Sonic Grade: D
A Hall of Shame pressing from Cisco / Impex / Boxstar.
You will have a hard time finding any pressing that doesn’t sound better than this “dubby” Cisco LP. (The DMM reissues are worse, but I can’t think of any others offhand that would be. The CDs of course, but that’s a case of apples and oranges.)
If smeared transients and zero ambience are your kind of sound, this is the record for you!
The cover is exceptionally nice on this copy by the way.
The sound here is lively and energetic with plenty of low end weight. These sides have the whomp that you don’t hear on too many Blue Note LPs! The sound of the saxophone is captured beautifully – it’s breathy with clearly audible leading-edge transients.
The bluesy version of Willow Weep For Me on side one is wonderful. Scrapple From The Apple (also on side one) has a silky top end anchored by deep, well-defined bass.
It was not that many years ago that we didn’t care a fig about Dexter Gordon. After finding Crazy Hot copies of One Flight Up and now this amazing record, we’re counting ourselves ardent members of his fan club.
If you’re looking for an original stereo pressing — and good luck finding one in audiophile playing condition — this is not the copy for you. If you’re looking for an exceptionally good sounding stereo pressing, regardless of label, one that plays reasonably quietly for a 50+ year old record, this simply cannot do better than this very LP. (more…)
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hey Tom,
Wow! Were you ever right when you said the Aurios MIBs are “Quite Possibly the Biggest Analog Upgrade Out There”. After listening with the MIBs in place for about 3 hours, there’s no doubt they make a huge difference. Every record/track I heard on LPs I know very well sounded more dynamic. I don’t want to use the worn phrase “on steroids”. The music had much better pace and sounded more real and natural. The contrasts from high to low across the bandwidth were more apparent. The timbre of the instruments also sounded more real and natural. Soundstage became more dimensional in all directions. I heard details that previously were not as audible or were not audible at all.
One thing that was most impressive is that the Aurios actually seem to enlarge the scale of the music; it sounder bigger. LPs I listened to: Love Over Gold (Dire Straits); Slow Train Coming (Bob Dylan); The Hunter (Jennifer Warnes); One Flight Up (Dexter Gordon). All of these sounded significantly better than I had ever heard before adding the MIBs. Love Over Gold was just incredible! It simply was not the same record without the Aurios MIBs. It blew me away. After listening to both sides, I had to listen again and asked my wife to join me. She was as impressed as I was. So your string of satisfied customers remains intact. I will not let these out of my sight!
John A.
A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.
AMAZING SOUND ON SIDE ONE, great sound on side two and quiet vinyl throughout. Most importantly, the music here is EXCELLENT. We shot out all the copies in the house, and nothing could hold a candle to this Blue Label pressing on side one. (more…)
A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.
This Blue Note LP is without a doubt ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDING JAZZ RECORDS WE’VE EVER HEARD! We were auditioning a bunch of jazz records today (4/25/07), and when the needle hit the grooves on this one we were ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY!
I can’t think of one jazz record we’ve ever played here at Better Records with this kind of WHOMP! Everything here is so rich and full — nothing like a typical Blue Note album. (more…)
Both the sax and the trumpet sound unbelievably good — airy and breathy with lots of body and clearly audible leading edge transients.
It’s hard to find a Blue Note where the horns aren’t either too smooth or too edgy, but here they have just the right amount of bite. The overall sound is open, spacious, tonally correct from top to bottom and totally free from distortion. (more…)
