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How Do the Columbia Special Products Reissues Sound on Mingus Dynasty?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Charles Mingus Available Now

In general it is best to avoid pressings with the round sticker you see to the left, the one attached to the Columbia Special Products bargain reissue series.

They are rarely much better than awful, although there are a few exceptions to that rule. (There are almost always exceptions to the kinds of rules collectors use to find the best sounding records.)

The 6 Eye label domestic stereo pressings of Mingus Dynasty win our shootouts, in this case without exception.

On this title, the 360 label pressings, Black Print or White Print, can sound very good, but they never win shootouts.

We’ve identified a select group of reissues with the potential to do well in shootouts, typically earning a grade of Super Hot (A++) when up against the best originals, which are the only ones that seem to have the potential to earn our top grade, White Hot (A+++).

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Select Commentaries for Santana’s Phenomenal Debut

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Santana Available Now

Below you will find links to some of the more popular commentaries we’ve written about the album.

As should be clear from our posts, especially the one entitled “Carlos Santana Knows: Louder Is Better,” Santana’s debut was one of the reasons I spent decade after decade improving the playback quality of my system.

I wanted to hear this album at its best, and every time I made an improvement to my stereo, the sound of this album clearly got better, accent on the clearly.

That’s how I knew I was on the right track. I didn’t care about the TAS list. I cared about the albums I wanted to listen to,  like this one. Albums I had been obsessed with for as long as I can remember, and have never tired of in all the years since.

For more album overviews like this one, please click here.

About Santana’s First Album on MoFi Vinyl – We Owe You an Apology

Listening in Depth to Santana’s First Album

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