Top Artists – The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • You’ll find INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this vintage London pressing of this surprisingly well-recorded Stones album from 1968
  • The long lost Tubey Magic of these early pressings has them sounding better than we ever thought possible with the audio equipment of the day
  • This is exactly the way you want Beggars Banquet to sound and it sure doesn’t take a pair of golden ears to hear it
  • One of a select group of Rolling Stones Must Own titles we prize above all others – Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed round out the trio
  • 5 stars: “Basic rock & roll was not forgotten, however: ‘Street Fighting Man’… was one of their most innovative singles, and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’… was an image-defining epic.”
  • If you’re a Stones fan, this vintage pressing of their 1968 classic belongs in your collection

No Expectations, the second song on the first side, is one of the greatest Demo Tracks for Tubey Magical guitar reproduction we know of. The next year, Glyn Johns would pull off another acoustic guitar recording of that quality with Love in Vain on Let It Bleed.

Good pressings are certainly not easy to come by — this kind of rich, full-bodied, musical sound is the exception, not the rule. And there’s actual space and extension up top as well, something you certainly won’t hear on most of the vinyl that’s been pressed over the 50+ years since this album was released.

What sets the best copies apart from the pack is a fuller, richer tonal balance, which is achieved mostly by having plenty of bass and less upper midrange. Those are the copies that sound tonally correct to us, and you should have no trouble appreciating the difference.

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Letter of the Week – “Let’s just say the physiological experience was absolutely terrific.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available No

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper copy of Let It Bleed he purchased recently.

Hi Tom,

Just a quick note to say that I’ve never been more engaged with the music of Let It Bleed than yesterday when I heard a 3+ side one.

Let’s just say the physiological experience was absolutely terrific.

I don’t need to go on about the sound, as it was simply the best I’ve ever heard. So transparent!

I am feeling very fortunate to be really enjoying this music the way it was meant to sound.

Michel

Michel,

We like to think that the White Hot Stamper pressings we offer are the ones that take the music to another level, typically beyond where the listener (and that even includes us) thought it could go.

It seems that you had the same kind of revelation that many of our customers have had when they finally hear a famous recording sound the way they had always wished it could.

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How Do the Original UK Decca Between The Buttons LPs Sound?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now

The only version of this album that we offer has the British track listing, so don’t pick this one up if you’re looking for great sounding versions of Let’s Spend The Night Together or Ruby Tuesday.

A bummer, but the domestic copies sound awful, so what can you do?

Also, the early UK Decca label pressings have never impressed us.

Congested and compressed, with no real top, who in his right mind could possibly tolerate that kind of sound nowadays?

The early Deccas might be passable on the old school audio systems of the 60s and 70s, but they are much too unpleasant to be played on the high quality modern equipment we use.

Want to find your own top quality copy?

Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that tend to win our shootouts.

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The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides, here is an outstanding All Analog pressing showcasing the Stones at the peak of their rock and roll powers
  • “Love In Vain” is one of the best sounding Stones songs ever recorded – the acoustic guitar harmonics and the rich WHOMP of the snare prove indisputably that Glyn Johns is one of the engineering greats
  • 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
  • Top 100, 5 stars – Jason McNeil wrote that Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed are “the two greatest albums the band’s (or anyone’s) ever made.” [Add Sticky Fingers to complete the ultimate Stones Trilogy.]
  • This is a Must Own album from 1969, one that should have a place in any audiophile’s pop and rock section

This is, in our humble opinion, the second or third best record the Stones ever made. (Sticky Fingers is Number One, and either this or Beggar’s Banquet comes in a strong second.) With this wonderful early domestic pressing we can now hear the power and the beauty of the recording itself, a fact that we consider the very definition of a Hot Stamper.

Killer Stones Sound

Both sides have more ambiance, more life, and more presence than you probably dreamed possible. Take the sound of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to pick just one example. The breathtaking transparency of this copy allows you to pick out each voice in the intro. The vocals on the other songs are no less present, full-bodied and breathy.

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Love in Vain Is a Great Test Track on Let It Bleed

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now

Love In Vain is our favorite test track for side one on Let It Bleed.

The first minute or so clues you into to everything that’s happening in the sound.

Listen for the amazing immediacy, transparency and sweetly extended harmonics of the guitar in the left channel.

Next, when Watts starts slapping that big fat snare in the right channel, it should sound so real you could reach out and touch it.

If you’re like me, that Tubey magical acoustic guitar sound and the rich whomp of the snare should be all the evidence you need that Glyn Johns is one of the Five Best Rock Engineers who ever lived. Ken Scott, Stephen Barncard, Alan Parsons and a few others are right up there with him of course. We audiophiles are very lucky to have had guys like those around when the Stones were at their writing and performing peak.

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The Rolling Stones – Self-Titled

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last on this outstanding pressing of The Stones’ 1964 release – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness and presence on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true for whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently being foisted on an unsuspecting record buying public
  • This is the real, honest sound of the early, early Stones
  • “The Stones’ debut knocked The Beatles from the chart summit… They were on their way.” – BBC Review
  • If you’re a fan of the early Stones, their debut from 1964 belongs in your collection.

The best word I could use to sum up both the sound and the music on this record is HONEST. If you want to hear how early Rolling Stones records sound when they sound right, this is the ticket. This is the real sound of the early, early Stones.

Probably what any modern engineer would want to do to the album would only end up making it worse. It is what it is and that’s good enough for us. Since the tapes are now more than 60 years old, no modern reissue will sound remotely as good as this one.

The Stones wanted their stuff to sound like the old Blues albums they grew up on and revered, and with that sound in mind you can’t argue that they didn’t succeed here.

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The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue

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  • An Emotional Rescue like you’ve never heard, with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • “Dance (Pt. 1)” and “She’s So Cold” sound great on this copy, and the title track, “Emotional Rescue,” is every bit as good
  • An underrated Stones album – too good to call a guilty pleasure – and very well-recorded by Chris Kimsey
  • Maybe it’s good because “Mick Jagger sounds like he’s having a great time…” – Eric Klinger, PopMatters.com

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The Rolling Stones – Black and Blue

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, this copy is guaranteed to blow to the doors off any other Black and Blue you’ve heard
  • Glyn Johns engineered, and the better pressings are full-bodied and lively, with solid and present vocals, as well as excellent clarity all around
  • A copy this good lets you appreciate Billy Preston’s contributions on the keys – he’s all over the album, a very good thing indeed
  • “‘Melody’ ought to be a tentative experiment with Billy Preston’s jazzy keyboard sound. Instead, it’s a triumph, Jagger’s voice swooping and snaking around Preston’s piano and harmonies.” – Rolling Stone

This is in fact one of the better sounding “later period” (1976) Stones records we’ve played, that’s if we’re talking about the better copies of course, like this one. The best pressings are big, open, dynamic and full-bodied, with exceptionally lively percussion. As always, credit goes to the recording engineers, Glyn Johns et al., as well as Lee Hulko at Sterling, the original mastering engineer (who’s cut about as many good sounding records as anyone we can think of).

“Hand of Fate” is our favorite on side one, sounding like an unreleased track from Exile on Main Street. I’m guessing Glyn Johns had a lot to do with that one sounding as meaty and raw as it does on the better copies. Following “Hot Stuff,” it balances that one’s bright, clear sound nicely, making it easy to separate the real winners from the also-rans.

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Letter of the Week – “You guys aren’t kidding… blew me away.”

Hot Stamper Pressing of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now

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

Hey Tom, 

Just played Their Satanic Majesties Request that I received from you. You guys aren’t kidding. The copy is excellent – blew me away. It replaces my original copy (with the 3D photo). I have a pretty good system, and it really stood out – lots of detail and quite a few surprises.

Thanks for curating such great vinyl.

Rodney

Rodney,

Thanks for your letter. The originals we’ve played are simply not competitive with the best sounding reissues, which is why we sell the best sounding reissues for more money than the originals.

Anybody can buy an original. Only somebody who does rigorous shootouts of multiple pressings from different eras can know which are the best sounding pressings of any given album (keeping in mind that the results from any given shootout, like any scientific finding, are provisional.)

You came to the right place for the best sound and you got it.

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