Top Artists – Albert King

Born Under a Bad Sign in Mono – Maybe Passable, Maybe Not

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

The Shootout Winning early stereo pressing that we played recently was indeed a very special record. Everything we said about it in our review was true:

These are just a few of the the things we had to say in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very full vox”…”weighty and rich”…”great energy”…”so much room and detail.”

No other copy came close to this one, and we had a bunch, many of which earned minimal grades of 1.5+ because,  on this record, you really have to know what to look for in the dead wax.

But nothing of the sort can be said of the early Blue Label mono pressing we played. It was barely passable on side one, and we didn’t even bother to play side two since no pressing that earns a grade of 1+ on either side can be considered a Hot Stamper.

Here is what we heard on side one:

  • Hard and dark
  • Vocals get lost
  • Sounds a little faster (sped up)

And that was enough. Who wants to play a record with that kind of sound? Or one that’s been sped up?

If you’re one of those music lovers who’s still holding a torch for mono, Born Under a Bad Sign is not a hill you want to die on.

We personally don’t care one way or the other if any particular mono record has good sound or bad. We just play them and call them as we hear them. We called this one “meh” and recommend you steer clear of it if you are looking for good sound.

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Born Under a Bad Sign Is Amazing Sounding on the Right Pressing

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

We finally got a shootout going and found this killer copy.

Every copy we found with Hot Stampers in clean condition, a grand total of three original stereo copies, sold quickly, so for those of you who wanted to finally be able to hear the record in all is glory, sorry!

Here are the notes for our Shootout Winning copy. It sold for $899.

Side One

  • Big and tubey and 3-D
  • Jumping out
  • Very full vocals
  • Weighty and rich
  • Great energy

Side Two

  • Huge and tubey and spacious
  • So much room and detail
  • More of the same!

That’s the kind of sound your nine hundred bucks buys you.

Here is how we described it on the site:

  • Born Under A Bad Sign returns to the site for the first time in years, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this original Stax pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These are just a few of the the things we had to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very full vox”…”weighty and rich”…”great energy”…”so much room and detail”
  • No other copy came close to this one, and we had a bunch, many of which earned grades of 1.5+ because, on this record, you really have to know what to look for in the dead wax
  • Incredibly dynamic, rich and full, with lots of texture to the guitars, this copy brought the music to life right in our listening room
  • Accept no substitutes – no reissue of the album can ever give you the energy, size and you-are-there presence that’s on this disc

More amazing finds similar to this one can be found here.

Craft Recordings remastered this Albert King title, and you should not be surprised to find that it sounds as awful as the other pressings put out by this ridiculous label, remastered pressings that we took the time to audition and review out of the goodness of our hearts, in the hopes of saving those of you out there in the land of audiophiles who might be tempted to buy some of their low- to mid-fi releases and could be scared away by our criticisms.

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Albert King / Born Under a Bad Sign

More Electric Blues

  • Born Under A Bad Sign returns to the site for the first time in years, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this original Stax pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These are just a few of the the things we had to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very full vox”…”weighty and rich”…”great energy”…”so much room and detail”
  • No other copy came close to this one, and we had a bunch, many of which earned grades of 1.5+ because,  on this record, you really have to know what to look for in the dead wax
  • Incredibly dynamic, rich and full, with lots of texture to the guitars, this copy brought the music to life right in our listening room
  • Accept no substitutes – no reissue of the album can ever give you the energy, size and you-are-there presence that’s on this disc
  • 5 stars: “It was immediately influential at the time and, over the years, it has only grown in stature as one of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time.”

A Must Own Record

We consider this album a Masterpiece. It’s a recording that belongs in any serious soul, blues, and R&B collection.

Others that belong in that category can be found here.

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This Craft Pressing Was Definitely Born Under a Bad Sign

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

About a year ago we played the Craft pressing (CR00513) that had come out in 2023.

We have audition notes for lots of these dreadful Heavy Vinyl pressings sitting around. Sometimes they sit around for years. Obviously we are in no hurry to put them up.

The notes I took for the Craft pressing of Lush Life that Geoff Edgers played me still has not been posted, and he played me that record all the way back in 2022. For those of you who can’t wait for the complete review, I told him it sounded like a CD and proceeded to take it off the turntable.

At the time, I don’t think he understood how that could even be possible. He’d visited Bernie Grundman and read all the rave reviews for his work in the audiophile press. What do you mean his record sounds like a CD? Who the hell do you think you are anyway?

Geoff knows what that means now. I will leave it at that.

We were not surprised to find that the sound of this Craft pressing was terrible. Whoever this Jeff Powell is, I admit I’ve never heard of him, if you see his name on a remastered record, you might want to consider that if he can make a record that sounds this bad, he may not know what he is doing.

This strikes us as a safe bet.

Our notes for the album comprise all of five words. They read:

  • Not good
  • Blurry and congested

As you can see, we didn’t feel the need to spend too much time with it. When a record shows you right off the bat how badly mastered it is, we move on pretty quickly.

We admitted to having liked the Sundazed pressing when it came out in the late-90s, something that you can imagine embarrasses us no end now. In our defense, let me just say 1998 was a long time ago, before we had ever heard a properly cleaned, really good sounding original pressing.

We know how good the originals can sound. We’ve played them. What we have not been able to do is to find enough quiet, good sounding copies to do a shootout. Even at more than a hundred bucks a pop, it’s the rare copy that does not go back to the seller for excessive noise and groove damage. This record was not bought by audiophiles to play on expensive equipment.  The opposite of that demographic cohort would be closer to the truth.

As for the record collecting public, one guy on Discogs thought it didn’t sound good, but for some reason he gave it three stars anyway. Our review would have been one star out of five, assuming that even the worst sounding record must get at least one star. The other three who reviewed the album seemed to really like it.

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Albert King – Live Wire – Blues Power

  • A superb pressing of this Must Own Live Blues Album with Double Plus (A++) sound throughout – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Accept no substitutes – no reissue of the album can ever give you the energy, size and you-are-there presence that’s on this disc
  • Finding originals with sound this good and surfaces this quiet is quite a feat, but here is a knockout one
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Live Wire / Blues Power is one of Albert King’s definitive albums. Recorded live at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1968, the guitarist is at the top of his form throughout the record — his solos are intense and piercing… he makes Herbie Hancock’s ‘Watermelon Man’ dirty and funky and wrings out all the emotion from ‘Blues at Sunrise.'”

This is one of the all time great live Blues albums. This Is Blues Power!

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Albert King – King, Does The King’s Things

More Albert King

More Electric Blues

  • An outstanding copy of King’s 1970 release with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This pressing boasts the kind of rich, full-bodied, lively and present sound that brings out the best in the man’s music
  • A collection of Elvis Classics, respectfully reimagined as the King of Blues meets the King of Rock
  • “Because King’s style is so irreducible, the concept actually works, as he fills this album with his traditional, high-voltage guitar work and strong vocals. No matter what the original sources may be, though, this is a strong showing in King’s catalog.”

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Albert King – I’ll Play The Blues For You

More Albert King

More Electric Blues

  • Big, rich and relatively smooth, here are the wonderfully breathy vocals and Electric Blues energy that are missing from the reissues (including, no doubt, any and all Heavy Vinyl ones)
  • Mint Minus Minus throughout – about as quiet as we can find these vintage Stax pressings
  • 4 stars: “…the combination of King, members of the legendary Bar-Kays, the Isaac Hayes Movement, and the sparkling Memphis Horns was hardly a risky endeavor… The result was a trim, funk-infused blues sound that provided ample space for King’s oft-imitated guitar playing.”

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Albert King – King of the Blues Guitar

More Albert King

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • An original Atlantic copy with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on both sides
  • Forget whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl pressing they’re making these days – the Tubey Magic, size and electric energy of this vintage pressing simply cannot be beat
  • Marks in the vinyl are 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
  • “These 17 tunes come from King’s most fertile period, his 1966-68 tenure at Memphis’s Stax Records…. King’s ripe and mellow vocals are a perfect match for the soul-drenched music while his dramatic string bends leap out.” — Marc Greilsamer

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Born Under a Bad Sign – Where Are All the Clean Copies?

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums Available Now

UPDATE 2020

This is a very old review, probably from close to twenty years ago. Like I say, we have trouble finding clean copies to shootout. We expect to be doing the record soon, however.

In 2025 we finally made it happen, and this is the copy that blew our minds.

Our Review from 20 Years Ago

This original Stax LP has AMAZING sound. You could not make this record sound any better. We really liked the Sundazed copy of this record until we heard this bad boy.

It MURDERS the Sundazed! It has more life, energy and natural presence.

We always suspected that a good original pressing would be better than the Sundazed but we had no way of knowing since all the copies we ever saw were beat to death. This is the first clean copy of this record I’ve seen in 20 years.

The sound is RICH and FULL with lots of texture to the guitars. It’s very natural sounding and full-bodied.

One of the all time great electric blues albums — a Must Own for fans of the genre (more…)

Born Under a Bad Sign on Mediocre Sundazed Vinyl

More of the Music of Albert King

Sonic Grade: D

Commenting about the first Hot Stamper pressing of this album ever to come our way, we noted:

This original Stax LP has AMAZING sound. You could not make this record sound any better.

We really liked the  Sundazed copy of this record until we heard this bad boy. It MURDERS their pressing!

It has far more life, energy and presence than the Heavy Vinyl pressing.

We always suspected that a good original would be better but we had no way of knowing since all the copies we saw were beat to death.

In other words, we didn’t know this album very well and we sure had a lot to learn.

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