Five Star Albums – Reviews and Commentaries

Just How Good Is a Second Tier Neil Young Album?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Neil Young Available Now

AMG raves about this album, giving it 5 big stars. (For those of you keeping score at home, that’s half a star MORE than they gave Harvest.) We like the album just fine, but I doubt we would want to go quite that far. Sure, these are great songs, but give us After The Gold Rush, Zuma or Harvest (all Top 100 titles, Hot Stampers of which are sometimes in stock) over this one any day.

Still, a second tier Neil Young album (by our standards) usually will beat a first tier album from just about anybody else making records in 1979.

And if you’re a fan this record absolutely belongs in your collection, along with about ten others by the man. Now what other solo artist can you name that has ten or more records to his name worth owning? I’m hard pressed to think of one. The Beatles and The Stones don’t count, obviously. Elvis Costello comes pretty close, but ten? I can’t get there, with him or anybody else. Neil’s body of work stands alone.

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Looking for 5 Star Albums with Hot Stampers? There Are 50+ in Stock Now

beck_truth_1610_1302710570Hot Stamper Pressings of Allmusic Five Star Albums in Stock

From Cannonball Adderley’s sonic Masterpiece Somethin’ Else to X’s Under the Big Black Sun.

Including albums like Truth here. If I were to make a list of the best albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it.

That said, it’s a one and done album for me, but probably not for many of you reading this. It all depends on how much you like Jeff Beck’s music — including, I suppose, his very successful foray into jazz/rock fusion.

Those records were in heavy rotation at my house and my friends’, at least for a couple of years. Beck-Ola spent some time on my turntable back then too but eventually fell by the wayside. Just not good enough to bother playing.

In short, I can take him or leave him, and I left him a long time ago. But that first album is as big and bold a musical statement as he would ever make. That makes it a Must Own in my book. (The complete list of such records can be found here.)

Below are some excerpts from our review of the album.

One of the most surprising things we learned in our first big shootout from 2014 was how well recorded the album is. It’s yet another triumph from one of our favorite engineers, Ken Scott.

In many ways it sounds like the first Zep album, and that’s a good thing. The sound is a perfect fit for the music. (more…)

The Who Sell Out to Classic Records

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Who Available Now

UPDATE 2026

In 2005 I think it was the stereo version we played of the Classic Heavy Vinyl pressing, not the mono. Both were mastered by Chris Bellman, one of our least favorite mastering engineers.

Most of the records he’s cut for Bernie Grundman Mastering have such poor sound quality that they end up going into our hall of shame, which is exactly where they belong. If you have any of his badly-remastered vinyl in your collection, now is the time to pull it out, play it and see for yourself just how far off the mark this guy’s records are.

At this point, it’s no longer astonishing to us that there are still audiophiles who defend his work. Naturally, these include self-styled audiophile reviewers who are obviously in the wrong business and too clueless to know it.

We find it hard to say anything good about the man except this: he did an excellent job cutting Brothers in Arms at 45 RPM. (Our review for that pressing has been delayed since 2022 but it is coming one of these days, I swear on a stack of records.)

Our review from 2005:

Not our idea of good sound.

The only Classic Who record we ever carried was Who’s Next, which is actually pretty good — we gave it a B back in the day.

I suspect it would earn a poorer grade now. We had lower standards for Heavy Vinyl back then.

(Which is the understatement of all time. We had lower standards for every kind of record back then.)

We have since discussed how wrong we were about a great many records, including the Classic Records reissue of The Who’s Masterpiece, and in the case of that title more than once.

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Avoid these Stampers on Buffalo Springfield’s Retrospective Album

Hot Stamper Pressings of Country and Country Rock Available Now

In 2025 we finally got around to doing another shootout for Buffalo Springfield’s wonderful Retrospective album, a “greatest hits” compilation for a band that really only had one hit but put out two of my all time favorite albums, Buffalo Springfield Again and Last Time Around. Our Shootout Winning early pressing was described this way:

Big, full-bodied, clear and present, the Tubey Magical richness of the best pressings is a joy to hear on modern high resolution equipment. “Kind Woman” and “I Am A Child” are two of the best sounding songs – listen to all that space around the voices and instruments

And the three Psych tracks – “On the Way Home,” “Broken Arrow” and “Expecting to Fly” – are guaranteed to be dramatically more three-dimensional than you’ve ever heard them.

But if you somehow ended up with a copy that has the wrong stampers, stampers similar to the ones you see below — on the original label mind you — none of those songs will have the audiophile qualities we describe.

And if you thought you were buying an original pressing of the album on the Yellow Atco label, well, that’s exactly what you were buying.

It’s not really your fault. The good pressings and the bad pressings all look the same. How were you to know your random purchase would only hint at the sound quality of the best pressings?

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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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