1968-best

Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 – Fool on the Hill

More of the Music of Sergio Mendes

  • Boasting two excellent Double Plus (A++) sides, this vintage copy is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Fool on the Hill you’ve heard – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Side one of this copy is in reverse polarity – for those of you who cannot switch your polarity, not much can be done since all the best side ones, even the supers, were reversed
  • The polarity problems are easily recognized when playing the first two tracks – unless you reverse your polarity, the sound is hard and smeary and much of the bass goes missing
  • Sergio’s unique rearrangement of two songs in particular here make this a Must Own album: “Scarborough Fair” and the title track
  • Top engineers for A&M, Henry Lewy and Larry Levine, capture the natural, breathy intimacy in the voices of the wonderful female leads, Lani Hall, Karen Philipp and Gracinha Leporace
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Even though he had become thoroughly embedded in the consciousness of mainstream America, Mendes still managed to have it three ways, exposing first-class tunes from little-known Brazilian talent, garnering commercial hits, and also making some fine records.”
  • If you’re a fan of Sergio and the band, this early pressing from 1968 belongs in your collection.

Two songs in particular make this a Must Own album: Scarborough Fair and The Fool On The Hill. Both of them are given wonderfully original treatments. These songs hold their own against the originals, and that’s saying something.

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Johnny Cash / Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

More of the Music of Johnny Cash

  • Both sides of this early 360 Stereo pressing have killer sound for Cash’s 1968 live album, earning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades, just shy of our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • It ain’t easy to find great sounding Johnny Cash records, but this copy had the sound we were looking for
  • This one is richer, smoother and sweeter than practically all others we played, with lots of body and excellent transparency
  • Cash’s vocals sound right on the money here – present, full and natural with virtually none of the hardness, strain and edge you get on the typical copy
  • It literally takes us years to find a handful of copies worthy enough to put on the site, so don’t miss out on this one if you’re a fan!
  • 5 stars: “…At Folsom Prison is the quintessential Johnny Cash album, the place where his legend burns bright and eternal.”

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Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington – Francis A. & Edward K.

More of the Music of Frank Sinatra

More of the Music of Duke Ellington

  • Superb Double Plus (A++) grades bring this wonderful collaboration to life on this original Reprise stereo pressing – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Sinatra is both natural and present – he actually sounds like he is standing on the same stage as Ellington’s band, and maybe he is!
  • The highs are extended and silky sweet, the bass is tight and punchy – this copy gives you more life and energy than most by a long shot
  • “Recorded on Sinatra’s birthday in 1967, this collaboration between America’s most popular singing icon and pre-eminent jazz composer still endures as one of Sinatra’s most enjoyable Reprise-era albums.” – Amazon

Recorded one year after the remarkable Sinatra-Jobim record that we treasure here at Better Records, Sinatra takes the opportunity to work with one of the greatest bandleaders in the history of jazz, the Duke himself. We had good luck with the stereo originals on the lovely Blue and Green Reprise labels — they can be as big, rich and warm as Sinatra’s legendary Capitol recordings when you find the right pressing, and that’s really saying something.

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Aretha Franklin – Aretha Now

More of the Music of Aretha Franklin

  • A killer sounding pressing of this early Atlantic label LP with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides
  • Here is the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings barely begin to reproduce – folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… this still caught Aretha Franklin at the peak of her early form. ‘Think,’ ‘I Say a Little Prayer,’ ‘See Saw,’ and ‘I Can’t See Myself Leaving You’ were all big hits.”

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Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills – Super Session (on 360)

More of the Music of Al Kooper

More of the Music of Stephen Stills

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them from top to bottom, this 360 Label pressing will be very hard to beat
  • Engineered by Roy Halee, the man behind one of the best sounding rock records of all time (the self-titled Blood, Sweat and Tears album), the oh-so-analog sonics here are especially dynamic and spacious (particularly on side one)
  • Our most recent shootout was a tough one: we had six clean 360 pressings, but only two copies earned White Hot grades and one of them was too noisy to sell
  • Even worse, none of our Supers earned even two pluses on both sides, so those of you looking for anything better than what we’re offering here are going to be as disappointed as we are
  • When we talk about some records being hard to find with top quality sound and audiophile playing surfaces, this is the kind of record we have in mind!
  • For fans of BS&T’s first album (and everybody else), Super Session is a Must Own
  • “Season of the Witch” is quite good here on this original Stereo 360 pressing
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This is one of those albums that seems to get better with age… This is a super session indeed.”
  • If you’re a fan of any or all of these guys, this vintage pressing of their 1968 classic belongs in your collection

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Orff / Carmina Burana – Amazing on DG Vinyl

More Orchestral Spectaculars

  • A large tulip label copy of this strikingly original work with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from first note to last
  • This spectacular recording is big, clear, rich, dynamic, transparent and energetic – here is the analog sound we love
  • We’ve auditioned quite a number of recordings of the work, and as far as we are concerned, on the right pressing this is the best sounding version that exists on vinyl – the orchestral power on display is positively phenomenal
  • There are some bad marks (as is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage pressings) on “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi,” but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music
  • “With the direction of Eugen Jochum and the bonus of the incomparable rich, powerful voice of baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, this 1968 performance is a classic, and very probably the best, recording of the opera.” – Amazon Rave Review

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Thelonious Monk – Underground

More of the Music of Thelonious Monk

  • Boasting two KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, this vintage reissue pressing could not be beat
  • Charlie Rouse – featured on many of the tracks here – is particularly wonderful on sax. His saxophone is full-bodied and natural with breathy texture and just the right amount of honk
  • So many copies just sound like an old jazz record, but this one lets you feel like you are right there as the music happens
  • As is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, there are marks that play – those on “Easy Street” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The instantly recognizable stride piano lines are delivered with the same urgency and precision that they possessed over two decades earlier…”

This is an outstanding Monk album from 1968. Thanks to Columbia’s state of the art engineering — still using tubes I’d wager, based on the sound — the recording really comes to life, or at least it does on a copy that sounds as good as this one does.

Monk’s piano has powerful dynamics and real weight, just like a real piano.

So many copies just sound like an old jazz record, but this one lets you feel like you are right there as the music happens. What more could you ask for?

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The Beatles – The White Album

More of the Music of The Beatles

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides of these vintage British pressings – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This copy of the Beatles’ Masterpiece (my personal favorite of all their albums) is going to thrill and delight the lucky person who snags it
  • If you’ve heard the Half-Speed and Heavy Vinyl versions of The White Album, then you know how riddled they are with unacceptable flaws
  • “If there is still any doubt that Lennon and McCartney are the greatest song writers since Schubert, then next Friday – with the publication of the new Beatles double LP – should surely see the last vestiges of cultural snobbery and bourgeois prejudice swept away in a deluge of joyful music making…” Right On!
  • Our customers often write us to tell us how much they like their Hot Stamper pressings of The Beatles, and they have been especially enthusiastic when it comes to The White Album

Our White Album Hot Stampers have always been a big hit with the folks who’ve been lucky enough to snare them. If you’re ready for a high-quality copy of The White Album that’s sure to massacre all the pressings you’ve heard up until now, you should jump right on this bad boy.

The Toughest One?

It’s exceedingly difficult to find audiophile quality sound on The White Album. Other than Yellow Submarine, side two of which almost never sounds good, The White Album is surely one of the toughest nuts to crack in The Beatles canon.

The Beatles were breaking apart, often recording independently of each other, with their own favorite engineers as enablers, and George Martin nowhere to be found most of the time. They were also experimenting more and more, pushing the boundaries of recorded sound. These new approaches and added complexity cause a loss of “purity” in the sound. Let’s face it, most audiophiles like simplicity: A female vocal, a solo guitar — these things are easy to reproduce and often result in lovely sound, the kind of sound that doesn’t take a lot of money or effort to achieve.

Dense mixes with wacky EQ are difficult to reproduce (our famous DOR scale comes into play here), and the White Album is full of both, taking a break for songs like “Blackbird” and “Julia.”

This is my favorite Beatles album, a desert island disc if there ever was one, and nothing less than a work of genius. If some songs could have been recorded better, so what? They’re as good as they are going to get, and on a Hot Stamper pressing like this one, that means awfully good.

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Jimi Hendrix – The Jimi Hendrix Concerts

More of the Music of Jimi Hendrix

  • This 2-LP set of previously unreleased performances boasts very good Hot Stamper sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • It’s richer, fuller and with more presence than the average copy, and that’s especially true for whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently being foisted on an unsuspecting record buying public
  • 4 stars: “With top-notch performances, consistently inspired solos, and excellent sound, this is probably the best introduction to Hendrix’s live recordings.”

This live album, taken from concerts recorded from 1968 to 1970, is wonderful sounding on the best tracks. If you’re in the market for live Hendrix on a Hot Stamper, you’ll be hard-pressed to do any better.

The bass on this recording is huge, which is exactly what this kind of music needs most. At the levels we were playing this album, it really came to life. That’s the true test of a good live rock record — the louder you play it the better it sounds!

Stephen Cook writes “With top-notch performances, consistently inspired solos, and excellent sound, this is probably the best introduction to Hendrix’s live recordings.” We agree on all three points completely — but only when you hear it on the right pressing.”

Sonically, this recording has the key elements that a good live album needs: correct tonality, powerful dynamics, and Rock and Roll ENERGY.

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Spirit’s Psych Rock Masterpiece (The First of Two)

More Psychedelic Rock

  • Wall to wall, with layered studio depth like you will not believe, the kind of space you hear on an engineering classic like Dark Side of the Moon
  • 4 1/2 stars on Allmusic, but in our estimation it deserves five – it’s simply one of the All Time Greats from the era
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” with an accent on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life. Spirit’s First Album is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but would be well advised to get to know better.
  • If I were to make a list of my favorite Rock and Pop albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it, close to the top I should think.

Need a refresher course in Tubey Magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? These Ode 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.

No recordings will ever be made that sound like this again, and no CD will ever capture what is in the grooves of this record. There is of course a CD of this album, quite a few I would guess, but those of us with a good turntable could care less. (more…)