Top Artists – Albert Lee

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris – Trio

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  • With KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides, this original Warner Bros. pressing could not be beat
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this stunning copy in our notes: “present and breathy vox”…”big and rich”…”so present and open”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”clear and detailed”
  • Big, rich, smooth, and sweet, how did George Massenburg pull off this kind of analog sound in 1987?
  • We don’t know, but we do know good sound when we hear it, and we heard remarkably good sound on this copy
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting stitches and just be swept away by the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…that rare example of an all-star collaborative effort that truly shows everyone involved to their best advantage, and it ranks with the best of all three headliners’ work.”

With three brilliant and accomplished singers harmonizing in the studio you can imagine that faultless midrange tonality is key to the best copies, and you would be right.

Some copies had the girls’ sounding a bit dark and veiled. Some had them a bit thin and bright. The Goldilocks Principle comes into play here as it does in so many of our shootouts: the best copies find the right balance of richness and clarity.

This Is 1987? Seriously?

And what richness! How did so much Tubey Magic get recorded onto a tape produced in the dark ages of 1987? I can’t think of another recording from the period that sounds this good.

A big fat solid snare, full-bodied yet breathy vocals, huge amounts of space around the musicians, a wide and deep stage, dead-on tonality from top to bottom — once we got into our shootout, these unexpected sonic qualities took us completely by surprise.

As a point of comparison, I am not aware of any Emmylou Harris album that is as well recorded as Trio. As for Linda, only her best 70s recordings are this rich and natural. Can’t say much about Dolly’s albums as we have never done a shootout for one, not that we wouldn’t like to.

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Which Side Lacked Space, and How Did You Figure That Out?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Linda Ronstadt Available Now

Big, rich, smooth, and sweet, how did George Massenburg pull off this kind of analog sound in 1987?

We don’t know, but we do know good sound when we hear it, and we heard remarkably good sound on this copy.

The first track on side one was big and rich, with vocals that were breathy and present, just the way we like ’em.

The third track was every bit as good, with sound that was rich and weighty. The vocals wer so present and open, sweet and silky. This is exactly what you want on this album.

And the way we know that is we played a bunch of copies and nothing could beat it. This side one took top honors for having sound we described above.

Side two is another matter. We came across a side two that was slightly better than the side one you see here.

How did that kind of thing happen, you ask?

Well, when we played the two best copies back to back, side one of this copy came out on top, earning a grade of 3+, but the side two of another pressing showed us there was even more space in the recording than we noticed the first time around.

We knew side two was “at least 2+,” the crossed-out text you see in the notes.

With another copy earning a better grade, 3 pluses, we felt the right grade for this side two was 2.5+.

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Eric Clapton / Just One Night – An Exceptionally Good Album of Classic Blues Rock

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  • With superb Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides, we guarantee you’ve never heard Just One Night sound this good
  • This one is bigger, bolder and richer, as well as more clean, clear and open than most of the other pressings we played
  • Sure to be the best live Clapton sound you’ll hear on vinyl – and the music is wonderful as well
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The most notable difference between Just One Night and Clapton’s other live albums is his backing band. Led by guitarist Albert Lee, the group is a collective of accomplished professionals who have managed to keep some grit in their playing. They help push Clapton along, forcing him to spit out crackling solos throughout the album.”
  • If you’re a Clapton fan, this title from 1980 is surely a Must Own live rock album

With so many bad sounding Clapton albums from the mid- to late ’70s out there in the bins, it’s refreshing to hear this material sounding lively and clear for a change. The performances seem to hold up as well. If you like the “Tulsa Time” era, this record is going to be hard to beat.

Many of his best songs are here, including Lay Down Sally, Wonderful Tonight, After Midnight, Blues Power, Cocaine, Further on Up the Road and plenty more.

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Smooth or Detailed, Which Is the Right Sound for Jackson Browne’s Debut?

More of the Music of Jackson Browne

The real trick with this album is in striking the right balance between richness and presence. A White Hot Stamper from years back made me change my mind about this recording. I used to think it was dull, but I was wrong. I used to think that even the best copies of this recording sounded rolled off on the top end. I no longer believe that to be true. On the best pressings the top end is correct for this music.

It took the right pressing to show me the error of my ways.

Side one of that copy was rich and full and sweet as can be. Playing side two I noticed more transparency and clarity, especially in the guitars and voices. It seemed to have correct highs, highs that were a little soft on the first side.

But the more I listened, the less I liked it. It started to sound more like a record and less like music. Going back and forth between sides one and two, it was obvious that side one had less clarity because it had the kind of richness and fullness that made all the musicians and their instruments sound real in a way that wasn’t happening on side two.

Side two had clarity, it had transparency, but it kept reminding me that it was a recording.

Side one allowed me to forget that I was playing a record.

When the music started, my attention was completely focused on the songwriting and the performing. Aspects of the recording were lost in my enjoyment of the music. I kept thinking what a great album this is, not what a great recording it is. That tells me that both the recording engineer and the mastering engineer did their jobs right. They created a sound that best served this music.

I think if an audiophile label had produced a version of this album that sounded like side two, most audiophiles would love it. They would hear detail that they’d never heard before. (It’s my belief that the original Asylum master tape has been lost, so the details of which we speak can be heard on these good originals and nowhere else.)

But, fooled into listening for details in the music rather than the music as a whole, they would never know how RIGHT the album can really sound.

The best of our Hot Stampers are the ones that have the right sound for this music.

Jackson Browne – His Debut Is Still His Best Album By Far

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More Asylum Label Recordings

  • Balanced, musical, present and full-bodied throughout – this copy was a big step up from most of what we played, particularly on side two
  • “… Jackson Browne’s first album is among the most auspicious debuts in pop music history”
  • 5 stars: “… the album has long since come to seem a timeless collection of reflective ballads touching on still-difficult subjects — suicide (explicitly), depression and drug use (probably), spiritual uncertainty and desperate hope — all in calm, reasoned tones, and all with an amazingly eloquent sense of language.”
  • If you’re a Jackson Browne fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this title from 1972 is clearly one of his best, and one of his two best sounding, the other one being The Pretender.
  • The complete list of titles from 1972 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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