A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame.
You’ll find outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on both sides of this Monument stereo pressing. The amazingly talented Bill Porter recorded many of Orbison’s classic songs from the early ’60s that are found on this compilation. Only a copy this good shows you how phenomenal these timeless songs can sound – rich, open, clear, solid and musical.
If you think that buying original pressings of an album like this one is the way to find the best sound, you are sorely mistaken. The originals and most reissues on the Monument label are mostly dreadful sounding.
The monos sound bad and the originals sound bad, which means that all the conventional wisdom of record collectors and audiophiles alike has failed to produce the desired result: a good sounding pressing of the album. What’s a mother to do?
Well, you could do what we did: try them all! If you keep at it long enough eventually you will run into the right pressing, and then you can focus on getting a large enough batch which will allow you to find one that sounds great and plays quietly.
Or you could just buy this one. We already did all that other stuff and this is the pressing that resulted from our labors. (more…)