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Thelonious Monk – Criss-Cross

More of the Music of Thelonious Monk

  • Here is a black print Stereo 360 Stereo pressing with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Columbia records produced by Teo Macero in the early 60s have consistently open, natural sound – this one recorded in 63 is no exception
  • The piano sounds natural and dynamic, letting Monk’s passionate playing shine
  • 4 stars: “Thelonious Monk’s second album for Columbia Records features some of the finest work that Monk ever did in the studio with his 60s trio and quartet … This is prime Monk for any degree of listener.”

I wish more Blue Note records had this kind of sound — natural, full-bodied, and sweet up top. The bass here is well-defined with real weight and lots of punch. Monk’s piano sounds correct from the highest notes all the way down to the lower register, and the sax sounds tonally right on the money. The clarity and transparency are superb throughout. (more…)

We Were Not that Impressed with the OJC of All Night Long

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Donald Byrd Available Now

Not long ago we dropped the needle on an early OJC copy of the album you see pictured and thought the sound would not be good enough for the serious audiophiles we cater to, especially at the prices we like to charge.

As far as we can tell, based on this single pressing, All Night Long is not an album that’s worth the costs associated with finding, cleaning and playing enough copies for a shootout.

It was dry and bright. This is a sound a many OJC pressings tend to have, sounding more like CDs than vintage vinyl pressings.

This title would be more or less passable, even to some degree enjoyable, if it were being played on the old school audio systems of the 60s and 70s. However, it would not begin to cut it on the high quality modern equipment we (and hopefully) our customers use.

Don’t get us wrong. We can’t say that there aren’t good sounding OJC pressings of the album. If we happen to hear a good one down the road, we would certainly consider spending the money to do a real shootout. Based on what we’ve heard so far, that’s not in the cards at this time.

Perhaps you have a pressing of the record you like. If so, please tell us more about it. You can email me at tom@better-records.com

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The Band– Cahoots

More of the Music of The Band

  • The group’s fourth studio album debuts on the site with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades from top to bottom
  • These sides are rich, dynamic and natural sounding with low end weight, midrange smoothness and powerful, punchy bass
  • Forget all those vague, veiled, lifeless, ambience-free Heavy Vinyl pressings – this is the Cahoots that The Band recorded!
  • For those who need more convincing that the best copies sound amazing, here are our notes for this very copy. Hope you can read them!

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Jeff Beck – Blow by Blow

More Jazz Fusion

  • Beck’s 1975 release, here with a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • These sides are doing practically everything right — they’re clean, clear and open with lots of space around the players, and plenty of rich, bottom end weight
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Blow by Blow signaled a new creative peak for Beck, and it proved to be a difficult act to follow. It is a testament to the power of effective collaboration and, given the circumstances, Beck clearly rose to the occasion. In addition to being a personal milestone, Blow by Blow ranks as one of the premiere recordings in the canon of instrumental rock music.”

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We Used to Think the 25th Anniversary UK Pressing of Mr. Fantasy Was Pretty Good

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Traffic Available Now

UPDATE 2026

This is an older review. probably from the early 2000s.

It is very unlikely that we would find the sound of this pressing better than passable these days.

The good pressings of Mr. Fantasy are exceptional sounding, something that this reissue is very unlikely to be.

This minty looking Island 25th Anniversary British Import LP has SURPRISINGLY GOOD SOUND! I’d have to say it’s the best sounding record from this series I’ve ever heard. (Note that this is the British version and not the Italian one.)

I can’t vouch for other copies of this record — they may not sound as good as this one — but this one has the bass that’s missing from some of the Pink Label copies and is overall tonally Right On The Money (ROTM), with almost none of the transistory grain that you find on domestic pressings. If you don’t want to spend the big bucks for a Hot Stamper, this is probably the next best way to go.

Most of the older reviews you see on the blog are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into an art as well as a business.

 

We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the sonic grades and vinyl playgrades are listed separately.)

We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide.

Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.

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Horace Silver – Blowin’ The Blues Away

More of the Music of Horace Silver

  • Incredible sound throughout this early 60s Blue Note Stereo pressing, with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • A Must Own from Horace Silver, with the kind of sound that only the better vintage pressings can offer
  • If you don’t know his music, this is a good place to start
  • Another triumph for engineering maestro Rudy Van Gelder – he refined a “live-in-the-studio” jazz sound that still sounds fresh to this day, even after 67 years
  • 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: “Blowin’ The Blues Away is one of Horace Silver’s all-time Blue Note classics, only upping the ante established on Finger Poppin’ for tightly constructed, joyfully infectious hard bop… one of Silver’s finest albums, and it’s virtually impossible to dislike.”
  • If you’re a fan of Silver’s, this 1959 album belongs in your collection, along with quite a few others, if only we could find them
  • The complete list of titles from 1959 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

The really good RVG pressings (often on the later labels) sound shockingly close to live music — uncompressed, present, full of energy, with the instruments clearly located on a wide and often deep soundstage, surrounded by the natural space and cool air of his New Jersey studio. As our stereo has improved, and we’ve found better pressings and learned how to clean them better, his “you-are-there” live jazz sound has come to impress us more and more. (more…)

Harry Belafonte – Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Recordings

  • Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall, here with superb Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • So hugely spacious and three-dimensional, yet with a tonally correct and natural sounding Harry, this is the way to hear it
  • Compared to most other copies we played — on all four sides, mind you — these sides are richer, fuller, and livelier. They’re also more open and transparent, with notably improved clarity, less smear, and better bass
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Highlights include Odetta’s powerhouse medley of the work songs ‘I’ve Been Driving on Bald Mountain’ and ‘Water Boy,’ the Folk Singers’ exciting ‘Ox Drivers Song,’ Makeba and Belafonte’s charming duet on ‘One More Dance,’ and the Mitchell Trio’s exuberant Israeli song ‘Vaichazkem.'”

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John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman – Nothing Special on Speakers Corner

More of the Music of John Coltrane

UPDATE 2026

This review was probably written in 2004 when the record was released. I had heard good copies of it — not the originals as it turns out! —  and new that the recording was outstanding.

This Heavy Vinyl is not awful, but it is a long way from outstanding. My guess is that the CD would be better.

We were only slightly impressed with both the Speakers Corner pressing of this album and the earlier Impulse Heavy Vinyl edition from the ’90s. In our opinion neither one is worth pursuing.

This could very well be the greatest collaboration between a horn player and a singer in the history of music. I honestly cannot think of another to rank with it. Ella and Louis has the same feel — too giants who work together so sympathetically it’s close to magic, producing definitive performances of enduring standards that have not been equaled in the fifty plus years since they were recorded. And, on the better copies, or should we say the better sides of the better copies, RVG’s sound is stunning.

They Say It’s Wonderful: Hartman and Coltrane, an Appreciation (more…)

Taj Mahal – Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home

More Soul, Blues and R&B

  • With roughly Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides, this copy of Taj Mahal’s third studio album will be very hard to beat
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard (particularly on side two, three, and four), and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • A stunning double album that combines killer electric tracks on the first disc, Giant Step, with more intimate “decidedly rural” acoustic sound on the second, De Ole Folks at Home
  • 4 stars: “Parties searching for an apt introduction when discovering Taj Mahal’s voluminous catalogue are encouraged to consider Giant Step as a highly recommended reference point.”

The best copies are not hard to spot. They have the richest, breathiest, most present vocals, surrounded in the most space. The balance between the guitar, bass and drums on the electric side is correct.

On the acoustic side the harmonics of the stringed instruments — banjo and guitar — ring out clearly and naturally.

A sweeter midrange, with less grit and spit on the vocals, was especially welcome. (more…)

John Coltrane – The John Coltrane Quartet Plays

More of the Music of John Coltrane

  • The John Coltrane Quartet Plays appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides of this vintage Impulse stereo pressing – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • No other copy earned 2+ on both sides, meaning this is the best Super Hot Stamper we have to offer this time around
  • Full-bodied, energetic, and tonally correct from top to bottom, this pressing is guaranteed to bring Coltrane’s music to life (particularly on side one) – it’s possible that you would not own any Coltrane record that sounds as good as this one
  • The sound is everything that’s good about Rudy Van Gelder‘s recordings – it’s present, spacious, full-bodied, Tubey Magical, dynamic and, most importantly, alive in the way that modern pressings never are (also particularly on side one)
  • 4 stars: “One of the turning points in the career of John Coltrane came in 1965. The great saxophonist, whose playing was always very explorative and searching, crossed the line into atonality during that year, playing very free improvisations (after stating quick throwaway themes) that were full of passion and fury.”

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