Top Artists – Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler – Local Hero

More Soundtrack Albums of Interest

  • A vintage Vertigo import pressing of Knopfler’s 1983 soundtrack album, here with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides are doing everything right – they’re bigger, bolder, richer and more clean, clear and open than all others we played
  • As good as the Warner Brothers pressings might be, it’s clear to us, having played plenty of both, that these Vertigo originals are a sizable step up in class
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler’s intricate, introspective finger-picked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth’s comedy film, Local Hero… The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler’s more memorable melodies.”

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Sting – Nothing Like The Sun

More Sting and The Police

  • A vintage copy of Sting’s killer double album from 1987 with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on all FOUR sides
  • The sound here is clearly bigger, richer, fuller, and livelier than most other copies we played it against
  • Features phenomenal contributions from legendary musicians, including Andy Summers, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Hiram Bullock
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…the melodies are insinuating, slowly working their way into memory, while the entire record plays like a mood piece – playing equally well as background music or as intensive, serious listening.”

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Who Knew that Dylan Could Sound This Good in 1983?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bob Dylan Available Now

This vintage copy of Infidels could not be beat. Big and rich, with correct tonality from top to bottom, strong bass and plenty of space, this copy sounded just right to us.

Our post-it notes tell the album’s story. (By the way, if you like reading our post-it notes, we’re putting more and more of them on the blog these days. We talk about the importance of taking notes  as part of the shootout advice we share. This post will help you with the basics.)

Side One

Track Three

    • Big and full
    • Not too nasal

Track One

    • Big bass
    • Weighty and rich
    • Has some breath

Side Two

Track One

    • Rich bass and drums
    • Spacious breathy vocals
    • No hardness

What We Learned

What do these notes have to tell us, other than this is a much better recording than it’s given credit for?

On side one, the vocals have a tendency to get nasally, sounding like Dylan is singing through his nose, not his mouth, a common problem with Dylan records from every era.

Also. when we say “has some breath, ” that basically means that most pressings on side one are not especially breathy in the mids, but this one is better in that department.

Not that the original grade was “at least 2,” and after going through all the copies, it turned out nothing could be beat this one. Some breath was probably more breath than any other side one we played.

On side two, the sound had “no hardness, ” and again, that simply means plenty of copies, maybe all the other copies, suffered from hardness in the vocals. “At least 2” turned into our Shootout Winner when no other copy could beat it.

Who Knew?

Has any other audiohile reviewer ever said a kind word about this album, other than us of course?

Not that I know of.

And we’re as guilty as any of them in assuming that 1983 was not a good year to be recording Dylan and expecting audiophile quality sound.

But we were proven wrong once again, by the only method that can possibly be relied upon to supply the truth: experimentation.

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Bob Dylan – Infidels

More Bob Dylan

  • With STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades from start to finish, this vintage copy could not be beat
  • Big and rich, with correct tonality from top to bottom, strong bass and plenty of space, this copy sounded just right to us
  • 4 stars: “… its writing is closer to Dylan’s peak of the mid-70s, and some of the songs here… are minor classics, capturing him reviving his sense of social consciousness and his gift for poetic, elegant love songs.”

This is one of the better sounding Dylan records from the 80s. It’s not exactly Blood on the Tracks, the only Dylan album we think is qualified to be on our top 100 rock and pop list, but it sounds good for a record from this era.
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Bryan Ferry – Boys and Girls

More Roxy Music

  • You’ll find excellent Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides of this classic Ferry album from 1985 
  • This copy was big, full and lively with plenty of presence and bottom end weight
  • On this record, bigger bass and punchier drums make all the difference in the world
  • “Instead of ragged rock explosions, emotional extremes, and all that made his ’70s work so compelling in and out of Roxy, Ferry here is the suave, debonair if secretly moody and melancholic lover, with music to match…”

Excellent sound and quiet vinyl on both sides! If you’ve spent any time with this album, you will be blown away by how great both sides of this copy sound.

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