Top Arrangers / Performers – Marty Paich

Shelly Manne & His Men – The West Coast Sound, Vol. 1

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More Contemporary Label Jazz

  • This early MONO pressing was doing practically everything right, with both sides earning INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • The first track here is by far the best sounding, amazingly good and the perfect illustration of just how good 1956 mono sound can be if you know what you are doing
  • The sound may be a bit dated but the horns are enchantingly sweet and Tubey Magical, with solos that show off the jazz chops of “His Men” about as well as any Manne and His Men album ever has
  • Tube mastering is essential for this recording – without vintage tubes in the chain, you end up with the kind of modern sound that the average OJC pressing suffers from (this is especially noticeable on side two of the OJC pressings we played, which were mostly awful)
  • Contemporary in 1956 was making some awfully good jazz records, with room-filling, natural and realistic mono sound, the kind of sound that still holds up today and doesn’t need a lot of “mastering” to do it
  • Good luck finding quieter early copies of this title — we sure couldn’t do it, not with top quality sound anyway
  • 5 stars: “The music has plenty of variety yet defines the era… Highly recommended and proof (if any is really needed) that West Coast jazz was far from bloodless.”
  • If you’re a fan of West Coast Jazz, this is a Top Title from 1956, and one that certainly belongs in any right-thinking audiophile’s collection.

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Toto – Self-Titled

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Toto

  • Outstanding sound for the band’s debut LP, with both sides earning Double Plus (A++) grades
  • Toto’s albums have the kind of analog sound we love here at Better Records – they’re rich, huge and present, with tons of Tubey Magic and wall to wall spaciousness
  • Lukather’s overdriven guitar adds so much power to the music – the perfect combo of grungy guitars and rock star vocals makes “Hold the Line” a staple of rock radio to this day
  • 4 stars: “Toto’s rock-studio chops allowed them to play any current pop style at the drop of a hi-hat: one minute prog rock, the next hard rock, the next funky R&B. Singles like ‘I’ll Supply the Love’ made the charts, and ‘Hold the Line’ hit the Top Ten.”

This is analog, make no mistake about it. Those smooth sweet vocals, open top and rich full bottom are a dead giveaway that you are playing a record and not a CD. (I understand the CD for this title is awful; bright, thin and downright painful. This is the problem with the CD: if they do a bad job making it, and you no longer own a turntable, what are your options? Squat, pretty much.)

Pop production techniques were very advanced by 1978, providing plenty of natural sounding roomy reverb around the vocals and guitars. Lukather’s overdriven, distorted guitar has near-perfect tonality; it adds so much power to the music.

Just like the Hot Stampers for Aqualung, when the guitar sounds this good, it really makes you sit up and take notice of the guy’s playing. When the sound works the music works, our definition of a Hot Stamper in seven words or less.

Turn up the volume? You better believe it!

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Toto – IV

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Toto

  • A vintage copy of Toto’s Must-Own Masterpiece that was doing just about everything right, earning excellent Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Huge and clear with the kind of smooth, rich, Tubey sound you sure don’t hear on too many ’80s pop albums
  • “Rosanna” and “Africa” are both knockouts here – we’ve rarely heard them with this kind of weight, scale and energy
  • 4 1/2 stars: “It was do or die for Toto on the group’s fourth album, and they rose to the challenge… Toto IV was both the group’s comeback and its peak …Toto’s best and most consistent record.”
  • This is clearly the band’s best sounding album. Roughly 100 other listings for the Best Sounding Album by an Artist or Group can be found here
  • In our opinion, IV is the only Toto record you’ll ever need. Click on this link to see more titles we call One and Done

If more records sounded like this we would be out of business (and the CD would never have been invented). Thankfully we were able to find this TOTO-ly Tubey Magical copy and make it available for our customers who love the album.

Africa Has The Whomp We Love

Side two ends with the huge hit “Africa.” Jeff Porcaro’s drums are alive and bouncy with the clarity and attack of the real live thing. When the bass kicks in, the whomp factor really gets your head bobbing. Dynamic contrasts were dramatic as well: with the best copies, the delicate sound of the ballads really took our breath away.

The brass section hired for this record, including some of the ‘Chicago’ horns, are showcased on side one. The best copies really have weight to the horn sound that the most pressings lacked, making the horns edgy and shrill. (Ugh.)

This was our first shootout for Toto in several years and it was quite a fun listen. It’s obvious why Toto IV was a Platinum Record. What’s not to like?

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Toto – Copy Number Three Finally Showed Us the Magic We Were Looking For

More of the Music of Toto

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Toto

Our first shootout from way back when [2010?] got off to a very rocky start; we were on the verge of giving up after playing two very bad, sub-generation side ones, cut at The Mastering Lab just like all the rest, but so bad even the CD might be better. If you have an awful copy, we feel your pain.

But Copy Number Three showed us the real Toto sound: the kind of sweetness and warmth we had been hoping to hear and fearing might not exist. Sure, Toto IV has killer sound, but that’s no guarantee that the first album would be recorded (or mastered or pressed) as well. In the world of audio — vinyl, equipment, what have you — there are no guarantees. The average 180 gram remastered audiophile pressing should be all the proof you need.

Good intentions don’t count for much in this business, or anywhere else for that matter.

Enough about bad audiophile records.

Copy number three also had jump-out-of-the-speakers presence without being aggressive, gritty or strident, no mean feat for a pop record from this era. Like all the best rock records, the good ones make you want to turn up the volume; the louder they get the better they sound.

Yes, some copies of Toto IV are so rich and sweet you would think they were recorded ten years earlier. The clarity and tremendous dynamics, however, seem a tad more modern, which is a good thing, right?

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Mel Torme / Swings Shubert Alley – Another Reissue that Kills the Original

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Mel Torme Albums We’ve Reviewed

  • Outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound brings Torme’s 1961 release to life on this vintage Verve Stereo pressing
  • One of our favorite male vocal albums – exceptionally well recorded and really involving on a copy that sounds as good as this one does
  • Lovely richness and warmth, you may just find yourself using it as a Analog Demonstration Disc – Mel is in his prime and magnificent throughout
  • 5 stars: “Though the nominal concept for Swings Shubert Alley is Broadway standards, this last moment of pure Mel Tormé brilliance swings much too fast and hard for the concept to be anything but pure swing. The overall mood is unrestrained enthusiasm, and it makes for an excellent record.”
  • These are the top titles from 1961 we’ve reviewed to date. From an audiophile perspective, depending on your taste in music, most should be worthy of a place 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. Swings Shubert Alley is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but would benefit from getting to know better

Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley is one of our very favorite male vocal albums, and a great copy like this will show you why — the audiophile quality sound and swinging jazz vocal music are simply hard to beat.

This album from 1961 finds Mel in his prime. By the ’70s he was a shadow of himself, and more modern (read: less natural) recording technology wasn’t doing him any favors. None of those later albums means much to us here at Better Records.

His Bethlehem recordings can have outstanding sonics and music to match, but try to find a clean one. It’s been years since one came our way that wasn’t noisy or groove damaged. (more…)

Art Pepper+Eleven – Modern Jazz Classics

Contemporary Jazz Records Available Now

Reviews and Commentaries for Contemporary Jazz

  • A superb vintage Contemporary stereo pressing of this exceptional Art Pepper release from 1960 with solid Double Plus (A++) sound – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • If you buy only one Large Group Hot Stamper jazz record from us, make it this one – the music is swingin’ fun and the sound is going to blow your mind
  • And that’s doubly true if you own any modern reissue (really, almost any reissue at all to be honest) – this is the kind of sound no later pressing from ANY era can compete with
  • Here is the Tubey Magic of the originals without the problems that too often cause the originals to be opaque and uninvolving
  • A personal favorite – 5 stars: “This is a true classic. Essential music for all serious jazz collections.”

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Spirit / Self-Titled – A Psych Rock Masterpiece (The First of Two)

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More Psychedelic Rock

  • Wall to wall, with layered studio depth like you will not believe, the kind of space you hear on an engineering classic like Dark Side of the Moon
  • 4 1/2 stars on Allmusic, but in our estimation it deserves at least five – it’s simply one of the All Time Greats from the era
  • 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. Spirit’s First Album is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but would be well advised to get to know better.
  • If I were to make a list of my Favorite Rock and Pop Albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it, close to the top I should think.

Need a refresher course in Tubey Magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? These Ode pressings are overflowing with it. Rich, smooth, sweet, full of ambience, dead-on correct tonality — everything that we listen for in a great record is here.

No recordings will ever be made that sound like this again, and no CD will ever capture what is in the grooves of this record. There is of course a CD of this album, quite a few I would guess, but those of us with a good turntable could care less. (more…)

Art Pepper+Eleven – Hard to Beat for Music or Sound

Contemporary Jazz Records Available Now

Reviews and Commentaries for Contemporary Jazz

If you buy only one Large Group Jazz Record from us, make it this one – the music is swingin’ fun and the sound is going to blow your mind.

And that’s doubly true if you own any modern reissue. (The best early OJC pressings can be good but often suffer from the standard problems OJCs tend to have — they lack weight, Tubey Magic and can get a bit hot up top.)

This is the kind of sound no later pressing from ANY era can compete with. Last time around we noted:

This vintage Contemporary stereo pressing has plenty of Modern Jazz Classics Magic. On a copy such as this you can really pick out each of the musicians and follow them throughout the course of the track. Being able to appreciate everyone’s contributions really gives you a sense of how much work went into the making of this album. It’s nothing short of epic.

This is one DYNAMIC jazz record — drop the needle on any track and prepare to be knocked out.

The sound is full-bodied and energetic, with breathy brass and plenty of studio ambience.

As is so often is the case with the best Contemporary records, thanks must go to Howard Holzer and Roy DuNann.

If I could only have one Art Pepper record, this would be the one.

Marty Paich, Brilliant Arranger

The amazing Marty Paich did the arrangements for this group of top musicians. As far as big band goes it doesn’t get much better than this. If I had to pick one big band album to take to my desert island it might very well be this one. The arrangements are lively and everyone seems to be having a good time in the studio.

Marty was one of the most sought-after arrangers back in the day. In discogs there are currently 512 listings under his name for writing and arranging.

Many consider this to be the best record Art Pepper ever made, along with Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section, and it’s hard to argue with either title as both are superb and deserve a place in any audiophile’s collection. I would add Art Pepper Today to that list, although we rarely have copies on the site of that title. The good pressings are very hard to find.

A Must Own Jazz Record

We consider Modern Jazz Classics a Masterpiece. It’s a Demo Disc Quality recording that should be part of any serious Audiophile Jazz Collection. Others that belong in that category can be found here.

The Players

  • Art Pepper — alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet
  • Pete Candoli — trumpet
  • Al Porcino — trumpet
  • Jack Sheldon — trumpet
  • Dick Nash — trombone
  • Bob Enevoldsen — valve trombone, tenor saxophone
  • Vince DeRosa — French horn
  • Herb Geller — alto saxophone
  • Bud Shank — alto saxophone
  • Charlie Kennedy — alto saxophone
  • Bill Perkins — tenor saxophone
  • Richie Kamuca — tenor saxophone
  • Med Flory — baritone saxophone
  • Russ Freeman — piano
  • Joe Mondragon — bass
  • Mel Lewis — drums
  • Marty Paich — arranger, conductor

A Must Own Jazz Record

We consider Modern Jazz Classics a Masterpiece. It’s a Demo Disc Quality recording should be part of any serious Audiophile Jazz Collection.

Others that belong in that category can be found here.

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Marty Paich Big Band – What’s New

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More Jazz Recordings of Interest

  • Discovery may not have produced or released a lot of top sounding titles, but this record by itself puts them well ahead of Classic Records, Mobile Fidelity and the dozens of other remastering houses who have turned out close to zero records of this sonic quality
  • If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1957 All Tube Analog sound can be, this killer copy should be just the record for you – the music and sound are enchanting.
  • This copy is super-spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience – the liquidity of the sound here is positively uncanny
  • With engineering from the legendary Bones Howe at Radio Recorders, this record’s audiophile credentials are fully in order
  • If you’re a fan of brilliant West Coast Jazz charts, this All Tube Recording from 1957 belongs in your collection.
  • The complete list of titles from 1957 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

This is a wonderful example of the kind of record that makes record collecting FUN.

If you large group swinging West Coast Jazz is your thing – think Art Pepper Plus Eleven – you will really get a kick out of this one.

Albert Marx was the producer of the original sessions back in 1957. Fast-forward to the ’80s and Marx is now the owner of his very own jazz label, Discovery Records. Who would know the sound of the original tapes better than he? Working with Dave Ellsworth at KM, Marx has here produced one of the best jazz reissues we’ve heard in years.

The Original

We finally got hold of an original, and sure enough, it had some of the qualities we might have guessed it would have.

It was big and rich, as expected, but it was also crude and gritty, like a lot of old jazz and pop vocal records from the ’50s are.

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Seals & Crofts – Summer Breeze

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More Folk Rock


  • An outstanding pressing of Summer Breeze with Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it from start to finish, and exceptionally quiet vinyl too – some of the quietest we have ever found
  • With tons of Tubey Magical richness in the midrange (particularly on side two) – the kind that was still abundant on analog tape in 1972 – this is a wonderful sounding album of folk pop
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Summer Breeze offered an unusually ambitious array of music within a soft rock context – most artists tried to avoid weighty subjects in such surroundings… the most highly regarded of all of Seals & Crofts’ albums.” (more…)