1965

Overtures and Intermezzos – Solti

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  • Off the charts “Triple Triple” (A+++) sound for this classic Decca engineered “Living Stereo” Victrola from 1965 – both sides of this pressing of VICS 1119 earned our top grade of A+++
  • Listen to how rich the cellos sound — this is Tubey Magical Analog and its most luscious and enchanting.
  • You could easily play one hundred classical albums and not hear this kind of sound!
  • If you have the real Living Stereo pressing (with the cool die-cut cover), let us send you this pressing to compare — who knows, you might like it even better than your Shaded Dog
  • Classic Records did this title back in the 90s, and it was one of the worst of their sorry releases

This 1959 Decca recording is overflowing with the kind of rich, spacious, Tubey Magical sound that can only be found on vintage vinyl.

On this copy you will find As Good As It Gets sound. It’s so BIG and RICH you will have a hard time believing that it’s a budget reissue from 1965, but that’s precisely what it is.

Ah but it’s a reissue from back in the day when they knew how to cut a record properly, regardless of its retail price.

The rich, textured, rosin-on-the-bow lower strings on this record are to die for. Find me a modern record that sounds like this and I will eat it.

And by “modern record” we hasten to include both modern recordings and modern remasterings of older recordings. NO ONE alive today can make a record that sound even remotely as good as this. To call it a lost art is to understand something that few vinyl-loving audiophiles appear to have grasped since the advent of the Modern Reissue, which is simply this: they can’t begin to compete.

After twenty years of trying and literally hundreds of failed examples the engineers of today have yet to make a record that sounds as powerful and life-like as this London from almost fifty years ago.

Fortunately for the both of us we are not trying to make a record that sounds the way this one does. We’re just trying to find one, and folks, we found the hell out of this one. (more…)

McCoy Tyner – Plays Ellington

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More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • Superb sound throughout with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades; exceptionally quiet vinyl too! 
  • With a lively and present piano, clarity, space and timbral accuracy, this is guaranteed to be one of the better sounding jazz records you’ve heard
  • Credit goes to Rudy Van Gelder once again for the huge space this superbly well-recorded ensemble occupies (the ensemble being a piano trio with two percussionists, but it works!)
  • 4 stars: “An interesting project that works quite well… This is an excellent outing that displays both Tyner’s debt to the jazz tradition and his increasingly original style.”

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Chopin / 24 Etudes / Vasary – A Demo Disc for Solo Piano on DG

More of the music of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

More Classical ‘Sleeper” Recordings with Demo Disc Sound

  • This stunning album of some of Chopin’s greatest piano pieces has superb sound, boasting a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side one
  • This magnificent sounding (and surprisingly hard to find) pressing is yet another example of a classical “sleeper,” one that can hold its own with practically any solo piano recording you have ever heard
  • As expected, Vasary performs with consummate skill, bringing out nuances in the work that may have escaped others – the results are captivating
  • “… an extraordinarily impassioned work, belying its technical utility.”

I had wanted to do big shootout for this title from the moment I heard a killer copy that a friend sold me. You will have a hard time finding a better sounding solo piano record, I can tell you that.

I managed to get a couple more copies, but then my luck ran out. For more than a year I could not find the record at a good price — one has to assume that at least some of the copies will not sound good enough to sell and will end up being total losses — and some came in too noisy.

Eventually I gave up and just played the three or four I had.

Here we present the winner! Absolutely amazing piano reproduction. (more…)

Judy Collins / Fifth Album – Tubey Magical Folk Music from 1965

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Judy Collins

  • Fifth Album finally makes its Hot Stamper debut here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last on the Big Red E label
  • These sides are exceptionally good, especially compared to most of what we played – only the best early pressings managed to get Collins’ voice to sound natural and real
  • “… 5th Album, cut in late 1964, may very well be her definitive folk statement… A trio of Bob Dylan songs act as the album’s centerpiece, clearly showing Collins’ growth into more progressive songs. In addition to these, Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” is given its classic reading, with Collins’ voice echoing the song’s melancholy and eerie but mellifluent precision and emotion. “

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The Animals – Animal Tracks (US)

More of The Animals

  • Animal Tracks makes its Hot Stamper debut here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • An exceptional copy in every way – not only is the sound As Good As It Gets, but there are no marks that play on the 55 year old vinyl
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • “… featured recent hit singles, B-sides along with other recordings previously released in Britain but not in America, making this a fine compilation of the group’s early career.”

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Tony Bennett – If I Ruled The World / Songs For The Jet Set

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More Pop and Jazz Vocal Albums

  • Bennett’s wonderful 1965 release finally makes its Hot Stamper debut here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout
  • These sides are exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – Tony is right in the room with you on this one
  • “Employing Sinatra arranger Don Costa, Tony Bennett put together a concept album similar to Sinatra’s Come Fly with Me.”

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Johnny Hodges / Wild Bill Davis – Wings & Things

  • A KILLER copy of Wings & Things with amazing Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • The 1965 stereo sound here is clear, open and highly resolving, yet still incredibly rich, warm, and smooth
  • All the hallmarks of Vintage Analog are fully on display – when was the last time we played a Heavy Vinyl pressing that sounded as good as this one does? We can’t remember
  • This original vintage Verve LP has TONS of Tubey Magic – it’s simply more musically involving than the other copies we played, and that’s the quickest way to win a shootout
  • “The group always swings, and it is interesting to hear Hodges in this setting.”

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J.J. Johnson – J.J.!

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200+ Reviews of Living Stereo Records

  • J.J. Johnson makes his Hot Stamper debut with this SUPERB copy of J.J.! – Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • The sound is big, lively, open and clear with Tubey Magical richness that only the best of the best vintage pressings can show you
  • Features a lineup of top-notch talent, including Clark Terry, Oliver Nelson, Hank Jones, as well as quite a few others – plenty of reeds, a French Horn, a tuba and more are here
  • 4 stars: “J.J.! is considered to be J.J. Johnson’s first big-band album, at least as a leader… The music is solidly played,… modern forward-looking mainstream jazz that features Johnson in excellent form.”

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Joe Williams – The Exciting Joe Williams

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  • The Exciting Joe Williams returns with outstanding Double Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last and reasonably quiet vinyl for RCA Black Label original
  • Clean, clear and dynamic, this copy has plenty of Living Stereo Tubey Magic and lovely space around all the musicians
  • We have a devil of a time finding good sounding Joe Williams records – discovering that this title was so well recorded was a very pleasant surprise, and this copy takes the record close to as far as we think it can go
  • “Joe Williams was the last great big-band singer, a smooth baritone who graced the rejuvenated Count Basie Orchestra during the 1950s and captivated audiences well into the ’90s.” – All Music

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Duane Eddy / Twangin’ The Golden Hits

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More Living Stereo Recordings

  • Duane Eddy’s 1965 release makes its Hot Stamper debut here with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one and an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side two
  • We guarantee the sound is dramatically bigger, richer, fuller, and livelier than any Duane Eddy you have ever heard
  • Not many of the man’s records survived in audiophile playing condition, but this one did
  • A superb pressing with energy and presence that positively JUMPS out of the speakers, two of the qualities that we prize most highly in our Hot Stampers, and two of things among many that Heavy Vinyl does so poorly
  • “Every song is enjoyable. Most of the album is fun and peppy, with a few slower tunes thrown in, like ‘Last Date’ and ‘Theme from a Summer Place.'”

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