Robert Brook has a blog which he calls
A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE
Below you will find a link to the shootout Robert recently conducted for Thelonious Monk’s amazing Brilliant Corners album on OJC.
Yes, The Best Plum and Orange Pressing Will Win Every Shootout
Hot Stamper Pressings of Prog Rock Albums Available Now
Our rare, original Plum and Orange UK original here put every other pressing to shame. This is some of the best High Production Value rock music of the ’70s, thanks to the band and a Mr Eddie Offord.
If you’ve ever heard one of our Yes Album Hot Stampers, you’ll know what to expect here – HUGE and POWERFUL sound.
Although the UK first label originals will always win our shootouts, the early UK reissues on the Red and Green label can still sound quite good on the right pressing.
Skip all domestic copies of this album, as well as the domestic pressings on the second label of their first album. They are clearly made from dubbed tapes.
Amazing Acoustic Guitars
Acoustic guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. The harmonic coherency, the richness, the body and the phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum.
- More recordings like this one with exceptionally Tubey Magical guitar reproduction
- More reviews for our Tubey Magical acoustic guitar Demo Discs
- More records that are good for testing Tubey Magical acoustic guitars
Michael Jackson – Bad
More of the Music of Michael Jackson
- This vintage copy was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- The sound is huge, full-bodied, punchy and relatively smooth throughout, with real space and ambience around the vocals and instruments
- Includes some of Jackson’s biggest 80s hits: “Man in the Mirror,” “Dirty Diana,” “Smooth Criminal,” and of course, the title track
- 4 1/2 stars: “… essentially taking each portion of Thriller to an extreme, while increasing the quotient of immaculate studiocraft. He wound up with a sleeker, slicker Thriller, which isn’t a bad thing…”
The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour
- A stunning True Stereo pressing with some of the best Beatles sound money can buy – superb work from Ken Scott here
- Demo Disc quality sound for “I Am The Walrus,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Baby You’re A Rich Man” and more
- You won’t believe how powerful the sound is – it’s big, rich, open and lively beyond all expectation
- A longtime Top 100 album and psych rock masterpiece that knocks us out every time we do the shootout
- Any list of the best rock and pop albums of 1967 would have to have this record on it, along with its predecessor, Sgt. Pepper, released in May of the same year if you can believe it
Drop the needle on “Fool On The Hill” and you’ll see why we get so worked up over top copies that sound as good as this one does. This is a STUNNING recording, but you need a killer Hot Stamper pressing to appreciate just how well recorded the album is.
The Oslo Phil. Brings Pictures at an Exhibition to Life
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Mussorgsky Available Now
Lately I have been listening to this piece of music from start to finish over and over again, at this point easily ten times through, immersed in the glorious display of more orchestral color than one could possibly imagine in a single piece of music (including The Planets I dare say), in all of 35 minutes no less.
What triggered this behavior you ask? Hearing it performed live a few months back (5/2026?) planted the seed, and rediscovering the CD in my collection allowed me to get obsessed with it, something I tend to do when a piece of music is as full of life as this one is. We describe Muti’s performance of the work this way:
The EMI import pressing you see here gives you the complete Pictures at an Exhibition with a top performance and superb sonics.
Pictures is a piece of music that has been recorded countless times. I’ve played scores of different recordings starting at about the age of twenty, but the only one that still satisfies is this one, Muti’s 1979 recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Much like Previn and the LSO’s performance of The Planets, he brings out musical qualities in the work better than any other conductor with which I am familiar.
If I were limited to only one record to test a system with, it would be hard to choose a better one than a top copy of the Muti on EMI. (It’s almost, but not quite, all you would need.)
My advice would be to go and find yourself a clean UK pressing as quickly as possible.
It may eventually become your favorite orchestral recording of all time the way it has become mine, at the tender age of 72 in my case!
In the meantime, check out the wonderful performance recorded by the Oslo Philharmonic available on youtube. If you have big speakers hooked up to your TV and are willing and able to play them good and loud, you are in for a treat.
The performance is easily one of the best I’ve ever heard, although a bit slower and more measured than ideal. However, it would clearly be superior to those on offer by second- and third-rate orchestras, of which there are many in my experience.
Here is the precision and energy that is surely missing from those performances, as well as most recordings truth be told, whether analog or digital. (The CD on EMI by the way is excellent and highly recommended.) As I said, the pacing is a bit slow, but the ability to see all the players and their instruments is a huge bonus on a powerful work such as this.
List of Instruments (AI Assisted)
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Woodwinds: 3 Flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 3 Oboes (1 doubling English horn), 2 Clarinets, 1 Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 1 Contrabassoon, and 1 Alto Saxophone (featured prominently in The Old Castle).
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Brass: 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba, and 1 Euphononium (or Saxhorn, often performed on Euphonium or Tuba for the Bydło soloist movement).
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Percussion: Timpani, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Triangle, Tam-tam (Gong), Tubular Bells, Glockenspiel, Whip (Slapstick), and Xylophone.
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Keyboards & Harp: Celesta and 2 Harps.
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Strings: First and Second Violins, Violas, Cellos, and Double Basses.
Allow Us to Make the Case that Even CDs Have Better Sound than Classic’s Vinyl
Hot Stamper Classical and Orchestral Pressings Available Now
The Classic reissue of LSC 1903 is a disaster: shrill, smeary and profoundly unmusical.
In these four words we can describe the sound of the average Classic Records Living Stereo pressing.
The best Heifetz records on Classic were, if memory serves, LSC 2734 (Glazunov), LSC 2603 (Bruch) and LSC 2769 (Rozsa).
They aren’t nearly as offensive as the others, and one is actually quite good. If you can pick one up for ten or twenty bucks, you might get your money’s worth depending, I suppose, on how critically you listen to your classical records.
The CDs are better for all I know. That’s probably the first place to go, considering Classic’s generally poor track record.
The Human League – Dare
More New Wave
- Superb sound throughout this original UK Virgin pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- We shot out a number of other imports and this one had the midrange presence, bass, and dynamics that were missing from most other copies we played
- Forget the dubby domestic pressings and whatever crappy Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – the British LPs are the only way to fly on Dare
- 5 stars: “Dare! captures a moment in time perfectly – the moment post-punk’s robotic fascination with synthesizers met a clinical Bowie-esque infatuation with fashion and modern art, including pop culture, plus a healthy love of songcraft. The Human League had shown much of this on their early singles, such as “Empire State Human,” but on Dare! they simply gelled, as their style was supported by music and songs with emotional substance.”
This vintage import pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
Art Pepper – Winter Moon
More of the Music of Art Pepper
- A Winter Moon like you’ve never heard, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage Galaxy pressing
- The sound here is rich and Tubey Magical, which is the only way this music makes any sense on record
- You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy that’s this well balanced, big and lively, with wonderful clarity in the mids and highs and Pepper’s sax front and center
- Rosiny string texture is key to the best pressings – the ones that have the highest-resolution strings with the most sheen tend to do the best in our shootouts
- 4 1/2 stars: “Pepper sounds quite inspired performing seven strong compositions highlighted by Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Winter Moon,’ ‘When the Sun Comes Out’ and a clarinet feature on ‘Blues in the Night.'”
- If you’re a fan of Art’s, this is an excellent title from 1981 that belongs in your collection.
Lou Reed – Transformer
More Rock Classics
- This copy of Lou’s Rock Masterpiece boasts solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from top to bottom – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- A superb pressing that is guaranteed to blow your mind – there is practically no chance that you have ever heard this album sound this good, especially if you have an original import or domestic pressing
- A side one this good means “Walk on the Wild Side” is a Demo Quality track that will have your audiophile friends turning green with envy
- Our vintage British import Hot Stamper pressing here showed us just how Tubey Magical the midrange of the album could be – thanks, Ken Scott!
- 4 1/2 stars: “… Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on life – and a solid album in the bargain.”
- Transformer is his Masterpiece, a Core Collection title, and possibly a case of One and Done since it’s the only Lou Reed album we sell. (You, of course, may feel differently.)
Transformer is an absolute tour de force of 70s Glam Rock / Classic Rock / Alternative Rock. You’ve got Lou Reed teamed up with David Bowie (in the producer’s chair), Mick Ronson, Herbie Flowers and Klaus Voorman, and on top of that the album was recorded at Trident and mixed by the great Ken Scott.
Throw in the fact that this is the best set of post-Velvets material Lou would ever write and it is a recipe for success. There are so many good songs on here I won’t bother to list them one by one. Satellite Of Love is especially good though, if you ask me. If you agree, and you’ve never heard the VU demo version, make sure to seek it out. It’s completely different and good fun.
Guess Which Pressing of Aja This Guy Likes the Best.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Aja Available Now
Go ahead, take a guess.
If you guessed the Cisco LP from 2007, one of the worst sounding versions of the album ever pressed, you win a prize!
When I go searching the web to find out something about a record, occasionally I come across something I had no idea existed.
Look what I found today: a survey of various pressings of Aja!
Aja is an album I think I know pretty well. I’ve been playing it since the day it came out in 1977 and still listen to it regularly.
Play the video and tell me if you think you are learning anything useful from the guy. Does he seem to understand much about the sound of the pressings he is reviewing?
I didn’t think so. If you know much about records you should be appalled at the nonsense coming out of this guy’s mouth. This video will no doubt garner many ten of thousands of hits, but that is to be expected.
Phony record gurus like this guy — as opposed to authentic record gurus like us — have found a home in every corner of the web, spewing out bad advice for those foolish enough to take it.