Top Artists – Peter Gabriel

Genesis / Selling England By The Pound

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  • An early UK Charisma pressing (only the second copy to hit the site in over three years) with two solid Double Plus (A++) sides
  • If you’re a fan of early Genesis, or 70s progressive rock in general, it’s hard to do much better than this outstanding import
  • One of the Must Own Genesis recordings but also one of the harder titles to find with the right sound and audiophile surfaces in our experience
  • Which we hope will explain the pricing – so many copies come with marks and other surface issues that it does indeed take us three years to get a shootout going
  • 5 stars: “… the album showcases the band’s narrative force on a small scale as well as large that makes this their arguable high-water mark.”

What do the better Hot Stamper copies give you? Remarkable dynamics and clarity, a huge, open soundstage and rich, full-bodied tonality.

It’s beyond difficult to find good sounding copies of the early Genesis albums, but we recently managed to pull together enough clean copies to get this shootout going again and came up with some real knockout sides! Anyone who has tried to find good sounding copies of this album knows what a tough task it can be. We’ve tried to do this shootout a number of times since 2005 and until 2012 had almost nothing to show for it. But Hot Stampers copies do exist, and this very one proves it!

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Peter Gabriel Names a Third Record After Himself

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  • An outstanding import pressing with Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Finding clean, quiet, early pressings of this album has been especially difficult for some time now and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier
  • A Must Own for Gabriel fans, this album is widely considered his breakthrough work as a solo artist
  • Listen closely and you’ll recognize Phil Collins’ now-signature (but at the time revolutionary) drum sound on several of the tracks, including “Intruder,” one of the best tracks on the album
  • 5 stars: “Generally regarded as Peter Gabriel’s finest record, his third eponymous album finds him coming into his own, crafting an album that’s artier, stronger, more song oriented than before.”
  • If you’re a fan, this is a Peter Gabriel classic from 1980 that belongs in your collection.

With this, his third release, Gabriel established himself as a true force in the rock world. (more…)

Letter of the Week – “It’s crazy that once upon a time I thought it sounded really great.”

More of the Music of Peter Gabriel

More Letters from Customers and Critics Alike

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,
Just a note. I forgot I had Red Rain/Sledgehammer on a 45 rpm clarity vinyl from Classic.

So I compared them. What the fuck! It was absolutely, completely lifeless. I was amazed at how lifeless it was.

It’s crazy that once upon a time I thought it sounded really great.

The journey continues to amaze.

Take Care,
Michel

Michel,

Thanks for your letter. You are not the first person to notice that Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered records do not hold up well when played head to head with the Hot Stamper pressings we offer.

Bernie Grundman has a fairly spotty record in the modern era. Starting with the work he did for Classic Records in the 90s, it’s hard to think of too many BG-mastered titles that sounded all that good to us. If pressed, I might be able to name five, but please don’t press me, coming up with five would be more work than I’d want to do.

The record you played probably sounded a lot like the pressing of So he remastered for Classic in 2002. We didn’t like it then and we doubt it has gotten better with age. Flat as a pancake and dead as a doornail are our go-to descriptions for the mostly irritating records that the various audiophile labels were putting out in those days, and they’re still at it. (To be honest, we were fooled plenty of times ourselves and have the embarrassing catalog entries to prove it.)

You were amazed by how lifeless it was, yet you used to like it.

Aren’t other audiophiles in exactly the same boat you were in until just a few days ago? Until you paid all that money to us for a copy that blew your Classic right out of the water?

Without knowing it, what you actually bought was a copy that sounded the way the Classic should have.

You thought you were getting top quality sound with Classic’s releases, especially when it has the advantage of being one song on a 12″ disc mastered at 45RPM. That record should have been killer, a Demo Disc of a great song guaranteed to blow your own and your audiophile friends’ minds.

Maybe it would have. Maybe, like you, they would think the Classic sounds amazing.

What’s amazing most of the time is just how relative “amazing” can be.

So, now you own the record that is a true Demo Disc, and one that can demonstrate not just top quality sound, but how inferior these modern-mastered titles really are up against the real deal — the real deal being a plain old mass-produced record that everybody and his uncle could have bought for relatively cheap in 1986. No fancy packaging, no high price tag, no virgin vinyl, just a record properly-pressed and properly-mastered. The world is full of them.

Audiophiles may be incredulous at the thought, but all it would take to show them how wrong their approach to collecting better pressings has been is the right pressing.

Those are the ones we sell.

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Genesis / Nursery Cryme

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  • With superb Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom, this vintage UK Charisma reissue was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • These sides have the bass, real rock energy and lovely midrange transparency that was missing from many of the others we played
  • For fans of the Classic Lineup involving Phil Collins and Steve Hackett — this being the first album with them on board — this Brit will show you a Nursery Cryme the likes of which you have never heard
  • If you own the Classic Records pressing you are really in for a shock – that one is a smeary lifeless mess next to this LP (and don’t even get us started on the domestic copies)
  • “If Genesis truly established themselves as progressive rockers on Trespass, Nursery Cryme is where their signature persona was unveiled … these are the songs that showed what Genesis could do, and they still stand as pinnacles of what the band could achieve.”

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Letter of the Week – “The real point for me is that I can keep enjoying these new listening experiences over and over again.”

More of the Music of Peter Gabriel

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Peter Gabriel

Our new customer Michel wrote to tell us how much he likes his Hot Stamper pressing of So.

Hi Tom,

Many of the BR titles I bought I had stopped listening to due to lack of engagement with the music. It just didn’t do it for me anymore. But then I’d buy one of your LPs… it would then destroy my other copies… and now I listen to that LP on a regular basis, enjoying music I love but had stopped listening to.

When I put on a BR record, I am engaged with the music… and of course I keep hearing new nuances, etc. with every play.

Why pay so much for an album?  Well if music floats your boat, then no explanation needed. Just bring your ears to my living room…then you’ll get it!

The real point for me is that I can keep enjoying these new listening experiences over and over again. It is an immeasurable joy really to hear beautiful music reveal itself in all its splendor.

How the f*** does yours sound so much better? Virtually as soon as the music began the difference was obvious.

I remember liking some aspects of the UK… and the same goes for the US… I liked the warmth and rolled back highs in comparison the UK, but it seemed muddy/veiled/mishmashy which was bothersome, so then I stopped listening.

The BR copy somehow has it all. It is by far the most listenable copy of this I’ve ever heard. It can be turned up all the way from start to finish without any worries about what you might hear.

Plenty of shrill-free highs, lots of killer bass… deep low tones with analog warmth, boomy wide room filling sound, etc, etc.  No muddiness in the presentation… clarity with warmth, nothing veiled.

Thank You!!
Michel

Michel,

You make a point that I have been banging on for years. Better sounding pressings are the only way to rediscover music that you’ve lost interest in because the copies you own didn’t have the sound you needed.

If your old copies of So had sounded better, you would have played them, but they didn’t, and so they sat on the shelf.

Knowing the sound was off, you simply stopped playing them. You lost track of So.

Hot Stamper pressings get played. They have the life of the music in their grooves and demand to be heard!

We say music does the driving in this hobby, but that’s not really the whole story for us audiophiles, is it?

Music with good sound is what really does the driving.

Joy to Your World

When you get hold of the pressing that presents the music the way you want to hear it, that’s the record that gets played beause that’s the record that brings joy to the listener.

The other pressings of So sit on the shelf, reminders that badly-mastered, badly-pressed records are the norm, not the exception.

The exceptional pressing is the one that can bring the music you love back from the purgatory of the overcrowded record shelf.

Think of the audiophiles that have thousands and thousands of records on their shelves and never find time to play them. Why is that?

Maybe it’s because there is nothing special about those pressings. Some collectors are so proud of having so many records — look at them all! — but what good are they? To our way of thinking, the man with ten or twenty exceptionally good records is far better off than than the one with a thousand or five thousand mediocrities.

If you want a powerful, immersive, thrilling musical experience, you will need a record that is powerful, immersive, and thrilling.

The thousands of records sitting on your shelf, the ones you haven’t played in years, are the silent reminders that they aren’t nearly as good as you think they are. If they were better, they would call out to you from that graveyard you call a record collection and fight their way back to your turntable.

So Is Back

Now, after all these years, you finally have a pressing of So that demands to be played.

If others of you out there haven’t played your copy of So in a long time, maybe there’s a reason for that.

Thanks for your letter.

Best, TP

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Peter Gabriel – So

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  • Amazing sound for Gabriel’s breakthrough album from 1986, with an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated an excellent Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Both of these sides are lively, solid and rich – drop the needle on any track and you’ll see what we mean
  • Great songs including “Don’t Give Up,” “Sledgehammer,” “Big Time,” “Mercy Street,” “Red Rain,” “In Your Eyes,” and more
  • 4 stars: “…[Gabriel’s] most accessible and…catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. “Sledgehammer” propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and [it] had enough songs with single potential to keep it there.”

Here is a copy of So with the Big and Bold Peter Gabriel sound we love. If you want your Art Rock to actually rock (as well as be arty), this is the copy for you.

It’s not a perfect recording by any means, but when it sounds this good you can easily forget its shortcomings and marvel at how consistently good the material and the production are.

No Mean Feat

It’s exceptionally hard to find good-sounding copies of this album, as you can read about below. With a digital recording such as this, the margin for mastering error is very slim. Most copies just aren’t worth the vinyl they’re pressed on. They can sound harsh, gritty, grainy, edgy, and thin.

We did a shootout years ago that taught us a few things. The most surprising finding? The Brit copy I had in my own collection sucked — how about that! As a rule, I like the Brit pressings best for PG, but that rule got broken after playing all these domestic copies, some of which really sound good, clearly better than the average Brit.

Recording Issues

This is a digital recording, and most of the time it is bright, spitty, and grainy like a typical digital recording, which plays right into our prejudices. After hearing a bad copy, what audiophile wouldn’t conclude that all copies will have these bad qualities? After all, it’s digital. It can’t be fixed simply by putting it on vinyl.

Ah, but that’s where logic breaks down. Proper mastering can ameliorate many if not most of a recording’s shortcomings. When we say Hot Stampers, we are talking about high-quality mastering doing exactly that.

Mass-Produced Plastic Problems

But of course the mastering is only one part of the puzzle. I have multiple copies with the same stampers. Some of them are terrible, some of them are wonderful — you just can’t rely on the numbers to guide you with a piece of mass-produced plastic like this. You have no choice but to play the record to know what it sounds like. (And that’s a good thing. Keeps you honest. There’s no “cheating” when you have nothing to go by but the sound.)

This album sold in the millions. They stamped it out until the metalwork was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Those badly pressed copies are not going to have any high-frequency extension, which leaves them with all the harsh upper mids sticking out of the mix to peel the paint in your living room and make your ears bleed.

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Peter Gabriel – Self-Titled 2 (Scratch)

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  • This UK Charisma pressing has outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides
  • We shot out a number of other imports and this Mad Hatter label copy had the presence, bass, and dynamics that were missing from most others we played
  • 4 stars: “‘On the Air’ and ‘D.I.Y.’ are stunning slices of modern rock circa 1978, bubbling with synths, insistent rhythms, and polished processed guitars, all enclosed in a streamlined production that nevertheless sounds as large as a stadium.”
  • If I were to compile a list of my Favorite Rock and Pop Albums from 1978, this album would probably be the most played title on that list

Peter Gabriel’s self-titled second album checks off a number of important boxes for us here at Better Records:

Looking to do a shootout to find your own Hot Stamper?

  • Stick exclusively with the early British pressings. Nothing can touch them for sound quality.

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Letter of the Week – “…it is now a reference or demo if you wish, that lets me know how good my system really is.”

More of the Music of The B-52’s

More of the Music of Peter Gabriel

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

Hey Tom, 

Hey guys, before I talk about my very first Hot Stamper let me say this. I have been going to your site for well over two years and was very reluctant to spend the kind of money that you charge for a used record. Come on! Are you kidding?? But I was very intrigued by the description of your system. I had felt that the weakest part of my system may be the cartridge. So I sprung for the 17d3.

WOW! A first class improvement. So I thought “Well if these guys are right about the cartridge, maybe there is something about these used records. After all I can always send it back, right?”

So I ordered the B-52’s first album and played it. And played it. No No No, get up off your knees and stop begging. You can’t have it back. It’s MINE. Although I do not have this album in any format, it is now a reference or demo if you wish, that lets me know how good my system really is. It has also revealed to me that I have records that sound pretty darned good. It has also given me a lesson on critical listening.

I have been listening to music for over 55 years, and you are never too old to learn. Last week I received my new VPI with Disc Doctor package, and it seems to have been a wise addition. I have found a few treasures that have been lurking in my collection. And I ordered a Peter Gabriel today. I am a happy camper.

Kevin B.

Kevin,

Thanks for your letter. Now you have the ideal cartridge to play back our Hot Stampers pressings and hear just how phenomenally good they really sound.

Playback accuracy is at the heart of everything we do. We want to hear our records naked and unadorned. That’s what the 17dx does for us, and of course it can do the same for you.

Further Reading

Peter Gabriel / Security

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  • One of the most important records in the Peter Gabriel canon, original and influential on so many levels
  • With the benefit of today’s technology, on a copy this good you hear into the soundfield in a way never possible before, picking out all the drummers and counting all the layers of multi-tracked choruses
  • “Security remains a powerful listen, one of the better records in Gabriel’s catalog, proving that he is becoming a master of tone, style, and substance…”
  • If you’re a Peter Gabriel fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this title from 1982 is surely a Must Own
  • The complete list of titles from 1982 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with less of an accent on morbidity and more on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life. Security is a good example of a record most audiophiles don’t know well but should.

Man, does this album sound better than I remember it from back in the ’80s when I first played it. Stereos have come a long way since then, along with a host of other things that help records sound better, such as cleaning fluids, room treatments and all the rest.

Now you can really hear INTO the soundfield in a way that simply was never possible before, picking out all the drummers and counting all the layers of PG’s multi-tracked choruses.

On the best pressings, both sides are huge, and the music jumps out of the speakers. The balance is perfection. (more…)

Genesis – Trespass

Hot Stamper Pressings of Genesis Available Now

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  • This early Charisma import pressing was doing practically everything right, with both sides earning incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • The sound here is rich and Tubey Magical, two qualities the CD made from these tapes surely lacks and two qualities which are crucial if this music is to sound the way the band intended
  • Forget the later reissues on the Blue Label – we have yet to hear one that can compete with these good originals
  • Probably for the more serious fan, but Melody Maker found it “…tasteful, subtle and refined.”
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these classic rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you

Take it from us, the guys who play every kind of pressing we can get our hands on, the UK pressings are the only way to go on Trespass. (more…)