Best on Vintage Imported Vinyl

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

Culture Club – Kissing To Be Clever

More Records We Only Sell on Import Vinyl

  • Kissing To Be Clever debuts on the site with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides of this early British pressing are big, rich and punchy with wonderfully breathy vocals, excellent clarity and a plenty of bottom end weight
  • Forget the domestic pressings on Epic — again and again our notes read “dull, thin and gritty,” which is how I remember the album sounding when I bought my first copy back in 1982
  • The sound varies somewhat from track to track — I hope to put something on the blog detailing the differences we heard as we spot-checked every song on both sides
  • 4 stars: “Incorporating pop, rock, dance, new wave, soul, and Caribbean rhythms (an amalgamation of “cultures”), the result was a soulful, progressive pop outing that scored several landmark international hits and made a star out of the band’s outrageous frontman, Boy George.”

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Bad Company – Self-Titled (UK Press)

More of the Music of Bad Company

  • Bad Company’s classic debut LP, here with very good Hot Stamper grades from start to finish
  • We guarantee there is more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard or you get your money back – it’s as simple as that
  • A member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Top 100, and a Must Own Classic Rock title from 1974
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Bad Company’s 1974 self-titled release stands as one of the most important and accomplished debut hard rock albums from the 70s … it was one of the most successful steps in the continuing evolution of rock & roll.”
  • If you’re a Classic Rock fan, then Bad Company’s killer debut album from 1974 belongs in your collection.

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XTC – English Settlement

More of the Music of XTC

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides, these early Virgin UK import pressings will be very hard to beat
  • You won’t believe how good these records sound – on a big system with lots of firepower down low, this is a sonic tour de force, a monster Demo Disc
  • These sides have huge amounts of open studio space and that Tubey Magical, rich, fat, dense, bass-heavy British Rock Sound we love
  • It takes us years to get this shootout going – what happened to all the clean British pressings? They have disappeared over the last five years it seems
  • 4 stars: “There are plenty of pop gems – ‘Senses Working Overtime’ stands as one of their finest songs — but the main focus seems to be the more expansive sound…the textural sound of the album is quite remarkable.”

This is an AMAZINGLY well-recorded album, with huge amounts of open studio space and that Tubey Magical, rich, fat, dense British Rock Sound. That sound isn’t easy to reproduce, but this copy absoluely nails it. Nothing else in our shootout came close to it!

If you have big speakers and the room to play to play them good and loud , this is quite the sonic tour de force.

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Rachmaninoff – Symphony No. 2 / Previn

More of the Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff

  • Superb sound throughout this vintage British EMI pressing of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • A long term resident of the TAS super disc list, and one I never realized was anything special until my stereo got a lot better about ten or fifteen years ago
  • This is a spectacular recording – it’s guaranteed to put to shame any Heavy Vinyl pressing of orchestral music you own
  • There are more than 175 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.
  • The vast majority of the best orchestral recordings we’ve played were made in the Golden Age of recording (50s & 60s), but that doesn’t mean that the 70s & 80s didn’t produce amazing discs as well, and you can find more than 20 of them here

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Level 42 – World Machine Is Back

More Records We Only Sell on Import Vinyl

  • The sound is huge — far richer, bigger, clearer and more open than most other copies we played
  • A Better Records favorite for more than thirty years, the rare 80s album that holds up today
  • The big hit here is “Something About You” and we guarantee you’ve never heard it with more space, richness, presence, and performance energy than on this very copy
  • 4 stars: “World Machine pushes their newfound radio-friendly sound into the forefront, and the result is one of the finest pop albums of the mid-80s. ‘Something About You’ exemplifies Level 42’s sound at the peak of its success.”

This British Polydor pressing of Level 42’s BEST ALBUM makes a mockery of most of what’s out there — who knew the sound could be this good? Punchy bass, breathy vocals, snappy drums; it’s all here and it reallyl comes JUMPIN’ out of the speakers on this pressing.

What was striking this time around was just how smooth, rich and tubey the sound was on the best copies. It’s been a few years since we last did this shootout and it’s amazing to us how much better this title has gotten in that short span of time.

Of course, the recording very likely got no better at all, but our system, set-up, room, electricity and who-know-what-else sure did.

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Traffic – The Best of Traffic

More Music on Island Records

For those who wish to find their own Hot Stamper pressings of the album, we say more power to you. Our helpful advice can be found at the bottom of the listing,

  • This original Pink Label Island pressing was doing practically everything right, with both sides earning killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades, just shy of our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Here are the full-bodied mids, punchy lows and clear, open, extended highs that let this 1969 release come alive
  • This amazing compilation boasts superb sound, often dramatically better than the very same tracks on many of the original British releases
  • Top 100 and 4 stars: “The entire second side of the LP, comprising ‘Medicated Goo,’ ‘Forty Thousand Headmen,’ ‘Feelin’ Alright,’ ‘Shanghai Noodle Factory,’ and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy,’ was the kind of progressive rock that would define Traffic and give it its place in the rock pantheon.”
  • For our current take on the sound of the various labels and stampers for Mr. Fantasy and The Best of Traffic, please click here.

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David Bowie – Lodger

More of the Music of David Bowie

  • With INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom, this vintage UK pressing is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Lodger you’ve heard
  • We shot out a number of other imports and the midrange presence, bass, and dynamics on this outstanding copy placed it head and shoulders above most other pressings we played
  • The sound is big and rich, yet still wonderfully clean, clear and open with fantastic energy – you will not believe all the space and ambience on these sides
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Lodger has an edgier, more minimalistic bent than its two predecessors, which makes it more accessible for rock fans, as well as giving it a more immediate, emotional impact.”
  • If you have Low (1977) and Heroes (1978), this is the album that completes Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, made possible by the team of Brian Eno and Tony Visconti

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Holst / The Planets / Mehta

More of the Music of Holst

  • You’ll find INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout this early London pressing of Holst’s phenomenal magnum opus
  • These sides are clear, full-bodied and present, with plenty of space around the players, the unmistakable sonic hallmark of the properly mastered, properly pressed vintage analog LP
  • Vibrant orchestrations, top quality sound and scratch-free surfaces combine for an astounding listening experience of this TAS-approved recording
  • Here you will find some of the biggest, boldest sound for the work that we’ve ever heard

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Dire Straits – Communique

More of the Music of Dire Straits

  • A Communique like you’ve never heard, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • 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 Communique
  • If you’re a fan of the band’s debut release, you’ll find much to like on this underappreciated follow up
  • “…an album full of the delicate subtleties that make Mark Knopfler shimmer — that deep tobacco-soaked voice, the quick, fluid guitar, and the wit behind many of his lyrics… a rich, abundant source of beauty.”
  • If you’re a fan of the band, a killer copy of their album from 1979 surely belongs in your collection

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Men At Work – Business As Usual

More Titles We Only Offer on Import

  • This UK import copy boasts a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • “Who Can It Be Now” and “Down Under” are the big hits, and we guarantee you’ve never heard them sound as good as they do on this vintage pressing
  • Big and full-bodied, and much smoother than practically all others, with an abundance of energy, the sound here immediately set the sonic bar very high
  • “The production sound was low-key, but clean and uncluttered. Indeed, the songs stood by themselves with little embellishment save for a bright, melodic, singalong quality.”
  • In our opinion, Business As Usual is the band’s best sounding album, and probably the only Men at Work record you’ll ever need. Click on this link to see more titles we like to call one and done.

As a bit of background, just in case you are not familiar with the album, the domestic pressings are horrendously bright. We have never played one that didn’t sound like the treble was jacked up to a level just this side of ear-bleed.

The only way to hear this album sound right is on Australian, Dutch, British and, more than a little surprisingly, even Japanese vinyl. Yes, we have heard them all. We’ve liked about one out of every one hundred Japanese pressings we’ve played over the last twenty years. We were surprised to find that the Japanese copy of Business As Usual we played many years ago was pretty good, for what that’s worth.

(We can’t be sure that on our current system with our current ears we would feel the same.)

We tend to prefer the Brits but it seems that any import is worth a listen. The key, as always, is in the mastering and pressing.

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