Top Artists – Henry Mancini

Living Stereo Sound Like This Is Hard to Beat

Hot Stamper Pressings of Soundtrack Recordings Available Now

Hot Stamper Pressings of Exotica and Easy Listening Albums

Here is the kind of Living Stereo sound we just can’t get enough of.

We certainly never suspected that this old TAS list warhorse from 1962 could sound the way this early pressing did when it landed on our turntable recently. We’ve been auditioning copies of Hatari for close to forty years. Now it sound like this? Amazing.

Until we played this Shootout Winning copy, we’d never heard the phenomenal amounts of ambience that surrounds the big room full of musicians assembled here, ambience which is clearly audible on the drums which play such an important part in Mancini’s arrangements.

If you’re a fan of big drums in a big room, this is the record for you.

Hearing this album sound the way this copy did was a real thrill, as our notes should make clear:

The notes for side one read:

Track Two

Spacious and Rich

Extended top end

Deep, note-like bass

Track One

Transparent, wide and spacious

Powerful brass, not hot

The notes for side two read:

Track Three

Lively, jumping out

Present and spacious

Very detailed

You know what’s unusual about these notes?

They’re the kind of notes we have never written for any Heavy Vinyl reissue, even for the one that won our shootout not long ago.

They are the kind of notes that make it clear to us what a sham the modern Heavy Vinyl pressing tends to be, even those that are done right.

No modern record we’ve ever played has ever had anything even approaching this kind of big as life sound, and we doubt one ever will.

Records like this vintage vinyl pressing are thrilling in a way that very, very few records ever are.

Surprisingly to some, but not to us, many of the most thrilling records we’ve ever played came from the same decade this record came from: the 60s.

Once you hear sound like this, you are not likely to forget it.

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Henry Mancini / Hatari!

More Soundtrack Recordings of Interest

  • With killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) Living Stereo sound from start to finish, this original pressing is practically as good a copy as we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides are exceptionally relaxed, natural, and musical, with an incredibly sweet top end
  • The brass is breathy with a nice bite, avoiding most of the blare-y quality we heard on so many other pressings
  • And you’re not going to believe all the ambience surrounding this room full of musicians, especially on the drums – we love that sound

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Henry Mancini – Charade

More of the music of Henry Mancini (1924-1994)

  • An original RCA Victor stereo LP boasting excellent Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on both sides
  • This copy is super spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience — talk about Tubey Magic, the liquidity of the sound here is positively uncanny
  • If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1963 All Tube Analog sound can be, this outstanding copy may be just the record for you

This RCA Victor stereo LP gives you a healthy dose of the Tubey Magic we love here at Better Records. As is usually the case with Mancini’s records, some tracks sound far better than others.

“Charade” is a particularly good sounding song on side two, with superb reproduction of both female and male voices, rich and sweet in the best tradition of RCA from the Golden Age.

More good stuff on side two? Drop the needle on “Latin Snowfall” to hear exactly what I’m talking about.

As an added bonus, the last track, “Charade (Carousel),” has absolutely no IGD on the glockenspiel or calliope. Few copies will not be groove damaged on that track — we speak from experience here.

For us audiophiles, both the sound and the music found here are enchanting. If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1963 All Tube Analog sound can be, this killer copy may be just the record for you.

This copy is super spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience. Talk about Tubey Magic, the liquidity of the sound here is positively uncanny. This is vintage analog at its best, so full-bodied and relaxed you’ll wonder how it ever came to be that anyone seriously contemplated trying to improve it.

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Henry Mancini – Making More Progress in Audio

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

The story of our recent shootout is what progress in audio in all about. As your stereo improves, some records should get better, some should get worse. It’s the nature of the beast for those of us who constantly make improvements to our playback and critically listen to records all day.

Courtesy of Revolutions in Audio

In our previous listings we noted:

This is one of those odd records in which the variation in sound quality from track to track is dramatic. Take the first two tracks on side one — they suck. They sound like your average LSP Mancini album, the kind I have suffered through far too many times. And that means bad bad bad. 

But track three boasts DEMO DISC QUALITY SOUND and the next one is nearly as good. Listen to that wonderful glockenspiel. It sound every bit as magical as anything on Bang, Baa-room and Harp, and that’s some pretty magical sound in my book!

Same thing happens on side two. Bad sound for the first tracks, then track four sounds great, followed by a pretty good five and a lovely six with a chorus of voices to die for. Go figure.

Is there a copy that sounds good from start to finish? Doubtful.

We’ve made a dozen or more improvements to the system since we last did this shootout, and I’m happy to report that most of the tracks we had trouble with in the past are now sounding very good indeed. Of course the better tracks we noted from years ago are even better, making this a consistently good sounding Mancini record.

One obvious change from the old days is that we now spend a fair amount of time honing in the VTA for every title. That may account for the fact that the first track on side one, which used to be problematical, now sounds wonderful. The value of getting the correct VTA setting — by ear, for every record — cannot be overestimated in our opinion.

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Henry Mancini – Mr. Lucky Goes Latin

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

This very nice looking RCA Living Stereo Popular White Dog LP is a superb example of Living Stereo tubey magic at its best. Ideal for your bachelor pad!

Skip track one on side one and go straight to Slow Hot Wind to hear some Mancini magic.

Henry Mancini / Hatari! – Our Previous Shootout Was 15 Years Ago

More Soundtrack Recordings of Interest

Hot Stamper Pressings of Exotica Recordings Available Now

It’s 2024 and we’ve just finished a big shootout for the album, our first since 2009.

Here is what the best copy sounded like, amazing in every way.

Here is our listing for a very good sounding copy.

Our Review from 2009

This Super Hot Stamper pressing is one of the BEST COPIES we’ve ever played! Both sides earned very high A Double Plus honors, beating practically all the other copies we played it against. The sound is relaxed, natural, and musical, with an incredibly sweet top end. 

The overall sound is airy, open, spacious, and SUPER transparent. The brass on this copy also sounds just right: breathy with a nice bite, avoiding most of the blare-y quality we heard on so many other pressings. (There is a touch of smear on even the best copies; this one is no different.)

The sound is Super 3-D. You’re not going to believe all the ambience surrounding this room full of musicians, especially on the drums! We LOVE that sound.

Baby Elephant Walk is of course the track everyone knows, and just wait until you hear how breathy the calliope is here. When the piccolos come in watch out! There is more high frequency information on this album from the woodwinds alone than from all the instruments on 99 out of 100 other records. (A tough tracking test if ever there was one!)

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Henry Mancini – The Mancini Touch – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

This original Living Stereo pressing had nearly White Hot Stamper sound on side one, earning a sonic grade of A++ to A+++, with the least amount of smear of any copy we played. (As you may know, smear and opacity are endemic to old Living Stereo pressings such as this.) The sound is SUPER 3-D. You’re not going to believe all the ambience surrounding this room full of musicians, especially on the drums! We LOVE that sound. The DEPTH that can be heard in this recording is almost hard to believe. (more…)

Henry Mancini – More Music From Peter Gunn – Our Shootout Winner from 2011

The Super Hot Stamper Sound found on side two of this original Living Stereo pressing will show you just how LIVELY and FUN this music can be! The sound is really JUMPIN’, much more than the other copies we played (and this side one as well). You also get a healthy dose of Tubey Magic on both sides as befits Mancini recordings on RCA. 

Mancini is lucky to have had the RCA engineers from the era on his team. Six of his albums are in our Hall of Fame and this one will make seven. We love to do these Hot Stamper Mancini shootouts but finding clean Living Stereo copies of his albums is getting harder every day. Fans may want to jump on this one while the jumpin’ is good.

Side One

With a grade of A+ to A++ this side had much to offer, mostly Tubey Magic. It’s a bit dark and smeary compared to side two but quite musical and enjoyable.

Side Two

Super Hot Stamper A++ sound. It’s clear and has very low distortion, even a pretty extended top, something you rarely hear on the old Living Stereo pressings. There’s bass but what it really lacks is Whomp Factor down low. It just needs more weight down there, something that would have put it right up there with the best we’ve heard by Mr. Mancini. (more…)

Henry Mancini / The Music From Peter Gunn – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

This early White Dog pressing (4s-6s) has plenty of the Living Stereo Magic RCA was justly famous for back in 1958. Both sides earned a sonic grade of A+ to A++. (The best Hot Stamper copies of More Music from Peter Gunn show you just how well this kind of music can be recorded.)

Listen to all that crazy reverb on the piano and drums — it may not be the most natural sound in the world but it’s pretty cool when it’s done this well.

Both sides here had excellent brass as well. So often the pop records from this era have smeary, blary, shrill brass reproduction, but this copy managed to avoid that problem. The brass could use a bit more weight on side one and on side two it sounded a bit more crude than we had heard previously.

There was plenty of 3-D space on both sides, although the overall sound was a bit more distant and dark than we would have liked. (more…)

Henry Mancini / The Pink Panther

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

Both sides are rich, sweet, and smooth. We didn’t hear any other copies that could keep up with the presence and energy on BOTH sides here. The overall sound is airy, open, spacious, and SUPER transparent. The brass sounds AMAZING. You’re not going to believe all the ambience, especially around the drums!

I gotta tell ya, this was quite a fun shootout. We obviously love finding the classic rock Hot Stampers, but this wonderful Mancini album was a nice change of pace.