Import=Best

The right import pressings of these albums have the potential to sound better than even the best domestic pressings.

Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 / Karajan

More of the Music of Beethoven

  • This Decca-recorded, Shaded Dog pressing of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 debuts on the site with big, spacious, and lively Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or close to it from first note to last
  • Side one is doing just about everything right – it’s rich, clear, undistorted, open, and has depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • The texture on the strings is captured perfectly (particularly on side one) – this is an area in which modern pressings fail utterly, and without good string reproduction, especially in the lower registers, a Beethoven symphony is simply not a pleasurable experience on highly resolving equipment

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The Beatles – The White Album

More of the Music of The Beatles

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides of these vintage British pressings – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This copy of the Beatles’ Masterpiece (my personal favorite of all their albums) is going to thrill and delight the lucky person who snags it
  • If you’ve heard the Half-Speed and Heavy Vinyl versions of The White Album, then you know how riddled they are with unacceptable flaws
  • “If there is still any doubt that Lennon and McCartney are the greatest song writers since Schubert, then next Friday – with the publication of the new Beatles double LP – should surely see the last vestiges of cultural snobbery and bourgeois prejudice swept away in a deluge of joyful music making…” Right On!
  • Our customers often write us to tell us how much they like their Hot Stamper pressings of The Beatles, and they have been especially enthusiastic when it comes to The White Album

Our White Album Hot Stampers have always been a big hit with the folks who’ve been lucky enough to snare them. If you’re ready for a high-quality copy of The White Album that’s sure to massacre all the pressings you’ve heard up until now, you should jump right on this bad boy.

The Toughest One?

It’s exceedingly difficult to find audiophile quality sound on The White Album. Other than Yellow Submarine, side two of which almost never sounds good, The White Album is surely one of the toughest nuts to crack in The Beatles canon.

The Beatles were breaking apart, often recording independently of each other, with their own favorite engineers as enablers, and George Martin nowhere to be found most of the time. They were also experimenting more and more, pushing the boundaries of recorded sound. These new approaches and added complexity cause a loss of “purity” in the sound. Let’s face it, most audiophiles like simplicity: A female vocal, a solo guitar — these things are easy to reproduce and often result in lovely sound, the kind of sound that doesn’t take a lot of money or effort to achieve.

Dense mixes with wacky EQ are difficult to reproduce (our famous DOR scale comes into play here), and the White Album is full of both, taking a break for songs like “Blackbird” and “Julia.”

This is my favorite Beatles album, a desert island disc if there ever was one, and nothing less than a work of genius. If some songs could have been recorded better, so what? They’re as good as they are going to get, and on a Hot Stamper pressing like this one, that means awfully good.

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Queen – News of the World

More of the Music of Queen

  • This vintage British EMI import was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • If you’re looking for sonics that jump out of your speakers, a killer Hot Stamper pressing is guaranteed to have that quality, because that’s what we’re looking for too
  • The emotional power of these songs is communicated so completely through this copy that the experience will be like hearing it for the first time
  • “…it’s massive, earth-shaking rock & roll, the sound of a band beginning to revel in its superstardom.”
  • If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock albums from 1977, this album would definitely be on it
  • If you’re looking for sound that jumps out of your speakers, a killer Hot Stamper pressing is guaranteed to have that quality, because that’s what we’re looking for too

Side one starts out with Queen’s back-to-back anthemic classics, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.” Does it get any better for a Queen fan? Hell no!

The stomps and claps that introduce the former should make you feel like you are in a stadium full of people with a single goal — to rock you. Those stomps and claps need weight and clarity, an unusual combination. One without the other is not going to cut it.

The record needs to be able to reproduce the room everybody is in, while still conveying the tremendous impact and power. Most domestic pressings are severely lacking in these areas. This kind of anemia can be frustrating — you want to rock but the sound won’t let you.

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Elton John – Self-Titled

More of the Music of Elton John

  • With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, this copy was giving us the sound we were looking for on Elton’s sophomore release
  • Finding copies that play as quietly as this one has been difficult for as long as we have been buying them – British DJM vinyl is what it is and there’s no cleaning solution on earth that can make it as quiet as we would like
  • These sides are huge, and the music positively jumps out of the speakers – accept no substitutes!
  • A vintage British DJM pressing with sound this good is a Must Own for all right thinking music lovers of the audiophile persuasion – this is a very special recording, one that will reward countless plays for as long as you live
  • Some of the most remarkable string arrangements (and Tubey Magical string sound) ever recorded for a pop album
  • Top 100 and 4 1/2 stars: “Even with the strings and choirs that dominate the sound of the album, John manages to rock out on a fair share of the record. …Elton John remains one of his best records.”
  • A permanent resident of our Top 100 rock and pop list — this album is a Must Own from 1970
  • 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. Elton John is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but would certainly benefit from getting to know better.

Folks, if you’re looking for classic popular music that still appeals to sophisticated adults fifty-plus years after it came out, this is the album for you. It’s one of the four classic Elton John records (five if you count GYBR) that belong in every right-thinking audiophile’s collection.

(The others are, in order of quality: #1) Tumbleweed Connection, #2) Honky Chateau, #3) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road , and #4) Madman Across the Water.)

It’s full of analog Tubey Magic — the richness, sweetness, and warmth are nothing short of stunning. The transparency, clarity, texture, dynamics, energy, spaciousness, and three-dimensionality of this recording are really something to be heard.

The piano has real weight, the vocals are breathy and full, and the string tone is some of the best we have ever heard on a pop album.

Drop the needle on “Border Song.” When it hits the big Holy Moses chorus, you can pick out and follow all the different voices. What sounds like a harp on “Sixty Years On” is actually a Spanish Guitar. Whatever it is, it’s positively sublime on the better pressings.

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The Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed

More of the Music of The Moody Blues

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage UK import
  • The sonics are huge, rich and lively throughout (particularly on side one) – you need this kind of space for the orchestral parts to work their Moody Magic
  • An album experience beyond practically anything that had come before (Sgt. Pepper excluded)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Days of Future Passed became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era.”
  • If you’re a fan of the Moodies, this vintage UK pressing from 1967 surely belongs in your collection
  • 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,” but with the accent on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life

This album is more than 50 years old, for god’s sake! In those 50+ years I’d forgotten how good it is.

“Tuesday Afternoon” is the Perfect Pop Song, with the whole of side two flowing effortlessly from it as each song (each day) is linked by means of the surrounding orchestrations until it reaches its zenith with the climax of “Nights in White Satin.”

The sound is very much a part of the entire experience. The strings of the orchestra sound as sweet as any Decca, the soundstage wide and deep as a symphony. For those of you who still think Mobile Fidelity is the king on this one, here’s a record that demonstrates what a real orchestra sounds like.

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The Pretenders / Self-Titled

More of the Music of Women Who Rock

  • Killer sound throughout this early UK pressing of the band’s debut LP, with both sides earning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • Here are the full-bodied mids, punchy lows, and clear, open, extended highs that let this Pretenders Classic come to life, and beat the pants off the dubby domestic pressing, and anything else you care to put up against it
  • One of engineer Bill Price’s better efforts behind the boards, and Chris Thomas’s production is state of the art
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 5 stars: “Few rock & roll records rock as hard or with as much originality as the Pretenders’ eponymous debut album. A sleek, stylish fusion of Stonesy rock & roll, new wave pop, and pure punk aggression, Pretenders is teeming with sharp hooks and a viciously cool attitude.”

Price and Thomas

Bill Price engineered and Chris Thomas produced. You may remember them from the Sex Pistols’ debut and The Clash’s London Calling, two amazingly well-recorded albums. Wish we could find them; as I said, dealing with English record sellers is more often than not unpleasant and expensive, in equal measure.

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Suppe – Overtures / Solti

More Imported Pressings on Decca and London

  • Solti and the Vienna Phil’s exquisite performance of Suppe’s Overtures debuts on the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this original London Stereo pressing
  • Lovely string tone and texture, rich bass, a big hall, no smear, lovely transparency – the sonics here are hard to fault
  • This recording is overflowing with the kind of rich, spacious, Tubey Magical sound that can only be found on vintage vinyl

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Paul McCartney / Wild Life

More of the Music of Paul McCartney

  • This INCREDIBLE Apple UK import copy (the first to hit the site in many years) has Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on both sides
  • Both of these sides are big and rich, with tons of bottom end weight and three-dimensional space, the kind of sound that most other pressings only hint at
  • It had been a long time since we last shot out this title, but after spending the day listening to copies like this we found ourselves LOVING IT!
  • Forget the dubby domestic pressings and whatever crappy Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – the UK LPs are the only way to fly on Wild Life

Let’s face it: finding good sounding McCartney records with the exception of the first album is pretty darn tough. From Ram on it’s slim pickings, even on import. Most of those later albums sound like cassettes; they’re as dead as the proverbial doornail. They bore us to tears. Wild Life stood up and showed us that there’s more good sound to be found after McCartney’s debut.

If you want the ultimate nexus of music and sound for McCartney, a Hot Stamper of the first album is the way to go. That said, this album is MUCH BETTER sounding than we ever suspected, and it’s much better music than we were led to believe by the critics. If you aren’t happy with it we will give you your money back.

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Cream – Goodbye

More British Blues Rock

  • Cream’s final album, here with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom
  • The low end speed and energy on this copy are crazy good – it’s like a Cream concert in your listening room
  • The best pressings, the ones that are full-bodied and smooth, let you crank the levels and reproduce the album good and loud the way it was meant to be heard
  • 4 stars: “The live music on the whole is better than that on Wheels of Fire, capturing the trio at an empathetic peak as a band.”

When you get a good copy of this album you’re sure to hear what we heard — that this is truly one of the great live rock albums (with a bit of studio material on side two as well). This copy has the Big Rock Sound that we go crazy for at Better Records. The best pressings, the ones that are full-bodied and smooth, let you crank the levels and reproduce the album good and loud the way it was meant to be heard.

When it’s all working, you’re front and center for a fiery Cream concert with these guys delivering one heckuva performance. And where else are you gonna get that these days?

What To Listen For

Side one has two extended songs, with Politician being the standout sonically. It’s got the Big Live Rock sound, very spacious and transparent. The first track, I’m So Glad, is always a bit midrangey.

Badge is a great test for side two. If Clapton’s Leslie-speaker-processed-guitar solo is blasting away right in your listening room and approximately the size of your house, then you have a good copy.

When a copy is cut really clean, as the best ones always are, the louder you play them the better they sound.

They’re tonally correct at loud volumes and a bit dull at “audiophile” volumes. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Elton John / Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy

More of the Music of Elton John

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides, this vintage DJM import will be very hard to beat
  • Forget the domestic pressings, forget whatever lousy reissues have come or will come down the pike – if you want to hear this album right, a killer Hot Stamper early British pressing like this one is the only way to go
  • Includes two of our favorites: “(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket” and the massive hit “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – those on “Curtains” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 5 stars: “Elton John and Bernie Taupin recalled their rise to power in Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, their first explicitly conceptual effort since Tumbleweed Connection. It’s no coincidence that it’s their best album since then, showcasing each at the peak of his power, as John crafts supple, elastic, versatile pop and Taupin’s inscrutable wordplay is evocative, even moving.”

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