Import=Best

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

Ted Heath – Hits I Missed

More Large Group Jazz Recordings

  • Hits I Missed appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • Both of these sides are huge, rich, weighty and dynamic like few records you have ever heard – it sets the Gold Standard for Tubey Magical Big Band sound
  • This pressing is bigger, bolder and richer, as well as more clean, clear and open than most other copies we played in our recent shootout

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Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • Wow — Solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this Elvis Costello classic!
  • You’re gonna love the sound here – full-bodied and punchy with a solid low end and excellent presence for Elvis’s vocals
  • The bass is right – the moment-to-moment rhythmic changes in the songs are clear and the band swings the way it’s supposed to
  • Marks and problems 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: “The most remarkable thing about the album is the sound — Costello and the Attractions never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, ever again.”

Pump it up! This British import Radar LP has two outstanding sides that brilliantly and powerfully convey the energy of this hard rockin’ music.

The overall sound is punchy, lively, and dynamic with plenty of tight, note-like bass. This is key to the better copies.

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Bad Company – Straight Shooter (UK Press)

More of the Music of Bad Company

  • A Straight Shooter like you’ve never heard, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • If you’re playing this one good and loud, you’ll feel like you’re in the room with the boys as they kick out these classic riff-driven jams
  • Take it from us, it is not easy to find a copy like this that’s doing just about everything right, with the weight, balance and energy this music needs to rock
  • 4 stars: “Vocalist and songwriter Paul Rodgers wrote two acoustic-based rock ballads that would live on forever in the annals of great rock history: ‘Shooting Star’ and the Grammy-winning ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love.'”

The sophomore jinx is nowhere to be found on this album. In fact, you could make a pretty good case that this is actually a better album than their debut. The best pressings of this Bad Company classic have ROCK ENERGY that cannot be beat. (more…)

Brian Eno / Taking Tiger Mountain Is a Masterpiece

More of the Music of Brian Eno

  • An original UK Island import pressing of Eno’s Art Rock Masterpiece with an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • Side two of this copy resolves the subtle harmonics of Eno’s treated sounds better than all others we played – here is a truly immersive Art Rock experience like no other
  • Only these British originals ever win shootouts – their superior sound comes as the result of their being transferred from fresh master tapes, using the highest resolution cutting equipment available, on to to the best storage medium to ever exist: the mass-produced vinyl LP
  • When records are this big and bold, we say they have “blockbuster sound.” Here are some others that fit that bill.
  • “The songs…are as inventive and appealing as their treatments, and make for Eno’s most solid–and experimental–pop album. This LP holds up magnificently, even years on in the artist’s brilliant career.”

This is Brian Eno’s Masterpiece, as well as a personal favorite of yours truly.

On the right pressing this is a twisted pop Demo Disc like nothing you have ever heard. If you have a big speaker and the kind of high quality playback that is capable of unraveling the most complicated musical creations, with all the weight and power of live music, this is the record that will make all your audio effort and expense worthwhile.

That’s the kind of stereo I’ve been working on for forty years and this album just plain kills over here.

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Miklós Rózsa – Quo Vadis (Music From the Film on London)

More Decca & London Records

  • 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
  • This 1978 re-recording of Rózsa’s original work for the 1951 film, here performed by the Royal Philharmonic in glorious orchestral sound
  • The Decca pressing is on the TAS Super Disc List, and those are the ones that always win our shootouts, but the London pressings can also have excellent sound and tend to be priced much lower owing to the fact that they are much more findable here in the states
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Rózsa gets spirited performances out of the orchestra and the chorus, but with the latter he also achieves a level of subtlety in their performance of his work which greatly enhances the finale to the piece.”

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Rimsky-Korsakov / The Tale of Tsar Saltan / Ansermet

More of the Music of Rimsky-Korsakov

  • This London stereo pressing boasts big, bold, dynamic Tubey Magical Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • No question this is a Demo Disc quality recording – it’s rich and real, with huge WHOMP factor down low, as well as clear, uncolored brass and robust lower strings
  • Here is the kind of depth and three-dimensional soundstaging that the recordings by Ansermet and the Suisse Romande are famous for
  • We would love to be able to find Ansermet’s Scheherazade on London, but as you may have read on the blog, the right stampers of that record are almost impossible to find these days, although that has not stopped us from trying
  • No question this is a Demo Disc recording – it’s rich and real, with huge WHOMP factor down low, as well as clear, uncolored brass and robust lower strings
  • The Speakers Corner pressing of Ansermet’s famous recording is mediocre, with many faults, all discussed here
  • We would love to be able to offer our customers Ansermet’s Scheherazade on London (not Decca!) vinyl, but as you may have read on the blog, the right stampers of that record are almost impossible to find these days, although that has not stopped us from trying

James Walker was the producer, Roy Wallace the engineer for these sessions from 1957 in Geneva’s glorious Victoria Hall. It’s yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording.

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Roxy Music – Manifesto

More of the Music of Roxy Music

  • This early UK import pressing boasts KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • It’s simply bigger and richer than any other copy we played, with rock solid energy to beat them all
  • Forget the dubby domestic pressings and whatever crappy Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – the Tubey Magic on this pressing and the others in our shootout prove again and again that the UK LPs are the only way to fly on Manifesto
  • “The songs ending each side fade out with real grace and leave you hanging, wanting more — drenched in a romance out of reach.”
  • If you’re a Roxy fan, this title from 1979 surely deserves a place in your collection

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Traffic – Self-Titled

More of the Music of Traffic

  • An original Pink Label Island pressing with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • This side one is rich, full-bodied and Tubey Magical yet still incredibly open and spacious, and side two is not far behind in all those areas – there’s an abundance of bottom end weight too!
  • 5 stars: “As [Dave] Mason’s simpler, more direct performances alternate with the more complex [Steve] Winwood tunes, the album is well-balanced… their second consecutive Top Ten ranking in the U.K.; the album also reached the Top 20 in the U.S.”

This vintage Island pink label pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound. (more…)

The Moody Blues – Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

More of The Moody Blues

  • With INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom, this copy is one of the BEST we have ever heard – unusually quiet vinyl too, about as quiet as we can find them
  • With a wonderful combination of Tubey Magical richness and clarity, this UK Threshold pressing will be practically impossible to beat
  • Full-bodied and lush, yet not veiled or distant, this is the sound that brings the Moodies magic to life
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The best-realized of their classic albums, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was also the last of the group’s albums for almost a decade to be done under reasonably happy and satisfying circumstances — for the last time with this lineup, they went into the studio with a reasonably full song bag and a lot of ambition and brought both as far as time would allow…”

This copy had the big, rich, lush British sound that can only be heard on the better Moody Blues pressings.

Great sounding Moody Blues albums don’t show up on our site too often — they’re just not that easy to come by. Dull, veiled, boring sound is the rule, and big, rich, clear sound like this the exception.

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The Beatles – Please Please Me (German)

More of the Music of The Beatles

  • Killer sound for the Beatles’ debut studio album, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it throughout this vintage import pressing
  • Both sides have exceptional presence, clarity and size – it’s bigger, bolder and richer, as well as more clean, clear and open than all others we played
  • 5 stars: “Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh [and]…it’s easy to get wrapped up in the sound of the record itself without realizing how the album effectively summarizes the band’s eclectic influences. There’s a love of girl groups, vocal harmonies, sophisticated popcraft, schmaltz, R&B, and hard-driving rock & roll, which is enough to make Please Please Me impressive, but what makes it astonishing is how these elements converge in the originals.”

Folks, if you’re looking for a killer copy of the first Beatles release, here it is! Big and lively with superb presence and energy, this is exactly the right sound for this music. The album itself is nothing short of amazing. It captures more of the live sound of these four guys playing together as a rock and roll band than any record they ever made afterwards. (Let It Be gets some of that live quality, too, and makes a great bookend for the group.)

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