Top Studios and Concert Halls – Webster Hall

The Ames Brothers with Esquivel – Hello Amigos

More Exotica

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

  • By far the best sound we have ever heard for The Ames Brothers
  • 1960 Webster Hall vocals in RCA Living Stereo sound at its best
  • Huge, rich, smooth and natural, the Tubey Magic is off the charts
  • Esquivel and His Orchestra bring some fun Exotica flourishes to these Latin tunes

This copy is super spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience. This is vintage analog at its best, so rich and relaxed you’ll wonder how it ever came to be that anyone seriously contemplated trying to “improve” upon it.

This recording is the very definition of The Sound of Tubey Magic. No recordings will ever be made like this again, nor will any CD ever be able to capture what is in the grooves of this pressing.

For the audiophile of wide ranging taste, both the sound and the music should be lots of fun. If you want to demonstrate just how good 1960 All Tube Analog sound can be, I’d be hard pressed to think of another record that could do the job better than this one.

Perfect for demo-ing your stereo to anyone who thinks audio recording technology has improved in the last forty years. (more…)

Carlos Montoya – From St. Louis to Seville

More Carlos Montoya

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

  • A stunning Triple Plus side one backed with a better than Double Plus side two
  • Flamenco Meets Jazz in this extraordinary recording, and it works
  • The Three-Dimensional space and Tubey Magic are jaw-dropping on this copy
  • An amazing Webster Hall Living Stereo All Analog recording from 1958 – nothing else sounds like it
  • It’s yet another recording we’ve discovered with (potentially) excellent sound
  • When you’ve played as many Living Stereo titles as we have (250+ and counting), you’re bound to run into this kind of Demo Disc sound from time to time – it’s what makes record collecting fun

Ed Begley is the engineer here and he knocked this one out of the park. What an amazing sounding Living Stereo recording.

Need a refresher course in tubey magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? This record is overflowing with it. Rich, clear, natural, sweet, overflowing with space and ambience, absolutely correct tonality — it’s all here.

The Rhythm Accompaniment is made up of three top players from New York. Sally Montoya noted at the time: “Carlos just recorded the first Flamenco jazz record for Victor, with Osie Johnson and Milt Hinton and Barry Galbraith on electric guitar. A most relaxed and informal session. The other musicians said it was unique in their experience.”

It’s certainly a unique record in my experience, with mind-blowingly good sound and engaging music. (more…)

Ray Ellis / Our Man On Broadway

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

xxxxx

A DAZZLING TOUR OF THE BROADWAY SHOW SCENE… courtesy of Mickey Crofford’s engineering in NYC’s legendary Webster Hall. If we could only find more vintage pressings with this kind of fidelity and musical invention our job would be a lot easier. We have to play a huge stack of titles to find even one that can do what this copy is doing, and how many of those will be this quiet? One out of a hundred? Two hundred? The whole enterprise boggles the mind. 

Side One

Huge, rich, and Tubey Magical as all get out, the instruments will positively come jumping out of your speakers like few records you have ever heard.

Huge bass and richness helps keep the brass from getting too blary. (more…)

Paul Desmond – Desmond Blue

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

  • Paul Desmond’s phenomenal 1962 release finally arrives on the site, boasting outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • This is vintage Sixties Living Stereo sound at its best – big, rich and Tubey Magical like you will not believe
  • A “highly innovative and meticulously crafted work,” this collection is brimming with delightful jazz classics, including “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and “Body and Soul”
  • 4 stars: “… lush, reflective, thought-provoking, and soul-stirring. This work is quite a plus for any listener and especially those who consider themselves avid fans of Paul Desmond.”

Need a refresher course in Tubey Magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? These original Living Stereo pressings are overflowing with it. Rich, smooth, sweet, full of ambience, dead-on correct tonality — everything that we listen for in a great record is here. (more…)

Xavier Cugat – Chile Con Cugie

More Exotica

Living Stereo Titles Available Now

Amazing nearly White Hot stamper sound on side two. It’s so big and fun, jumping with energy in a huge space.

1959 Living Stereo three-dimensionality from Webster Hall.

Lots of exotica percussion and rhythm make for fun stereo listening. 

Side Two

So much bigger and clearer than we expected, with instruments just jumping out of the soundfield everywhere, this is the way you want your Xavier Cugat records to sound!

Big, lively and fun, that’s what an authentic original Living Stereo pressing can do that the modern record of today has such trouble recreating.

Side One

Tonally correct — maybe not all the fun of this amazing side two but a healthy portion of it.

(more…)