Pre-Shootout Reviews

Reviews from our (mostly) pre-shootout days.

Rachmaninoff / Concerto No. 3 / Janis – Wrong Again?

More of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

In 2007 we raved about this title:

Outstanding! Sounds just like the already very good shaded dog, in many ways better. (I don’t have that one around to compare anymore but this LP has that same natural, smooth sound, while being cut a bit cleaner.) 

We have two copies of this Victrola, both with the same stamper numbers, and this is definitely the better of the two sonically. It has more presence, more transparency and better dynamics.

In preparation for our latest big shootout, we decided to give the Victrola another listen, and the one copy we had on hand was not impressive to say the least. It was dark, thin and flat.

Three strikes and it was out. Seems as though we were wrong.

Did we have better copies in 2007? Perhaps.

Our advice: skip it. If you do buy one, buy it for cheap.

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Airto / Free

More of the Music of Airto

Hot Stamper Pressings of Jazz Fusion Albums Available Now

This CTI LP has VERY GOOD SOUND. 

We’re on a winning streak with RVG these days (September 2006), three in a row, in fact: Chet Baker (She Was Too Good To Me), Freddie Hubbard (Red Clay), and now this wonderful Airto record.

The best music is found on side two, especially the last two tracks.

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The Ray Brown Trio – Soular Energy

This Concord Jazz LP has excellent sound.

There is also a Half-Speed mastered audiophile version of this record cut by Stan Ricker himself.

Now hold on: Half-Speed mastering by its very nature causes a dramatic loss of bass definition, not to mention the fact that much of the deep bass usually goes completely missing. This is a record built around the sound of Ray Brown’s double bass. Do you really want the lowest octave of bass to disappear and the bass above it to turn to mud on a record that features a bass player as its leader? It’s crazy, right?

I’ve never heard the Half-Speed and don’t plan to track one down in order to audition it, but I guarantee you that this “full-speed” mastered version will blow the doors off any version mastered by Stan Ricker.

There is plenty of commentary on the website about his incompetent mastering and I recommend you take a moment to read some of it before you buy any Half-Speed mastered record. (We of course do not offer such records, with the exception of John Klemmer’s Touch, which is a Half-Speed mastered record that actually does sound good, superb in fact.)

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Rachmaninoff / Piano Concerto No. 3 – Years Ago We Liked a Mono Pressing

Hot Stamper Mercury Pressings Available Now

CBFR-1/CBFR-2. This Mono pressing sounds SUPERB, much smoother and more natural than I remember the Stereo pressings sounding. What’s interesting about these Monos is they’re not mastered by Robert Fine. They are mastered by someone with the initials J.J., who apparently does all the Mono mastering. The reason Mercury Monos can sound as good as they do is because they have their own separate microphone feed and their own separate Mono tape recorder dedicated all to themselves. (London did the same thing and that’s why so many London Monos are amazing sounding.)

I don’t think you can find a better sounding Rachmaninoff 3rd on Mercury than this one. 

[UPDATE: Of course we no longer agree with that.  The best stereo copies are in an entirely different league. The mono can be good, but it cannot be great in the way the stereo pressings can be.] (more…)

Tchaikovsky / Symphony No. 4 – What Does It Sound Like Now?

The Music of Tchaikovsky Available Now

Years ago we wrote:

This is a 1s/5s RCA Shaded Dog. TAS list (or at least it used to be).

Probably the reason HP likes this LP so much is that it has a very wide soundstage.

It also has good solid weight. A little soft on top, but that comes with the territory.

It’s a very old review, probably from about 15 years ago. I don’t think I could recommend this record today. It probably belongs on this list, but I cannot truthfully say that it does one way or another. As I recall, the copies I’ve played more recently were not impressive.

If I played it today, would I find it to be as bad as this Living Stereo pressing? Who knows?

That experiment has not been run.

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Milt Jackson & Wes Montgomery / Bags Meets Wes!

More Wes Montgomery

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

These two guys were made for each other; they have the same musical sensibilities.

Credit must also go to Wynton Kelly; his every solo is a thing of beauty. The three principals here are at the tops of their games and the sound will have you drooling. Good luck finding a more involving and enjoyable jazz record with this kind of sound — they just aren’t out there. That’s why, even with some surface problems, we think you are getting your money’s worth and more with this one.

If you’re a jazz fan, this Must Own Title from 1962 belongs in your collection

The complete list of titles from 1962 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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Another Dubious Recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Tchaikovsky Available Now

1S/1S Shaded Dog original pressing.

Ooh, let the drooling begin. 

Here is our admittedly very old review for exactly the one copy we had on hand to play, although, to be fair, we have played more than one copy of the album over the years, and it never sounded especially good to us on any of the copies we auditioned.

The violin is very immediate sounding on this recording, maybe too much so.

Either way, the sound of the orchestra is where this record falls short.

It’s congested, thin and shrill in places. The right copy of Heifetz’s performance on LSC 1992 is a much better record overall. Some may prefer Szeryng’s way with this famous piece, which, as a matter of taste, is fine by us.

If you’re listening for just the performance and the sound of the violin, you may find this record to be more acceptable than we did.

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Andrew Gold – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Hot Stamper Pressings on the Asylum Label Available Now

More Records on Asylum – A Label We Love

The best copies of Gold’s sophomore release are incredibly rich, sweet and Tubey Magical. They also have tons of deep punchy bass and wonderfully breathy vocals.

If you own many Asylum records, you know this title is yet another example of classic Asylum Analog. Think of the sound of the Eagles first album and you won’t be far off.

Andrew Gold is another talented popster who got little respect from the critics, or the public for that matter. His music has a lot of the same qualities as Buddy Holly’s: simple catchy tunes about love, with clever lyrics and tons of hooks. He covers one of Holly’s songs on this very album.

But the best song he ever did is right here on side two: One of Them Is Me. Everybody has been the guy telling this story at one time or another; it’s a heavy song if you make the effort to listen to the lyrics.

More importantly, from an audiophile recording point of view, the song builds and surges to a stirring, dynamically powerful climax, then drops down to the noise floor with just an electric piano playing softly. This is what being a studio wizard is all about, and Gold is definitely a wizard. Any Super Hot or better pressing will demonstrate to you that this is one helluva well recorded album.

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John Baldry / Everything Stops For Tea – We Liked a Domestic Pressing in 2006

This is a Near Mint Warner Brothers Green Label Original LP with No Bar Code. I played side one of this record all the way through today (5/15/06) and enjoyed it immensely. I would be very surprised to hear a better sounding pressing of this music — it sounds just right. Another outstanding green label Warner Brothers LP — rich, smooth and natural. We love them here at Better Records!

[I would be surprised in 2019 if the British pressings were not quite a bit better. It’s a title we cannot afford to do due to lack of demand, but Brit pressings are the first ones I would go after for a shootout.]

“Everything Stops For Tea comes from a 1930’s English vaudeville play and is quite fun and easy to sing along to! Long John does a blistering version of Willie Dixon’s You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover which actually would make a good title for John’s biography which will be written over the next couple of years. Many people have been quick to judge John based on his ballad period or other things. Mother Ain’t Dead is a great acoustic folk song that Long John and Rod Stewart duet on.” – longjohnbaldry.com

This is an Older Review.

Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed starting in the early 2000s.

We found the records you see in these listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced according to how good the sound and surfaces were.

We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days.

Currently, 99% (or more!) of the records we sell are cleaned, then auditioned under rigorously controlled conditions up against a number of other pressings, awarded sonic grades, and eventually condition checked for surface noise.

As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is why we currently have a highly trained staff of about ten. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us would ever be able to do the kind of work we do.

Every record we offer is unique, and 100% guaranteed to satisfy or your money back.

Ansermet’s Recording of Pines of Rome Did Not Make the Cut

Click Here to See Our Favorite Pines of Rome

This review was written at least ten years ago. Since then we have done extensive shootouts for both The Pines and The Fountains of Rome.

The London with Ernst Ansermet you see pictured, though good, did not make the cut.

No Hot Stamper pressings — correction, no Hot Stamper pressings hot enough to offer our customers — were found of this recording from 1964.

Below you will find our old review. Needless to say, we have learned a lot since then.

EXCELLENT SOUND! Not a Demo Disc by any means, but a well-recorded, well-mastered Pines.

The problem with Pines is normally too much close miking. This London places the orchestra in a more natural perspective, which I much prefer.

Side two, the Pines, also has the best sound. 

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