Five Star Albums – Reviews and Commentaries

Years Ago We Foolishly Thought a Domestic LP Could Beat the Brits on Low

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of David Bowie Available Now

This shootout listing for Low was written sometime around 2008. 

In 2008 we hadn’t discovered the right imports for this album yet — that would not happen for many more years, hence the error we made in thinking that some especially good sounding domestic copies could win a shootout.

Back then they could, but with the right pressings in the mix there is not a chance in the world that would happen now.

Just another case of live and learn.

By the way, Low has much in common with another Bowie record we struggled with for years.

To be fair, some domestic pressings do end up having low-level (1.5+) Hot Stampers, but they’re rare. Our best Brits just kill ’em. We haven’t bothered with the domestic pressings in more than a decade, and why would we? The reissue imports we sell now are just too good.

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We Get Letters – “…the parallax on Autobahn that lets you feel like you are physically moving through space necessitates a full 3D soundstage.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of Art Rock Albums Available Now

Our good customer Aaron thought his Hot Stamper pressing of Autobahn was pretty special. He writes:

Good morning Tom,

I’m catching up on some work and sipping my coffee this Sunday morning, way too cold to go outside.

I’ve got my NWHS of Autobahn playing. The room is absolutely filling up with sweet sound. I had always thought of Kraftwerk’s music as cold and distant, intentionally, but this copy is bringing out a whole different character to the music. It is organic and warm and really humane.

Isn’t it funny to think that of all the bands, it is Kraftwerk who is done a particular disservice by digital formatting? On the surface, their music seems like it would be so amenable to digital, but it’s all the play and joy that’s less on the surface that really makes it music, and digital strips that right out.

I bought this one as part of pushing my envelope during the 12 days sale.

My other copy is the 1985 Parlophone repress. It’s not bad, but I’ve only played it a couple times before, which says everything you need to know.

Whereas the hot stamper is currently one of my go-to records to put on. The hot stamper fills my room with sound.

It’s more somatic than auditory, you can feel it. That’s always true for white hot stampers, but it makes all the difference for this album – the parallax on Autobahn that lets you feel like you are physically moving through space necessitates a full 3D soundstage.

That effect of actually moving just does not happen when you’re playing the 1985 pressing.

So, I would say Autobahn is another one of those albums where it’s essential to have a hot stamper pressing to actually appreciate the music.

Digital won’t do it, and even a different good pressing doesn’t convey the magic – the organic nature and the three dimensional experience – that the hot stamper gives you.

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Born Under a Bad Sign in Mono – Maybe Passable, Maybe Not

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

The Shootout Winning early stereo pressing that we played recently was indeed a very special record. Everything we said about it in our review was true:

These are just a few of the the things we had to say in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very full vox”…”weighty and rich”…”great energy”…”so much room and detail.”

No other copy came close to this one, and we had a bunch, many of which earned minimal grades of 1.5+ because,  on this record, you really have to know what to look for in the dead wax.

But nothing of the sort can be said of the early Blue Label mono pressing we played. It was barely passable on side one, and we didn’t even bother to play side two since no pressing that earns a grade of 1+ on either side can be considered a Hot Stamper.

Here is what we heard on side one:

  • Hard and dark
  • Vocals get lost
  • Sounds a little faster (sped up)

And that was enough. Who wants to play a record with that kind of sound? Or one that’s been sped up?

If you’re one of those music lovers who’s still holding a torch for mono, Born Under a Bad Sign is not a hill you want to die on.

We personally don’t care one way or the other if any particular mono record has good sound or bad. We just play them and call them as we hear them. We called this one “meh” and recommend you steer clear of it if you are looking for good sound.

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Born Under a Bad Sign Is Amazing Sounding on the Right Pressing

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

We finally got a shootout going and found this killer copy.

Every copy we found with Hot Stampers in clean condition, a grand total of three original stereo copies, sold quickly, so for those of you who wanted to finally be able to hear the record in all is glory, sorry!

Here are the notes for our Shootout Winning copy. It sold for $899.

Side One

  • Big and tubey and 3-D
  • Jumping out
  • Very full vocals
  • Weighty and rich
  • Great energy

Side Two

  • Huge and tubey and spacious
  • So much room and detail
  • More of the same!

That’s the kind of sound your nine hundred bucks buys you.

Here is how we described it on the site:

  • Born Under A Bad Sign returns to the site for the first time in years, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this original Stax pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These are just a few of the the things we had to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very full vox”…”weighty and rich”…”great energy”…”so much room and detail”
  • No other copy came close to this one, and we had a bunch, many of which earned grades of 1.5+ because, on this record, you really have to know what to look for in the dead wax
  • Incredibly dynamic, rich and full, with lots of texture to the guitars, this copy brought the music to life right in our listening room
  • Accept no substitutes – no reissue of the album can ever give you the energy, size and you-are-there presence that’s on this disc

More amazing finds similar to this one can be found here.

Craft Recordings remastered this Albert King title, and you should not be surprised to find that it sounds as awful as the other pressings put out by this ridiculous label, remastered pressings that we took the time to audition and review out of the goodness of our hearts, in the hopes of saving those of you out there in the land of audiophiles who might be tempted to buy some of their low- to mid-fi releases and could be scared away by our criticisms.

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Which Side of this Pressing Lacked Space, and How on Earth Did You Spot It?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Thelonious Monk Available Now

Our notes for a recent shootout winning copy read:

Monk’s Dream returns to the site for only the second time in over two years, here with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this black print Stereo 360 pressing.

These are just a few of the things we had to say about this killer copy in our notes: “big and weighty”…”great size and detail and very full”…”breathy sax jumping out of the speakers”…”very big and full piano”

In our notes you can see that side one fell short in one area, space, but how would anyone know that who hadn’t played a copy with even more space than this one? That’s why we do shootouts and you must do them too.

Both of these sides are rich, spacious, big and Tubey Magical, with less smear on the piano, a problem that holds many copies back. The sound found on these early Columbia 360 Label Stereo pressings is absolutely the right one for Monk’s music.

As you can see from the notes we took for this copy, we are not making any of this up!

This is why we do shootouts. If you really want to be able to recognize subtle (and sometimes not so subtle!) differences between pressings, you must learn to do them too.

And make sure to take notes about what you are hearing, good and bad.

One side falling short of the full Three Pluses happens all the time.

One out of five records that has one shootout winning side will have a matching shootout-winning other side.

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Out of Two Jazz Samba Originals, Only One Had Even One Good Side

Hot Stamper Pressings of Bossa Nova Albums Available Now

Recently we did a shootout for one of our favorite Bossa Nova albums and had this to say about it:

As you can see from the notes, both sides of our most recent White Hot shootout winning copy were doing everything right.

This is by far the best copy of the album we have ever played — we had no idea a copy could possibly sound this good and be pressed on vinyl this quiet.

Remarkably spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over all of the other pressings we played in our recent shootout.

No other copy earned a better grade than 2+ on either side, and some of the originals were godawful (watch for the “wrong” stampers coming to the blog soon).

Here are the wrong stampers we aluded to above, the originals with these markings:

As you can see from the notes, these original stereo pressings can be lo-fidelity, crude and midrangey.

This serves to make a very important point that is near and dear to our hearts:

The idea (and operational premise of most record collectors) that the originals are always better is just a load of bunk.

They might be and then again they might not be. If you want better sounding records, you had better open your mind to the idea that some reissues have the potential to sound better than even the best original pressings.

These, for starters, and there are hundreds more on the blog you can read about here.

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Audiophiles Should Avoid These Stampers on West Side Story

Hot Stamper Pressings of Soundtrack Albums Available Now

None of the 360 Label pressings we played recently were competitive with the Six Eye originals. Some sides earned 2+, but no copy on 360 earned grades of 2+ on both sides.

Stick with the early, stereo pressings in order to have any shot at top quality sound.

As you can see from the notes below for this album, one side was passable, earning our 1.5+ grade. It’s a decent sounding record I suppose, but a long, long, long way from the best.

1.5+ is four grades down from the top copy. That’s a steep dropoff as far as we’re concerned. 1.5+ only hints at how good a recording this can be on the best vintage pressings. To see more records that earned the 1.5+ grade, please click here. For those who might be interested, there’s more on our grading scale here.

Here is what a top quality pressing should sound like:

You’ll find INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides of this original Columbia 6-Eye Stereo pressing.

Spacious, rich and smooth – only vintage analog seems capable of reproducing all three of these qualities without sacrificing resolution, staging, imaging or presence.

Tonality is the hardest thing to get right on this album, and here it is right on the money, because if it were not, it would not have won the shootout.

For those of you who like to do your own shootouts, good luck, you will need a lot of originals to find one that sounds as good as this one does.

5 stars: “The soundtrack of the West Side Story film is deservedly one of the most popular soundtrack recordings of all time, and one of the relatively few to have attained long-term popularity beyond a specialized soundtrack/theatrical musical audience.”

This album is at least five times more common in mono than it is in stereo, and finding enough clean early stereo pressings takes us years nowadays.

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A Killer Reissue Pressing of Jazz Samba Won Our Shootout

Hot Stamper Pressings of Bossa Nova Albums Available Now

A killer copy of Jazz Samba (the first to hit the site in over four years) with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last – exceptionally (and exceptionally rare) quiet vinyl too.

This is by far the best copy of the album we have ever played — we had no idea a copy could possibly sound this good and be pressed on vinyl this quiet.

Remarkably spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over all of the other pressings we played in our recent shootout.

No other copy earned a better grade than 2+ on either side, and some of the originals were godawful (watch for the “wrong” stampers coming to the blog soon).

As you can see from the notes, both sides of our most recent White Hot stamper shootout winning copy were doing everything right. This copy was so good that it qualified to be in our Top Shelf section, for records with two shootout winning sides.

You know what’s unusual about these notes?

They’re the kind of notes we’ve never written for any Heavy Vinyl reissue, even for the one that won our shootout not long ago.

They are the kind of notes that make it clear to us what a sham the modern Heavy Vinyl pressing tends to be, even those that are done right.

No modern record we’ve ever played has ever had anything even approaching this kind of big as life sound, and we doubt one ever will.

Records like this vintage vinyl pressing are thrilling in a way that very, very few records ever are.

Once you hear sound like this, you are not likely to forget it.

It sets a standard that modern remastered records simply cannot meet.

Hey, want to find your own top quality copy?

Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that consistently win our shootouts.

This record has been sounding its best for many years, in shootout after shootout, this way:

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Key Sonic Elements for My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Talking Heads Available Now

If you like Remain in Light as much as we do here at Better Records, you will surely have a blast with this record.

I’ve been a big fan of the album since the day it came out.

As a bonus, it’s a much better recording than Remain in Light — sweet and spacious, not hard and brittle the way that can album can be, especially on the first track.

Rick Wright of Pink Floyd noted that the album “knocked me sideways when I first heard it – full of drum loops, samples and soundscapes. The way the sounds were mixed in was so fresh, it was amazing.”

Four, Maybe Five Key Elements

Here is a comprehensive breakdown of what we were listening for when evaluating My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

Clarity and Presence

Many copies are veiled in the midrange, partly because they may have shortcomings up top, but also because they suffer from blurry, smeary mids and upper mids. Dull, dead sounding pressings can’t begin to communicate the musical values in this excellent recording.

With a real Hot Stamper the sound is totally involving. There is breath in the voices, the picking of the strings on the guitars — these things allow us to suspend our disbelief, to forget it’s a recording we’re listening to and not living, breathing musicians.

Top End Extension

Most copies of this album have no extreme highs, which causes instrumental harmonics to sound blunted and dull. Without extreme highs the percussion can’t extend up and away from the other elements. Consequently these elements end up fighting for space in the midrange and getting lost in the mix.

Transparency

Although this quality is related to the above two, it’s not as important overall as the one below, but it sure is nice to have. When you can really “see” into the mix, it’s much easier to pick out each and every instrument in order to gain more insight into the way the songs were arranged and recorded.

Seeing into the mix is a way of seeing into the mind of the artist. To hear the hottest copies is to appreciate even more the talents of all the musicians and producers involved, not to mention the engineers.

This is an area where Heavy Vinyl fails completely more often than not. Modern remastered records are just so damn opaque. That sound drives us to distraction, when it doesn’t bore us to tears.

Bass

No rock or pop record without good bass can qualify as a top quality Hot Stamper. How could it? It’s the rhythmic foundation of the music, and who wants a pop record that lacks rhythm?

Want to find your own killer copy?

Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that tend to win our shootouts.

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

Nothing else will do for a big, dynamic, powerful recording such as this.

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The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – Our Favorite from His Early Days

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bob Dylan Available Now

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is clearly our favorite of the early Dylan albums for both music and sound. We’re picking up both mono and stereo copies when we see them clean (which is rare) and both the mono mix and the stereo mix can sound out of this world.

Hearing these great songs sound so intimate and lifelike on a top-quality pressing can be a sublime experience. We should know; we enjoyed the hell out of this very copy.

The best sides are amazingly spacious, full-bodied, natural and clear with great presence.

It’s clear these classic songs have stood the test of time: Blowin’ in the Wind; Girl from the North Country; Masters of War; A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall; Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and many more. A Folk Classic from 1963 that should appeal to any fan of early Dylan.

Did I mention all the great songs?

  • Blowin’ in the Wind
  • Girl from the North Country
  • Masters of War
  • A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
  • Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
  • Bob Dylan’s Dream
  • Talking World War III Blues

… and five more

These modern classics make this Dylan album, his second, clearly the strongest of his first four. You have to wait for his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home, to find material this consistently brilliant and groundbreaking.

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