Hot Stamper Pressings of Sgt. Peppers Available Now
Below you will find some of the letters customers have sent us after playing one of our Hot Stamper reissue pressings of Sgt. Pepper.
The Beatles are the only group to have their own page on the blog. No surprise there. We’ve written more about their music and sold more of their albums than we have for any other band.
Letter of the Week – “What a revelation the Hot Stamper is!”
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now
No artists’ records have been more important to my evolution as an audiophile than those of The Beatles.
This commentary was written about 15 years ago. Unlike some of the things I used to say about records and audio, practically every word of this commentary still holds true in my opinion.
The sound of the best pressings of The Beatles — when cleaned with the Prelude Enzyme System on the Odyssey machine — are truly a revelation.
So much of what holds their records back is not bad mastering or poor pressing quality or problems with the recording itself.
It’s getting the damn vinyl clean.
(It’s also helpful to have high quality playback equipment that doesn’t add to the inherent limitations of the recordings.)
Know why you never hear Beatles vinyl playing in stereo stores or audio shows?*
Because they’re TOO DAMN HARD to reproduce. You need seriously tweaked, top-quality, correct-sounding equipment — and just the right pressings, natch — to get The Beatles’ music to sound right, and that’s just not the kind of stuff they have at stereo stores and audio shows. (Don’t get me started.)
However, you may have noticed that we sell tons of Beatles Hot Stamper pressings. We have the stereo that can play them, we have the technology to clean them, and we know just how good the best pressings can sound. The result? Listings for Beatles Hot Stampers on the site all the time.
Five of their titles — the most of any band — are on our Rock and Pop Top 100 List. That ought to tell you something. (Let It Be and Revolver would easily make the list as well, but seven albums from one band seemed like overkill, so we’re holding firm at five for now.)
A True Pass/Fail Test for Equipment
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now
Looking back, 2007 seems to have been a milestone year for us here at Better Records, although we certainly did not know that at the time.
Later that same year we swore off Heavy Vinyl for good (prompted by the mediocre sound of the Rhino pressing of Blue) and committed ourselves to doing record shootouts of vintage pressings full time. (Please excuse the overuse of capitals.)
Our Commentary from 2007
The best sounding Magical Mystery Tour ever! Hot Stamper copies of this album are a regular feature on this site, but we’ve NEVER heard one like this — on EITHER side.
We had no choice but to award this album the very rare grade of A++++ (Four Pluses!) on both sides.
Our lengthy commentary entitled entitled outliers and out-of-this-world sound talks about how rare these kinds of pressings are and how to go about finding them.
We no longer give Four Pluses out as a matter of policy, but that doesn’t mean we don’t come across records that deserve them from time to time.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Sgt. Peppers Available Now
You might agree with some reviewers that EMI’s engineers did a pretty good job with the new stereo pressing of Sgt. Pepper mastered by Sean Magee from the 2009 digitally remastered tapes.
In the March 2013 issue of Stereophile Art Dudley weighed in, finding little to fault on this title but being less impressed with most of the others in the new box set. His reference disc? The MoFi UHQR! Oh, and he also has some old mono pressings and a domestic Let It Be.
Now there’s a man who knows his Beatles. Fanatical? Of course he is! We’re talkin’ The Beatles for Chrissakes.
When I read the reviews by writers such as these, I often get the sense that I must’ve fallen through some sort of Audio Time Warp and landed back in 1982. How is it that our so-called experts evince so little understanding of how records are made, how variable the pressings can be, and, more importantly, how absolutely crucial it is to understand and implement rigorous protocols when attempting to carry out comparisons among pressings.
Critically comparing LPs is difficult and time-consuming. It requires highly developed listening skills. I didn’t know how to do it in 1982. I see no evidence that the audiophile reviewers of today are much better at it now than I was in 1982.
Just to take one example: They all seem to be operating under the same evidence-free conceit: that the original is the benchmark against which other pressings must be compared.
To those of us who have played Beatles pressings by the hundreds, this is patent nonsense. To cite just one instance, a recent Hot Stamper listing notes [inaccurately as it turns out, see below]:
We defy any original to step into the ring with it. One thing we can tell you, it would not be a fair fight. The cutting equipment to make a record of this quality did not exist in 1967, not at EMI anyway.
We had the opportunity not long ago to audition a very clean original early pressing of the album and were frankly taken aback by how AWFUL it was in virtually every respect. No top end above 8k or so, flabby bass, murky mids — this was as far from Hot Stamper sound as one could imagine. If it were a Heavy Vinyl or Audiophile pressing we would surely have graded it F and put it in our Hall of Shame.
To be fair we have played exactly one early copy of the record on our current system. (Played a copy or two long ago but on much different equipment, so any judgments we might have made must be considered highly suspect.) Perhaps there are good ones. We have no way of knowing whether there are, and we are certainly not motivated to find out given the price that original Sgt. Pepper’s are fetching these days.
We can tell you this much: no original British pressing of any Beatles album up through Pepper has ever impressed us sonically. We’ve played plenty and have yet to hear one that’s not congested, crude, distorted, bandwidth-limited and full of tube smear. (The monos suffer from all of these problems and more of course, which is only natural; they too are made with the Old School cutting equipment of the day.)
If that’s your sound more power to you. It’s definitely not ours. The hotter the stamper, the less congested, crude, distorted, bandwidth-limited and smeary it will be. (Or your money back.)
UPDATE 2023
There is a copy of a Beatles album on the original label that was competitive with our best 70s pressings, this one. We explained why it’s not a problem to admit we were wrong about the album in question, Beatles For Sale, this way:
Hot Stamper Pressings of Top 100 Titles Available Now
We had been wandering around in the dark for more than a decade with Bridge of Sighs — that is, until we found a clean early UK Chrysalis pressing around about 2015.
Now we know just how good this album can sound, and that means ASTOUNDINGLY good. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any Geoff Emerick album that sounds as big and clear as this one.
The three dimensional space is really something on the better UK copies.
That same year, 2015, we found the best sounding pressing of a Pink Floyd album we had ever heard, and it too blew our minds.
There is a substantial amount of Tubey Magic and liquidity on the tape, recalling the kind of hi-rez vintage analog sound that makes the luminous A Space in Time such a mind-expanding experience. Recorded a few years earlier, both albums have the kind of High Production Value sound that we go crazy for here at Better Records.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Rubber Soul Available Now
One of our good customers had a question about our Hot Stampers recently:
I notice you don’t mention whether the Beatles recordings are stereo or mono. The Rubber Soul that just arrived is stereo. I’m guessing that the one I reordered is also stereo.
Do you guys stock the mono versions? Do you say on the site when something is mono. Let me know, as I like mono versions too.
I was close with Geoff Emerick and he always stressed to me that they spent tons of time on the mono mixes and not much on the stereos (up through Revolver). So let me know if/when you have mono for Rubber Soul and Revolver and perhaps I can snatch them up.
Brian
Brian,
All our records are stereo unless we specifically mention otherwise, as are our Beatles records.
We never sell Beatles records in mono, ever.
Here is a little something I wrote about it: Revolver in disgraceful mono
They spent time on the mono mixes because getting the levels right for all the elements in a recording is ten times harder than deciding whether an instrument or voice should be placed in the left, middle or right of the soundstage.
And they didn’t even do the stereo mixes right some of the time, IMHO.
But in my book, wall to wall beats all stacked up in the middle any day of the week.
Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Badfinger
The best sides have the kind of PRESENCE in the midrange that most copies can’t begin to reproduce. The sound on the right pressings just JUMPS out of the speakers, which is exactly what the best copies are supposed to (but rarely) do.
This is Power Pop, plain and simple. The basics are what count: punchy drums, grungy guitars, present vocals, clear but full bass lines — just the meat and potatoes of rock, no fancy sauces.
For this music to work, all the elements need to be in balance, with correct timbre for the relatively few instruments that make up the arrangements.
Opacity, smear or grit instantly destroy the whole point of having a straightforward production, which is to be able to have all the parts laid out cleanly and clearly.
The idea is to get the production out of the way and just let the music speak for itself.
The truly Hot Stampers remind you of the kind of basic rock and roll record that really knows how to rock. Back in Black comes instantly to mind. Black Dog off Zep IV. This is the sound you want your Straight Up to have. The title of the album is the key to the sound. No fancy packaging, just the band, Straight Up.
From 2007 to 2010 and Beyond
In 2007 we wrote: “Having played more than half a dozen copies of this record during the shootout I can tell you that the most common problem with Straight Up is grainy, gritty sound. Most copies of this record are painfully aggressive and transistory.”
With improvements to cleaning and playback, I would say that’s not actually true in 2010.
There is some grit to the sound to be sure, but like most records from the era, veiling and smearing are what really hold most copies back.
Good copies of this record, ones that are mastered properly and pressed on “good” vinyl, sound a lot like a stripped down version of Abbey Road, which is what they’re supposed to sound like. That’s clearly the sound Badfinger and their producers George Harrison and Todd Rundgren (with some help from the Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick* ) were aiming at.
You will also hear some influences from All Things Must Pass and McCartney’s first. The music owes a lot to both The Beatles as well as Harrison and McCartney as individuals. What’s not to like? Catchy pop songs with grungy guitars — it’s ear candy when the sound is good, and the sound is very good here.
This record is good for testing the following qualities, as are the others linked here:
Hot Stamper Pressings of The Beatles’ Music Available Now
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hi Tom,
Just wanted to provide a little deeply appreciative feedback. A few months back, I ordered 2 White Hot Stampers of Abbey Road and MMT [MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR]. (the German press of MMT is amazing btw).
Abbey Road had a distracting level of surface noise, and it is the first time I have returned a record but I did send that one back. The other day, you had a Hot Stamper ++ copy of Abbey Road, and it was very reasonably priced at $170. It was delivered yesterday, and my goodness, it is truly wonderful. Demo Disc level fantastic. For my ear, it sounds better than the $750 copy I returned. A fine addition to my Beatles collection…Thank YOU!
Also in this order I purchased a Hot Stamper ++ copy of Tom Waits, Blue Valentine. It too is amazing, warm and deeply moving.
Have a great weekend Tom, and thank you to you and your team.
Best,
Rick
Rick,
Thanks so much for your letter!
Best, TP
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Supertramp Available Now
After discovering killer Hot Stampers for this Forgotten Classic we feel the album can hold its own with any of Supertramp’s classic ’70s releases, from Crime of the Century all the way through to Breakfast in America.
Our White Hot stamper pressings showed us some of the best Supertramp sound we have ever heard on any of their albums, which is saying a lot. Supertramp is one of the most well-recorded bands in the history of pop music. GEOFF EMERICK took over most of the recording duties after the band decided to work with a different engineer for this, their 1977 album.
KEN SCOTT recorded the two albums that came before this one, Crime and Crisis, and as has been well documented on this very site, he knocked the two of them out of the park.
As I’m sure you know, both famously engineered The Beatles.
What we didn’t know, not until 2015 anyway, was how amazingly well recorded this album was.
In 2005 we noted that we had basically given up on ever finding a good sounding copy of Even in the Quietest Moments. It’s now ten years later. Having gone gone through more copies than we care to remember we think we’ve got EITQM’s ticket. We think we know which stampers have the potential to sound good as well as the ones to avoid. Finding the right stampers has been a positive boon.
Once we discovered the right stampers we were in a much better position to hear just how well recorded the album is. Now we know beyond all doubt that this recording — the first without Ken Scott producing and engineering for this iteration of the band — is of the highest quality, in league with the best.
Until recently we would never have made such a bold statement. Now it’s nothing less than obvious.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Sgt. Peppers… Available Now
We started doing massive shootouts in 2004 — Teaser and the Firecat was our first — and it wasn’t long before we got around to doing one of the most important albums of popular music ever produced.
It was a milestone for us here at Better Records, and there have been quite a number of them since.
Here is our review from 2005. Please excuse all the unnecessary capitalization.
Drumroll please… FREAKISHLY GOOD SOUND ON BOTH QUIET SIDES. This White Hot Sgt. Pepper’s is absolutely stunning with huge amounts of LIFE, ENERGY, PRESENCE, and IMMEDIACY.
The huge soundfield will fill up your living room — and then some.
Side One is a TUBEY MAGICAL MONSTER! We rate the first two tracks an A++ because the bass is a bit more bloated than we would like. But in true champion form, the bass tightens up during “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” to earn its THIRD PLUS and to show the world what correct tonal balance sounds like.
The vocals here are virtually strain free, which is a miraculous feat for any Beatles album. Unless you happen to be Sir George Martin, we guarantee you have never heard Sgt. Pepper’s sound so good. After the bass tightens up, you’ll be treated to some serious MASTER TAPE SOUND!
Side Two is a heavyweight in its own respect. The voices sound excellent with lots of texture and ambience, really conveying the boys’ performances in the studio. The clarinet on When I’m 64 sounds OUT OF THIS WORLD! There’s lots of texture to the various instruments, particularly the strings, and the piano has nice weight to it. There’s lots of deep, well-defined bass, and the transparency is breathtaking.
Sgt. Pepper’s checks off a number of important boxes for us: