TAS List Good

140-plus reviews and commentaries for recordings currently or formerly on The Absolute Sound’s Super Disc List.

The pressing we like often does not match the pressing on their list.

Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills – Super Session on the 70s Red Label

More Al Kooper

More Stephen Stills

  • With superb Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides, we guarantee you’ve never heard Super Session sound this good
  • Engineered by Roy Halee, the man behind one of the best sounding rock records of all time (the self-titled Blood, Sweat and Tears album), the oh-so-analog sound here is especially dynamic and spacious
  • It’s true, the 360 label pressings win our shootouts, but that doesn’t mean the right later label pressings aren’t nearly as good, as is the case with this one
  • For fans of BS&T’s first album (and everybody else), Super Session is a Must Own
  • “Season of the Witch” is crazy good on this vintage Red Label pressing
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This is one of those albums that seems to get better with age… This is a super session indeed.”

Here’s a copy that gets the midrange right. It’s nice and open, with lots of space around all of the instruments, tight punchy bass, and an extended top end. The energy level is right up there with some of the best we played.

“Man’s Temptation,” track 3 on side one, has got some seriously bright EQ happening (reminiscent of the first BS&T album), so if that song even sounds tolerable in the midrange you are doing better than expected.

Watch Out For

Bright, gritty, spitty, edgy, harsh, upper-midrangy vocals. The Red Labels tend to have more problems of this kind, but plenty of original 360 pressings are gritty and bright too.

Let’s face it, if the vocals are wrong, this album pretty much falls apart.

Most copies are far too bright and phony sounding to turn up loud; the distortion and grit are just too much at higher volumes. On the better copies, with more correct tonality and an overall freedom from distortion, you can turn the volume up and let Super Session rock.

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Massenet / Le Cid Ballet Music / Fremaux

More of the music of Jules Massenet (1842—1912)

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

  • This shockingly well recorded orchestral recording on vintage British EMI import vinyl boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • So much bigger and livelier than most other copies we played, with an extended top, rosiny texture to the strings, and lower strings that are rich and vibrant in the best tradition of vintage Deccas and RCAs
  • A Demo Disc of real power with huge size and scope – it’s smooth and natural, which means you can really turn it up if you want that front row center seat
  • This copy was one of the few that really extended on both ends of the frequency spectrum
  • Let’s give credit where credit is due – Stuart Eltham is an immensely talented recording engineer and this is unquestionably some of his finest work
  • This orchestral spectacular should be part of any serious classical collection –others that belong in that category can be found here
  • For those interested in our reviews for the many others pressings of Le Cid we’ve auditioned, please click here.

This is a record that clearly belongs on a Super Disc list; if Harry hadn’t already put it there we certainly would have. (We would love to compile a Super Disc list of our own, but unless you have just the right copy of whatever title you find on the list, you may not have anything like Super Disc sound quality, so why a list at all? It creates more problems for audiophiles than it solves.)

Both sides of this TAS List disc contain audiophile Must Own Demonstration pieces, full of Tubey Magic, powerful dynamics, real depth, lifelike ambience, and uncannily accurate instrumental timbres, especially from the woodwinds. Add explosive dynamics and deep bass and you have yourself a genuine audiophile recording.

The sound is so rich you will not believe you are listening to an EMI. If more EMI records sounded like this we would be putting them on the site left and right. Unfortunately, in our experience the majority are thin, shrill and vague. Not so here!

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Dvorak – Cello Concerto / Starker

More Recordings with Janos Starker

Hot Stamper Pressings of Mercury Classical Recordings Available Now

  • Starker and the LSO’s sublime performance debuts on the site with the big, lively and rich sound we had been waiting for
  • The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is wonderfully full and harmonically natural
  • Some old record collectors (like me) say classical recording quality ain’t what it used to be – here’s all the proof anyone with two working ears and top quality audiophile equipment needs to make the case
  • As you may well imagine, shootouts for this album are exceedingly rare. For a sought-after TAS List title such as this, we’re lucky to be able to do one every five years or so. Until the next one comes around, please consider trying some of our other classical and orchestral Hot Stamper pressings

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Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess on the Six Eye Label

More Miles Davis

More Gil Evans

  • Here is an original 6-Eye Stereo pressing with outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from start to finish
  • Side one was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be amazed at how big and rich and tubey the sound is
  • Both sides are full of that vintage Columbia jazz Tubey Magic – the brass is full-bodied with lots of air, the bass is surprisingly well-defined, the top end is extended and sweet, and the soundfield is HUGE and three-dimensional
  • 5 stars: “It was Evans’ intimate knowledge of the composition as well as the performer that allowed him to so definitively capture the essence of both… No observation or collection of American jazz can be deemed complete without this recording.”
  • Teo Macero was the producer and Ray Moore the engineer — it’s yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording.
  • If you’re a fan of the marvelous collaborations of Miles Davis and Gil Evans circa 1959, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this album belongs in your collection
  • The complete list of titles from 1959 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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Joni Mitchell – Hejira

More Joni Mitchell

  • Outstanding sound throughout this vintage Asylum label pressing, with both sides earning Double Plus (A++) grades
  • Most copies we played were too compressed or veiled to involve you in the music, but this one has the big, rich, clear sound of analog at its best that Joni’s spacey “beatnik jazz” needs to work its magic
  • “Joni Mitchell’s Hejira is the last in an astonishingly long run of top-notch studio albums dating back to her debut… Performances are excellent, with special kudos reserved for Jaco Pastorius’ melodic bass playing… This excellent album is a rewarding listen.”

We played a ton of copies and heard a lot to dislike. Many copies have a tendency to sound phony, a case of heavy-handed EQ in the mastering perhaps. When a copy sounds glossy, it loses its natural warmth and starts to sound like any old audiophile LP. We’re ideally looking for something akin to Blue here, and not the sound you find on Patricia Barber LPs. (Gratuitous maybe, but it feels like it’s been too long since we took a swipe at that junk. But I digress…)

Plenty of copies had natural sound but no real life or presence to speak of. It’s a sound you could live with until you heard a good one, but there’s no going back once you’ve heard what the album’s really capable of. A copy like this one gives you lots of richness and warmth without sacrificing the texture to the instruments or the breath to Joni’s voice. The percussion really comes through, the bass has more weight and the immediacy of the vocals put Joni front and center, just where she should be.

If you aren’t familiar with this album, it’s a few more steps down the path she started taking on Court and Spark. The musicians include Larry Carlton and Jaco Pastorius, so that should give you an idea about the jazz-fusion direction of the arrangements. It was a fun album to get to know and on a copy like this one, it really rewards multiple listens.

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Janis Joplin – I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

More of the Music of Janis Joplin

  • Boasting two INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this original Stereo 360 pressing (the first copy to hit the site in seven months) could not be beat
  • This copy has the ideal combination of openness and transparency balanced with the richness and solidity of vintage analog
  • When Janis starts singing, watch out – her voice positively jumps out of the speakers, something we didn’t hear her do on many of the other copies in our shootout
  • Features “Try,” one of Janis’s All Time Classics – and with these grades you can be sure it sounds positively amazing here
  • Marks 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

This Columbia 360 Stereo pressing is the cure for Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues.

Drop the needle on the great song “Try” and just listen to how crisp, punchy, and big the drums sound. The bottom end has real weight and the top end is silky and extended. The overall sound is rich, full, and smooth.

Energy is the key element missing from the average copy, but not on this bad boy (or girl, if you prefer). The electric guitars are super Tubey Magical and the bass is solid and punchy.

On many copies — too many copies — the vocals are pinched and edgy. Here they’re breathy and full — a much better way for Janis to sound. There’s a slight amount of grit to the vocals at times and the brass as well, but the life force on these sides is so strong that we much preferred it to the smoother, duller, deader copies we heard that didn’t have that issue.

On copy after copy we heard pinched, squawky horns and harsh vocals; not a good sound for this album. Janis’s voice needs lots of space up top to get good and loud, and both of these sides have it in spades.

Few other copies had this combination of openness and transparency on the one hand, and full, rich tonality on the other.

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Burt Bacharach – Casino Royale

More Soundtrack Recordings of Interest

  • Casino Royale finally returns to the site after a two and a half year hiatus, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this original Stereo Colgems pressing
  • A record that has its share of problems, but if you’ve got the system for it (huge, heavily tweaked, fast, undistorted, highly resolving and free from obvious colorations), this pressing is guaranteed to handily beat anything else you’ve heard
  • A TAS list favorite – “The Look of Love” with warmth, richness and immediacy? Here is the sound you never thought you’d hear
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The more recognizable and certainly more straightforward side of Bacharach is here, too, on the Dusty Springfield smash ‘The Look of Love.’ This is one of Bacharach’s best soundtracks…”

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Schubert / Death and the Maiden / Julliard String Quartet

More of the Music of Franz Schubert

  • This rare and highly sought after Shaded Dog pressing finally returns to the site, here with solid Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be amazed at how big and rich and tubey the sound is
  • Our shootout winner in this case, like many of the rare Living Stereo titles we do offer, looked fine but played with too much surface noise to be enjoyable on highly resolving equipment
  • Both of these sides are remarkably transparent, with real “rosin on the bow” resolution and naturalness that is lacking on many of the RCA chamber recordings we’ve played in the past
  • Lewis Layton engineered this TAS-approved recording and he nailed it, perfectly capturing the rich, textured sheen on the strings, the hallmark of Living Stereo sound in the 50s and 60s
  • 1960 was a great year for classical recordings – other Must Own orchestral releases can be found here

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Willie Nelson / Stardust – A Copy This Good Deserves a Place on a Super Disc List

More of the Music of Willie Nelson

  • From the first few moments of the title track you’ll be blown away by the in-the-room immediacy of The Man himself
  • Boasting two KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this vintage pressing of this exceptionally well-recorded album is certainly as good as we have ever heard
  • Here are just a few of the things we have to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “spacious, sweet and dynamic vox”…”big, tubey and up front”…”so rich and weighty”…”excellent detail”
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • This copy is hi-res without sacrificing the analog warmth that makes the recording so exceptional, especially for one from 1978
  • 5 stars: “Stardust showcases Nelson’s skills as a musician and his entire aesthetic — where there is nothing separating classic American musical forms, it can all be played together — perhaps better than any other album…”
  • If you’re a fan of The Great American Songbook, this is a killer recording from 1978 that belongs in your collection.

Georgia On My Mind is a DEMO QUALITY track on this album. You aren’t going to believe all the ambience on this copy. The top end is gorgeous — sweet, delicate, and silky with loads of extension. The sound is extremely hi-res without sacrificing any of the warmth that makes this music so special.

Just listen to the rimshots and the bell in Georgia On My Mind — we guarantee you have NEVER heard those instruments sound so present, clear, and immediate.

Willie’s voice is natural and tonally correct, with all the breathy texture you could ever hope to hear. The acoustic guitars and Booker T.’s organ are perfection. (more…)

Chopin / Concerto No. 1 / Rubinstein / Skrowaczewski

Living Stereo Classical and Orchestral Titles Available Now

  • Rubinstein’s superb performance of Chopin’s concerto for piano is finally back in the site after a three year hiatus, here with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) Living Stereo sound or close to it on both sides of this original Shaded Dog pressing
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this stunning copy in our notes: “3D rich piano”…”big and tubey and dynamic”…”lush brash and strings”…”very full bodied”…”zero smear” (side one)
  • So big and transparent, with weight and heft to the brass, we guarantee you have never heard a better piano concerto recording (unless you already one of our White Hot Stamper LPs)
  • The secret to the superior sound of this particular Rubinstein recording over so many others is the engineering by Kenneth Wilkinson – the glorious hall the London Symphony plays in doesn’t hurt either
  • Chopin, according to Arthur Hedley, “had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal…”

“Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano.”

The latest notes for this RCA recording point out that this is the best combination of sound and performance for Chopin’s first piano concerto, with more emotion and finesse in the playing than other versions we auditioned.

The piano is in the foreground, with the orchestra reasonably balanced and clearly more powerful than some of the other recordings we played.

The biggest issue for the lesser pressings — which means the ones that did not win the shootout — is the possibility of some tube compressor smear on the loudest orchestral passages. (This is a subect we discuss on the blog quite a bit, by the way,)

The strings have lovely Living Stereo (Decca-engineered) texture as well. As befits a Wilkinson recording from 1961, there is no shortage of clarity to balance out the Tubey Magical warmth and richness.

We have lately been surveying some of his recordings from the late-60s and 70s to our great disappointment. The All Tube Recording Chain was gone. Opacity and lack of warmth prevented us from proceeding with any shootouts we might have attempted.

We love the huge, Tubey Magical sound of this recording. The piano is solid and powerful — like a real piano.

With tremendous hall space, weight and energy, this is Demo Disc quality sound by any standard.

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