Top Artists – Phil Manzanera

Avalon – A Simply Vinyl Mastering Success? Or Is It?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Roxy Music Available Now

UPDATE 2020

These notes were written many years ago, which means that we ourselves may not agree with some or all of the commentary you see below.

Sonic Grade: B (I’m guessing)

This version just plain KILLS most domestic copies and probably quite a few Brit ones too. Simply Vinyl did a superb job here.

Correction: an unnamed mastering engineer at the label did a superb job. Simply Vinyl isn’t in the business of mastering ANYTHING. They leave that up to the pros at the record labels. Sometimes those guys screw it up and sometimes they get it right.

This pressing sounds just like the last import version I had, which sounded great but unfortunately went out of print in the mid-nineties as I remember. Might be mastered by the same guy using the same tape on the same cutter for all I know.

Take it from me, this pressing gets this music right in a way that will not leave the listener wanting more. It really delivers. The sound is superb — sweet, open, with punchy bass and extended highs.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “He was amazed at the difference.”

Diamond Head

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

Hey Tom,   

BTW- I played Diamond head UK and US pressings at my friend’s place. He has the Transrotor table and all VAC tube stuff. He was amazed at the difference.

Hi,

Send him a link to our site if he wants to be amazed more often.

Best, TP

It’s funny you sent this link. I was on Discogs looking at one of the original UK releases. But I’m tired of chasing down copies all over the us and Europe getting nice condition vinyl that sounds like crap.

If you set high standards, which you do, then taking a chance on these Discogs types is a huge waste of time. It’s only the fact that record buyers have such low standards and poor playback equipment that they find the crap they are sent tolerable.

Sellers sometimes tell me that I am the only one who ever complained. That speaks volumes. (more…)

801 Live – It’s All About the Bass (Except for that One Time When It Wasn’t)

Hot Stamper Pressings of 801 Live Available Now

This commentary was written in 2007 or thereabouts.

What’s especially interesting about this copy is that we went crazy for it even though it did not have the best bass of the copies we played, which, as you will see below, clearly contradicts what we had previously written. We thought that the copies with the best bass had the best everything else too, but that was not what we heard this time around.

THIS copy got the music to work its magic, and it did it with most, but not all, of the bass of the best. Not sure how to explain it. Rules were made to be broken maybe?  (more…)

Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets

  • KILLER sound from start to finish for this Island import pressing with both sides finishing top of the class — Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout
  • The sound here is clean, clear, present and dynamic yet still super rich and musical with lots of Tubey Magic
  • Exceptionally quiet vinyl — Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus on both sides
  • 5 stars on Allmusic: “Eno’s solo debut, Here Come the Warm Jets, is a spirited, experimental collection of unabashed pop songs… Avant-garde yet very accessible, Here Come the Warm Jets still sounds exciting, forward-looking, and densely detailed, revealing more intricacies with every play.”

A great pressing of one of our favorite albums! These are not easy to come by, so we don’t get to shoot these out as often as we’d like. This is not your typical audiophile-friendly rock album, to be sure. There are lots of weird sounds, out-of-tune instruments and other Eno craziness. We’re big Eno fans here — Taking Tiger Mountain and Before And After Science are other big favorites here. If you’ve got a taste for avant-garde art rock, this album should be right up your alley. (more…)

Bryan Ferry / In Your Mind Is a Real Puzzler

More of the Music of Bryan Ferry

More of the Music of Roxy Music

This British original pressing caused me a great deal of consternation. I’ve always been a big fan of this album — so much so that I even have the CD of it in my car — and I was under the impression that the sound was quite good. But playing a few British originals like this one caused me to have my doubts. The sound was aggressive and hard. I suspected the absolute phase might be reversed, and sure enough it was. But even after correcting for the improper polarity the sound is not what I would have hoped for. It’s a bit “grungy” and lacks the extreme highs that would sweeten the overall presentation. 

So if you can put up with less than state of the art sound you may find yourself thoroughly enjoying this one. Side one rocks hard from start to finish, more than any other Ferry album. (more…)