Top Artists – Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Brain Salad Surgery on Shout Heavy Vinyl

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer Available Now

If you’re a fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s fifth album, and you know, or at least suspect, that the British original pressings are more than likely to be better sounding than most, you might find yourself in a bit of a quandary, pocketbook-wise.

Early British pressings in audiophile playing condition aren’t easy to find, and they don’t tend to be cheap when you do find them.

Ah, but there is a fairly cheap and exceptionally easy solution: just buy the Shout Heavy Vinyl reissue from 2008.

It says it’s made from the master tape, it has a replica of the original packaging, and even comes with a poster.

What could go wrong?

The sound could be shit — NFG in our shorthand — that’s what could go wrong.

  • The top end could be overly-textured, tizzy and hot, the kind that constantly calls attention to itself.
  • The bass could be smeary and thick.
  • And the overall presentation of the music could be veiled and recessed.

Alas, the money you thought you were saving buying this potentially wonderful flat, quiet pressing made from the master tapes ends up flushed down the tubes. Now what?

Now you have to do what you should have done to begin with: find yourself a real British pressing.

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Emerson, Lake and Palmer – Tarkus

More Emerson, Lake and Palmer

  • This original UK Island pressing was doing practically everything right, earning killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades from top to bottom – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • Our recent monster shootout produced this incredible sounding Brit (the only ones we offer), and it is stone guaranteed to rock your world
  • Eddie Offord‘s trademark Tubey Magic, energy, resolution, whomp factor and dynamics are all over this phenomenal recording
  • “Tarkus is a thoroughly written, focused piece of music. It remains among the Top Ten classic tracks in progressive rock history… [The album] is…a must-have.”

This killer copy features some of the more intense prog rock sound to hit our table in quite some time. This is a true Demo Disc LP, one of the most dynamic and powerful rock recordings ever made.

The organ captured here by Eddie Offord (of Yes engineering fame, we’re his biggest fans) and then transferred so well onto our Hot Stamper pressings will rattle the foundation of your house if you’re not careful. This music really needs that kind of megawatt reproduction to make sense. It’s big Bombastic Prog that wants desperately to rock your world. At moderate levels it just sounds overblown and silly. At loud levels it actually does rock your world.

Unlike most British pressings of the first album, the Brits here really ROCK, with greater dynamic contrasts and seriously prodigious bass, some of the best ever committed to vinyl. This music needs real whomp down below and lots of jump factor to work its magic. These Brits are super-low distortion, with an open, sweet sound, especially up top, but they still manage to convey the awesome power of the music, no mean feat.

Folks, This Is Why We Love Analog

This is ANALOG at its Tubey Magical finest. You ain’t never gonna play a CD that sounds like this as long as you live. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but digital media are evidently incapable of reproducing this kind of sound. There are nice sounding CDs in the world but there aren’t any that sound like this, not in my experience anyway. If you are thinking that someday a better digital system is going to come along in order to save you the trouble and expense of having to find and acquire these expensive original pressings, think again.

This is the kind of record that shows you what’s wrong with your BEST sounding CDs. (Let’s not even talk about the average one in your collection, or mine; the less said the better.) This is the kind of record that somebody might hear in a stereo store and realize that the digital road he’s been going down for so many years is nothing but a sonic dead end.

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Pictures At An Exhibition and its Gigantic Organ Sound

More of the Music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Listen to that GIGANTIC organ that plays the fanfare opening of the work.

Honestly, I have never heard a rock album with an organ that stretched from wall to wall and sounds like it’s seventy five feet tall.

No, I take that back. The first ELP album has an organ that sounds about that big, but that’s a studio album. How did they manage to get that kind of organ sound in a live setting without actually having to build one inside the concert hall? I have no idea.

Pictures At An Exhibition has some of the biggest, boldest sound we have ever heard.

It’s clearly a Demo Disc for big speakers that play at loud levels.

Play this one as loud as you can. The louder you play it, the better it sounds.

The hottest Hot Stamper pressings of Pictures are Demo Discs in two other areas as well, bass and size and space, along with the titles linked below:

Please note that many of our Hot Stamper pressings are only available as imports. It has been our experience that the domestic pressings of these albums are simply not competitive with the better imports.

Advice

Want to avoid paying our admittedly high prices and find a top quality copy for yourself?

Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that tend to win our shootouts.

Pictures at an Exhibition should sound its best this way:

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Letter of the Week – “It feels like you are at the concert.”

More of the Music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

One of my favorite albums growing up was pictures at an exhibition, but just for the music not the sound. I sold my domestic copy years ago but recall it was a muddy mess and always the worst sounding of all my ELP albums.

Fast forward decades later and I am totally blown away at what an amazing sounding album this really can be! Now the quality of the music matches the quality of the sound. The tonal balance is superb with just the right amount of weight down low. I never thought this record could sound this good. The wall of Organ sound as you put it when cranked to the lush acoustic guitar and tenderness of Greg’s vocals. It feels like you are at the concert.

That is why I am so impressed with all the hot stamper live albums I own. It shows a concert experience can be replicated with the right equipment but, most importantly, with the right pressing!

An amazing album and a great price to boot.

Thank you!!

Rob

Rob,

Fantastic to hear, thanks for your letter.

The “muddy mess” you refer to was no doubt the result of many things, but one of the main problems with your old copy was that it was the domestic pressing, which is made from second generation masters and therefore hopelessly outclassed by the right early Island pressings, which are of course the only ones we sell.

Even if you were lucky enough to have the right Island pressing, you would have had to know how to clean it using the right machines and fluids.

Not many audiophiles have either, and nobody had them back in the day, because they hadn’t been invented yet!

Your experience is what good records are all about, and we are gratified to have played a part in helping to bring that music to life in your very own listening room.

You can be at the concert as often as you want now. How could anyone put a price on that?

Oh, some folks find a way.

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Emerson, Lake and Palmer – Brain Salad Surgery

More Emerson, Lake and Palmer 

 More Prog Rock

  • Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, we guarantee you’ve never ELP’s 1973 release sound remotely as good as it does on this superb import copy
  • This early British pressing is huge, spacious and rich, with prodigious amounts of bass, guaranteed to sound better than any other copy you’ve heard
  • Remarkable transparency – you hear into the huge, deep soundfield with almost nothing between you and the musicians
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The songs are… among their best work — the group’s arrangement of Sir Charles Hubert Parry’s setting of William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ manages to be reverent yet rocking, while Emerson’s adaptation of Alberto Ginastera’s music in ‘Tocatta’ outstrips even ‘The Barbarian’ and ‘Knife Edge’ from the first album as a distinctive and rewarding reinterpretation of a piece of serious music.”

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Emerson, Lake & Palmer on Cotillion

More Emerson, Lake and Palmer

More Prog Rock

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout, this vintage Cotillion pressing makes the case that ELP’s debut is clearly one of the most powerful rock records ever made
  • Spacious, rich and dynamic, with big bass and tremendous energy (particularly on side one) – these are just some of the things we love about Eddie Offord‘s engineering work on this band’s albums
  • ANALOG at its Tubey Magical finest – you’ll never play a CD (or any other digitally sourced material) that sounds as good as this record as long as you live
  • “Lucky Man” and “Take a Pebble” on this copy have Demo Disc Quality Sound like you won’t believe
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Lively, ambitious, almost entirely successful debut album… [which] showcased the group at its least pretentious and most musicianly …there isn’t much excess, and there is a lot of impressive musicianship here.”

If you’ve got the system to play this one loud enough, with the low end weight and energy it requires, you are in for a treat.

The organ that opens side two will rattle the foundation of your house if you’re not careful. This music really needs that kind of megawatt reproduction to make sense. This is bombastic prog that wants desperately to rock your world. At moderate levels it just sounds overblown and silly. At loud levels, it actually will rock your world.

This Cotillion pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
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On Tarkus, Only the Brits Have the Tubey Magical Sound We Love

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer Available Now

This killer copy features some of the more intense prog rock sound to hit our table in quite some time. This is a true Demo Disc LP, one of the most dynamic and powerful rock recordings ever made.

The organ captured here by Eddie Offord (of Yes engineering fame, we’re his biggest fans) and then transferred so well onto our Hot Stamper pressings will rattle the foundation of your house if you’re not careful. This music really needs that kind of megawatt reproduction to make sense. It’s big Bombastic Prog that wants desperately to rock your world. At moderate levels it just sounds overblown and silly. At loud levels it actually does rock your world.

Unlike most British pressings of the first album, the Brits here really ROCK, with greater dynamic contrasts and seriously prodigious bass, some of the best ever committed to vinyl. This music needs real whomp down below and lots of jump factor to work its magic. These Brits are super-low distortion, with an open, sweet sound, especially up top, but they still manage to convey the awesome power of the music, no mean feat.

All but the best Brit pressings have a tendency to be a bit turgid and many of them lack the bottom end weight that music like this absolutely needs in order to work its magic. There are some good domestic copies — not in a league with the best Brits at all — but most of them have sub-generation sound that robs the instruments of their immediacy and texture (much the same way that Heavy Vinyl does, truth be told).

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Letter of the Week – “All I can say is that it was a “Holy Shit!” moment for EVERYONE in the room.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

Thanks again!

Got the White Hot ELP s/t Friday afternoon as I was leaving for a weekend at the Capital Audio Fest in Bethesda Maryland but had no time to listen to it at home so brought it and the Led Zep 2 White Hot I bought from you a year or so back with me to the show with the intention of playing it on some of the crazy systems being demo’ed at the show.

The majority of participants demo their systems with Mofi and other heavy vinyl reissues. Rarely will you hear old vinyl.

Saturday night in the “main room” where VAC and Von Schweikert were partnering and demo-ing their million dollar system, there was a presentation by Greg Weaver (a friend of mine) and the theme was great sounding prog rock.

After a few records – all reissues, Greg turns to the 30 or so of us and asked what we wanted to hear next. The guy behind me shouts out “Zep 2 Robert Ludwig hot mix!” and of course he didn’t have it but that was my opening and I took it – “I have it upstairs and happy to bring it down!”

Greg of course said “sure!” so I ran up to my room and grabbed the Zep 2 AND the ELP I just got from you but never played.

The Zep 2 was a revelation to many – some people moved closer to take it all in, it was everything you would have expected and beyond, an unforgettable highlight for all! One guy had me pose with him holding the record after it was done, lol!

Greg was excited to see the ELP too and put it on next. He gave a little history about the band and its members and then dropped the needle.

All I can say is that it was a “Holy Shit!” moment for EVERYONE in the room. Maybe, no…without a doubt, the best record I and many there had ever heard in our lives, coming thru a million dollar system and utterly blowing our minds. What an INSANE sounding record!

No one in that room will ever forget it.

My complements to the chefs at Better Records for making this incredible experience possible.

Mike

Mike,

Wow, what a letter! Thanks for the demo. I can imagine it is quite a shock for these folks to hear a real record after so many Heavy Vinyl imposters. Hearing is believing, right?

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Letter of the Week – “No one doubted your records after this listening session.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

Yesterday, I attended an audio event in Verona, NJ, where I had purchased my stereo.

I spent my time in the “analog” room. This room had the flagship equipment (Vandersteen 7 speakers, Aesthetix Jupiter series amps, pre-amps, phono stage, Clearaudio’s Goldfinger Statement cartridge, etc).

I listened for a while, hearing all the issues with almost every record they played. I then asked the store’s “turntable guru” to play some of the records I brought with me.

They thumbed through my boxes and asked me what the difference was between my two copies of Abbey Road. When I explained the superior side X on either copy, the audience found this concept amusing, based on their laughter. Any doubters would soon become believers.

They played Abbey Road‘s side 2 (3+ side, of course). While “Here Comes The Sun” was playing, Garth had his eyes closed. At the track’s conclusion, he exclaimed “Outstanding!,” and the record played on.

Next, we listened to ELP’s “Lucky Man.” Garth said it was the best he had ever heard.

I do not really know Garth, but I suspect he does not easily offer up such compliments in a room full of people. Others in the room, including the store’s turntable guru, were all very impressed. Several folks approached me, all pointing out parts of the music that blew them away.

There were comments about some folks hearing that Better Records was a scam, and others saying that you are the real deal. The discussion ended with “Hearing is believing.” 

No one doubted your records after this listening session.

I scored points with these important folks, thanks to your records. I provided the source material to allow their equipment to shine.

Any doubt these folks had about your company was put to rest. All that listened were very impressed, and I thought you’d want to know.

Craig

Craig,

Thanks for your letter.

I have to confess I am of two minds concerning this demonstration of the obviously superior sound of our best Hot Stamper pressings.

Allow me to make one cynical prediction.

None of those in the audience owns or ever will own one of our records.

They like good sound all right, they certainly will tell you as much, but they just can’t wrap their heads around spending the money it takes to get hold of the kinds of records you played them.

But they absolutely love that $17,500 cartridge and are dying to own one.

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Letter of the Week – “I am beyond pleased! Looking forward to the next order coming in”

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

Just wanted to express my excitement with the ELP Tarkus and Hampton Hawes Trio Vol 2 LP’s! Wow!!! Great sound as described and played quieter than described, beyond near mint ! The ELP only had one moderate pop on the opening of “The Only Way” track 3 on side two. Otherwise dead quiet all through !!!!

I am beyond pleased!!! Looking forward to the next order coming in !!! Lastly, can you show me where you get those terrific rice paper inner sleeves? They are nice and thick ply!! Better than MFSL or Quality RP…!!!

Thanks again!

I will surely be doing business in the future with you and have your accurate descriptions locked in to what I prefer surface wise.

Thanks for your letter!

TP