly complex recording, with huge organs, light-speed changes and an abundance of multi-tracked parts – these early pressings are the only ones that can make sense of this challenging music
  • On such a dynamic recording, with so many quiet passages, finding reasonably quiet surfaces is a dubious proposition for even the most committed audiophile, as is the case here, sad to say
  • But on the bright side, once you hear just how amazing sounding side one of this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
  • If any pressing will let you do that, it’s this one!
  • 5 stars: “Close to the Edge comprised just three tracks, the epic ‘And You and I’ and ‘Siberian Khatru,’ plus a side-long title track that represented the musical, lyrical, and sonic culmination of all that Yes had worked toward over the past five years.”
  • This album is a Must Own from 1972, one that deserves a place in any audiophile’s collection
  • Close to the Edge is an album with one set of very special stampers that have consistently been winning shootout after shootout for years now

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Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark

Hot Stamper Pressings of Court and Spark Available Now

Reviews and Commentaries for Court and Spark

  • Both sides of this early Asylum pressing were doing practically everything right, earning stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • The sound is rich, warm and natural, with wonderful transparency, ambience and loads of Tubey Magic
  • Musically this is one of our favorite Joni albums here at Better Records, and probably her Best Recording as well
  • A proud member (along with Blue) of our Top 100 Rock and Pop albums – yes, it’s that good sounding when it’s mastered and pressed as well as this copy is
  • 5 stars: “[A] remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz … the music is smart, smooth, and assured from the first note to the last.”
  • If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1974, this album would definitely be on it

Court and Spark deserves to be heard with all the clarity, beauty and power that our Hot Stampers reproduce so well. If there is a better sounding album with Joni Mitchell’s name on the cover, you’ll have to prove it to us.

What you hear is the sound of the real tape; every instrument has its own character because the mastering is correct and the vinyl — against all odds — managed to capture all (or almost all; who can know?) of the resolution that the tape had to offer. (more…)

Electric Light Orchestra / A New World Record

More Electric Light Orchestra

More Arty Rock

  • A superb British import LP of ELO’s rock masterpiece, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • Reasonably quiet vinyl throughout – not even those copies we’ve unsealed for our shootouts have been free from ticky vinyl in places or played much quieter than Mint Minus Minus
  • Both of these sides have the punchy bass and fully-weighted sound that this music demands – the energy level coming from these grooves is off the scale
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Opening with the opulently orchestrated ‘Tightrope,’ which heralds the perfect production found throughout this album, A New World Record contains seven of the best songs ever to come out of the group.”
  • If like us you’re a fan of arty rock from the ’70s, this is a killer album from 1976 that belongs in your collection.

A New World Record checks off a number of important boxes for us:

  1. It’s a Must Own title.
  2. It’s a rock and pop masterpiece, and
  3. It’s a personal favorite of mine.

The British originals are the only ones that can convey the sweet TUBEY MAGIC of the British Master Tapes. The string tone on the average domestic copy is shrill and smeary; too little of the critically important texture remains after the master tapes have been dubbed and the copies sent to America for mastering.

As a result of Jeff Lynne’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production approach, it’s the rare copy that provides enough transparency and resolution to bring out all the elements in these incredibly dense mixes, strings included. For audiophiles, ELO on LP doesn’t get any better.

Love those female background singers — their voices are clear and individually separated, but even more importantly, on the best copies like this one they are ENTHUSIASTIC. This is the very definition of a Hot Stamper: ELO on this copy is full of life and energy. The average copy is just another ELO record, like most of them Dead On Arrival.

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The Doors / Waiting For the Sun

More of The Doors

More Psych Rock

  • With two seriously good Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage Gold Label pressing
  • The sound is present, lively and tonally correct, with Jim Morrison’s baritone reproduced with the palpable weight and presence that the reissues barely begin to reproduce
  • It’s tough (not to mention expensive) to find these early pressings with this kind of sound and reasonably quiet vinyl, but we found this one, and it blew our mind
  • “Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore were never more lucid… This was a band at its most dexterous, creative, and musically diverse …”
  • If I were to make a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it, close to the top I should think
  • Our review detailing the somewhat surprising shortcomings of the DCC pressing can be found here, and the story of how long it took me to figure out The Doors on vinyl (30 years or so!) can be found here

Here is THE BIG SOUND that makes Doors records such a thrill to play. Morrison’s vocals sound just right — full-bodied, breathy and immediate. The transparency makes it possible to easily pick out Bruce Botnick’s double tracking of Morrison’s leads.

For a thrill just drop the needle on Not To Touch The Earth. Halfway through the song the members have sort of a duel — Robbie Krieger wailing on the guitar in one channel, Ray Manzarek pounding on the keyboards in the other, and John Densmore responding with drum fills behind them.

On the average copy, the parts get congested and lose their power, but when you can easily pick out each musician, their part will raise the hair on your arms.

It’s absolutely chilling, and it will no doubt remind you why you fell in love with The Doors in the first place. Who else can do this kind of voodoo the way that they do?

Check out the piano on Yes The River Knows on side two (such an underrated song!) or the big snare thwacks on Five To One to hear that Hot Stamper magic.

The overall sound is airy, open, and spacious — you can really hear INTO the soundfield on a track like Yes The River Knows. The opaque quality that so many pressings of this album suffer from is nowhere to be found here.

Not only that, but you will not believe how hard these sides rock. (more…)

The Band – Self-Titled

More of The Band

More Roots Rock LPs

  • A killer copy of an absolutely essential album with Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades on both sides – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • One of the most difficult albums to find great sound for, but the music makes it worth all the time and trouble we spent finding this outstanding copy
  • Huge amounts of deep bass (something that only the best Robert Ludwig-mastered original pressings can offer), meaty guitars and silky vocals make this pressing of The Band’s second album a very special listenng experience indeed
  • Problems in the vinyl, especially for this title, are sometimes the nature of the beast with vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of analog is important to you
  • 5 stars: “As had been true of the first album, it was the Band’s sound that stood out the most… The arrangements were simultaneously loose and assured, giving the songs a timeless appeal…”

The lucky person who takes this record home is in for quite a shock. This very pressing is proof positive that this album is much better recorded than the audiophile community gives it credit for being. How could anyone judge the sound of the record without a great copy such as this one to play?

This vintage pressing has no trace of phony sound from top to bottom. It’s raw and real in a way that makes most pop records sound processed and wrong. These two sides have plenty of the qualities we look for in an album by The Band. Energy, presence, transparency, Tubey Magic… you name it, you will find it here. Its biggest strength — and the biggest strength of the album as a whole — is its wonderful, natural midrange.

And the bass is huge. On the better copies it always is.

Drop the needle on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” or “King Harvest Has Surely Come” and get ready for some serious Analog Magic. This is The Band’s second album like you have never heard it before.

Overview

This copy has superb space in the midrange — it was wider, deeper and clearer than practically all of the Robert Ludwig originals we played (which are, of course, the only way to go on this album). Few copies were this full-bodied, solid, meaty and rich, yet clear. It was so tubey, never dry, unlike more copies than we care to remember.

Despite what anyone might tell you, it’s no mean feat to find good sounding copies of this record. There are good originals and bad originals, as well as good reissues and bad reissues. Folks, we’ve said it many times — the label can’t tell you how a record sounds, but there’s a sure way to find out that information. You’ve got to clean ’em and play ’em to find out which ones have Hot Stampers, and we seem to be the only record dealers who are doing that, in the process making unusually good pressings like this one available to you, the music-loving audiophile.

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