Best on Vintage Domestic Vinyl

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

This may strike you as contrary to the received wisdom of most record collectors, but we have the superior sounding copies of these titles to back up everything we say.

Charlie Byrd – Hollywood Byrd

More of the Music of Charlie Byrd

  • Hollywood Byrd appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them throughout this original Stereo 360 pressing
  • Forget the later pressings — none of them can compete with the right originals on this title
  • This side one is remarkably transparent, rich, spacious, sweet and tubey, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • Columbia records produced by Teo Macero in the 60s have consistently open, natural sound – this one recorded in 67 is no exception (particularly on side oine)

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Miles Davis – Filles de Kilimanjaro

More of the Music of Miles Davis

  • With KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides, this copy is certainly as good as we have ever heard
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • This Columbia 360 Label LP boasts rich, full-bodied, clear sound with the space and three-dimensionality that was difficult to find on the later pressings we played
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… this middle ground between the adventurous bop of the mid-60s and the fusion of the late-60s is rewarding in its own right, since it’s possible to hear great musicians find the foundation of a new form. For that alone, Filles de Kilimanjaro is necessary listening.”

This is one of the all-time classic progressive jazz albums, and a copy like this allows you to appreciate the contributions of Miles and his top-notch band (Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and the great Ron Carter on most of the songs). This one’s not as “out there” as Bitches Brew, but it gives you a taste of the various directions these guys would take in the years to come.

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Aretha Franklin – Spirit In The Dark


  • You’ll find outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout this vintage Atlantic pressing
  • It’s lively, open, present and natural; the soundfield is big and spacious and the bottom end is killer; Aretha fans, you won’t want to miss out on this one
  • We’ve done a ton of Aretha shootouts over the years and I’d put this one right up there with any of her titles for top quality sound
  • Our last shootout was 2020 — we simply cannot find copies of albums like these with audiophile quality surfaces, and the future does not appear to be any brighter in that respect than the present
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Spirit in the Dark was one of Aretha Franklin’s more overlooked albums from her Atlantic prime, despite the inclusion of a couple hit singles (the title track and “Don’t Play That Song”)… it’s an exuberant and remarkably consistent effort.”

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Red Garland Trio – Groovy

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

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  • Boasting solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them, this vintage Prestige recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl was giving us the sound we were looking for on Red’s Jazz Masterpiece
  • The MONO sound is clear, spacious, relaxed, and full-bodied, with Tubey Magical richness and analog smoothness that only the better vintage pressings can offer (particularly on side one)
  • Another top jazz recording from Rudy Van Gelder – big, bold and lively (also particularly on side one), just the right sound for this music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “With bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor, Garland has all the support he needs to wing it in a variety of directions. Recorded in that most legendary year of jazz, 1957, Garland is coming into his own in a more confident way, buoyed by his association at the time with Miles Davis.”

What makes this vintage piano trio album in mono so special? Allow me to quote a review from a few years back for a pair of recordings that Red Garland made with Miles Davis back in the mid-50s: Workin’ And Steamin’.

To the Jazz Fans of the World, we here present one of the best sounding jazz recordings we have ever had the privilege to place on a turntable. I cannot ever recall hearing a better sounding Rudy Van Gelder recording, and I have a theory as to why this tape is as good as it is: it’s MONO. It also sounds like it’s recorded completely live in the studio, direct to one track you might say. As good a recording as Kind of Blue is, I think the best parts of this album are more immediate and more real than anything on KOB.

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Ellington-Basie / First Time – The Count Meets the Duke

More of the Music of Duke Ellington

More of the Music of Count Basie

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  • This original 6-Eye Stereo pressing was doing most everything right, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER
  • Huge amounts of three-dimensional space and ambience, along with boatloads of Tubey Magic – here’s a 30th Street recording from 1961 that demonstrates just how good Columbia’s engineers were back then
  • If all you’ve heard are the Classic Records reissues of Ellington, you are in for a treat, because there is a world of difference lying between the real things and the Classic wannabes
  • It’s yet another Tubey Magical Demo Disc from the golden age of vacuum tube recording
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… a very successful and surprisingly uncrowded encounter… Ellington and Basie both play piano (their interaction with each other is wonderful) and the arrangements allowed the stars from both bands to take turns soloing.”
  • It’s hard to imagine that any list of the best jazz albums of 1961 would not have The Count Meets the Duke on it. The sound is out of this world on the best copies.

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Varese et al. / Percussion Music / New Jersey Percussion Ensemble

TAS List Records Available Now

  • This crazy fun 20th Century Percussion Music album featuring classical works which rely almost exclusively on percussion (piano and voice also make appearances) boasts INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • Both of these TAS-approved sides are clear and spacious with sound that is positively jumping out of the speakers
  • This copy is transparent, speedy, and tonally correct from top to bottom like nothing else we played
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear how amazing sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting stitches and just be swept away by the music

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Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline

More of the Music of Bob Dylan

  • A vintage Stereo 360 pressing with outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on both sides
  • We guarantee this copy will blow your mind, and blow every other copy you have ever played out of the water, or your money back
  • “Lay Lady Lay,” “To Be Alone With You,” “I Threw It All Away,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” are true country-rock standards
  • There are some bad marks (as is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs) on “Tell Me That It Isn’t True,” but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music
  • 5 stars: “It’s a warm, friendly album, particularly since Bob Dylan is singing in a previously unheard gentle croon — the sound of his voice is so different it may be disarming upon first listen, but it suits the songs.”
  • This is a Must Own Dylan classic from 1969 that belongs in every right-thinking audiophile’s collection

This vintage Columbia 360 pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings cannot BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back.

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Joan Jett & The Blackhearts / I Love Rock ‘n Roll – A Surprisingly Well Recorded Album for 1981

More Women Who Rock

  • This stunning copy of Joan Jett’s iconic 1981 release boasts Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • A surprisingly well-recorded album for 1981 – rich and full-bodied down low, smooth up top, present and natural in the midrange, this audiophile sound quality really took us by surprise
  • And as you can see from the above description, when a pressing sounds like this, you can play it good and loud – the louder you play it, the better it sounds
  • 4 stars: “That dynamic, hard rock crunch is what made the title track into an international hit, but it also gives the album dimension — not only can Jett & the Blackhearts tear up heavy glam rockers, but they also pull off the mock psychedelia of Tommy James & the Shondells’ ‘Crimson and Clover’ with aplomb.”

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Bee Gees et al. – Saturday Night Fever

More 5 Star Albums

  • KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it brings this 70s classic to life on these vintage pressings
  • There’s real Bee Gees vocal magic here – “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Jive Talkin’,” and more
  • One of the most underrated tracks that holds up surprisingly well after all these years is “A Fifth of Beethoven,” and it sounds stunning here on this Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) side two – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • It’s no walk in the park to find a copy with sonics this good, but here it is
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 5 stars: “Saturday Night Fever is virtually indispensable as a Bee Gees album, not just for the presence of an array of songs that were hits in their own right but because it offered the Gibb brothers as composers as well as artists…”
  • If you’re a Bee Gees fan, this title from 1977 is surely a Must Own

This copy of the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack has truly killer sound throughout, and that ain’t no jive talkin’! We collected a bunch of these and put them through the shootout process and were delighted to find out that some of the material on here can sound wonderful on the best pressings.

Like any compilation, some songs are going to sound better than others. The good news here is that most of the tracks you’d hope to be impressive actually are: “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Disco Inferno” are among the better-sounding songs here.

Find your favorite song on here, drop the needle, and see if the dramatically improved sound doesn’t bring back some special memories, and maybe even inspire you to bust a move!

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Black Sabbath – Vol. 4

More of the Music of Black Sabbath

  • With KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this vintage Green Label pressing, we guarantee you’ve never heard Vol. 4 sound this good
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • Both sides here are really rockin’ — big and full-bodied with an abundance of bass and the kind of performance energy that gets sucked right out of the music on the reissues, not to mention the no-doubt-worse modern pressings
  • We agree with Henry Rollins, who said, “Sabbath could be my favorite band… There’s something about their music that’s so painful and yet so powerful.”
  • This is a lot of money for a somewhat noisy copy, but the sound is so awesome and quiet pressings of the album so hard to come by that we hope someone will take a chance on it and get the thrill we did from hearing it sound right for once
  • 5 stars: “… it does find Sabbath at their most musically varied, pushing to experiment amidst the drug-addled murk… Die-hard fans sick of the standards come here next, and some end up counting this as their favorite Sabbath record for its eccentricities and for its embodiment of the band’s excesses.”

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