1969

Buffalo Springfield – Retrospective

More of the Music of Buffalo Springfield

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides, this original Atco pressing will be very hard to beat
  • Big, full-bodied, clear and present, the Tubey Magical richness of the better pressings is a joy to hear on modern high resolution equipment (particularly on this side two)
  • “Kind Woman” and “I Am A Child” are just two of the best sounding songs – listen to all that space around the voices and instruments (particularly “I Am A Child” on this side two)
  • And the Pysch stuff – “On the Way Home,” “Broken Arrow” and “Expecting to Fly” – is guaranteed to be more three-dimensional than you’ve ever heard it
  • 5 stars on AllMusic – this is Must Own Music from one of the most groundbreaking and accomplished groups of the late-60s (even though they never cracked the Top 40 Album chart)

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Frank Zappa and The Mothers – Uncle Meat

More of the Music of Frank Zappa

  • Uncle Meat appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with roughly Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on all FOUR sides of this original copy – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Rich, warm and full-bodied, yet still highly resolving, spacious and dynamic – and the energy level is off the charts
  • Most pressings of this double album are just awful, if you can even find one that’s clean enough to bother playing
  • Much like Just Another Band From L.A, we suspect this album will hold more appeal for Zappa fans rather than audiophiles in general
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Though some might miss the gleeful satire of Zappa’s previous work with the Mothers, Uncle Meat’s continued abundance of musical ideas places it among his most intriguing works.”

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Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country

More of the Music of Creedence Clearwater Revival

  • A Bayou Country like you’ve never heard, with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides
  • “Proud Mary” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” are two of the better sounding tracks found on the album, and you can be sure this amazing side two has them swamp rockin’ like crazy
  • Our pick for the best sounding CCR record – but only if you have a copy with sonics like these
  • 4 1/2 stars: “All the songs add up to a superb statement of purpose, a record that captures Creedence Clearwater Revival’s muscular, spare, deceptively simple sound as an evocative portrait of America.”
  • This is arguably CCR’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here.
  • 4 1/2 stars: “All the songs add up to a superb statement of purpose, a record that captures Creedence Clearwater Revival’s muscular, spare, deceptively simple sound as an evocative portrait of America.”

The sound is big and open with real weight to the bottom. The top end has a much more natural extension than most, and much less of the harshly brightened-up upper midrange you might be familiar with. On side two you can even pick out the piano in “Good Golly Miss Molly,” which is barely audible on most pressings.

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Al Green – Green Is Blues

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • Green Is Blues returns to the site for only the second time in nearly four years, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • A tough title to find in audiophile playing condition – good luck finding one any quieter
  • Remarkably spacious and three-dimensional on both sides, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was one of the better we played in our most recent shootout
  • A superb collaboration between Al and Willie Mitchell, whose brilliant and skillful production elevated Al’s music to new heights
  • “[Green] sang with the conviction and talent that provided the final component in an artistically and commercially satisfying union.”

What an album! For soul-infused vocals we know of nobody who did it better than Al Green recording for Hi Records.

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The Moody Blues – On The Threshold Of A Dream

More of the Music of The Moody Blues

  • Here is a vintage UK pressing with incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from start to finish – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • You will not believe how punchy, lively, dynamic, and exciting some of these tracks sound here – this is one of their best albums for both music and sound
  • We shot out a number of other British imports (the only copies that sound any good to us) and this one had better midrange presence, bass, and dynamics than practically any other copy we played
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… [I]n 1969 this was envelope-ripping, genre-busting music, scaling established boundaries into unknown territory, not only ‘outside the box’ but outside of any musical box that had been conceived at that moment…”

Both sides give you silky highs, surprising clarity, amazing openness and transparency, real weight to the bottom end, lots of air in the flutes, wonderful texture to the strings, and so much more. The acoustic guitars sound impressive, with the proper balance between pluck and body. The vocals are shockingly clean and clear throughout.

Copies like this bring all the psychedelic Moody Blues magic to life in your living room. The richness, sweetness, and warmth on this one give you exactly the sound you want for this wild music. You get lovely Tubey Magic and clarity. The sound is cleaner, clearer, richer, sweeter, and more present that you could have imagined.

It has been my experience that, as good as the British originals of the Moody Blues records are — and I think they are the best sounding pressings of their music that can be found — their one consistent shortcoming is an overly smooth top end. We managed to find a handful of copies that break with that tradition, and the results are wonderful.

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It’s A Beautiful Day – Self-Titled

More Psych Rock

  • This Columbia Stereo 360 pressing (only the second copy to hit the site in over four years) boasts solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from top to bottom – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • If this price seems high, keep in mind that the top copy from our most recent shootout went for $1200
  • Add to that the fact that in our previous shootout from 2021 there were few records that did not have scratches that played or noisy vinyl
  • One of our favorite 60s Psych Rock albums, a true Demo Disc for three-dimensional space, and a Desert Island Disc for musical originality
  • Full and rich, detailed and transparent, this copy is doing just about everything we could ask it to do
  • We’ve been working on this title for more than ten years, during which time we must have returned nine out of ten copies that came our way
  • 4 stars: “It’s a Beautiful Day remains as a timepiece and evidence of how sophisticated rock & roll had become in the fertile environs of the San Francisco music scene.”

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Cream – Goodbye

More British Blues Rock

  • Cream’s final album, here with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom
  • The low end speed and energy on this copy are crazy good – it’s like a Cream concert in your listening room
  • The best pressings, the ones that are full-bodied and smooth, let you crank the levels and reproduce the album good and loud the way it was meant to be heard
  • 4 stars: “The live music on the whole is better than that on Wheels of Fire, capturing the trio at an empathetic peak as a band.”

When you get a good copy of this album you’re sure to hear what we heard — that this is truly one of the great live rock albums (with a bit of studio material on side two as well). This copy has the Big Rock Sound that we go crazy for at Better Records. The best pressings, the ones that are full-bodied and smooth, let you crank the levels and reproduce the album good and loud the way it was meant to be heard.

When it’s all working, you’re front and center for a fiery Cream concert with these guys delivering one heckuva performance. And where else are you gonna get that these days?

What To Listen For

Side one has two extended songs, with Politician being the standout sonically. It’s got the Big Live Rock sound, very spacious and transparent. The first track, I’m So Glad, is always a bit midrangey.

Badge is a great test for side two. If Clapton’s Leslie-speaker-processed-guitar solo is blasting away right in your listening room and approximately the size of your house, then you have a good copy.

When a copy is cut really clean, as the best ones always are, the louder you play them the better they sound.

They’re tonally correct at loud volumes and a bit dull at “audiophile” volumes. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

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The Who – Tommy

More of the Music of The Who

  • Superb sound throughout this vintage UK import copy, with all FOUR sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER
  • Side three and side four were sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • Both of these early Black Label British Track pressings have the rich, spacious, Tubey Magical sound that has the power to immerse you in the story of a deaf, dumb and blind boy named Tommy
  • Top 100, and clearly our pick for the best sounding album The Who ever made – when you play a copy that sounds as good as this one we think you’ll have no problem seeing our point
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…Townshend’s ability to construct a lengthy conceptual narrative brought new possibilities to rock music.”
  • This is a Must Own Who Classic from 1969 that belongs in every right-thinking audiophile’s collection
  • It’s our pick for the band’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the Best Recording by an Artist or Group can be found here

I know of no other Who album with such consistently good sound — song to song, not copy to copy, of course. Just about every song on here can sound wonderful on the right pressing. If you’re lucky enough to get a Hot Stamper copy, you’re going to be blown away by the Tubey Magical guitars, the rock-solid bottom end, the jumpin’-out-of-the-speakers presence and dynamics, and the silky vocals and top end.

Usually the best we can give you for The Who is “big and rockin,” but on Tommy, we can give you 60s analog magic that will all but disappear in the decades to follow.

Acoustic guitar reproduction is key to this recording, and on the better copies the harmonic coherency, the richness, the body and the phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard in every strum.

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Fleetwood Mac – The Pious Bird Of Good Omen

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • Seriously good sound throughout this original UK Blue Horizon pressing, with both sides earning Double Plus (A++) grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The early pressings take the cake on this one, but try to find one in audiophile playing condition – it takes us many years to get one of these shootouts going
  • Both of these sides are remarkably big and rich, with correct tonality, punchy energy and wonderfully breathy vocals – this is the way early Fleetwood Mac is supposed to sound
  • One of the top Fleetwood Mac compilations – I have it on CD and have never tired of the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…makes for a terrific laid-back stroll through some of the best British blues music ever made.”

If you’re a fan of Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac — and who in his right mind wouldn’t be? — then you can’t go wrong with this record. “Need Your Love So Bad,” “Albratross” and “Black Magic Woman” are all featured here.

Speaking of “Black Magic Woman,” the better copies of Pious Bird reproduce the bass-heavy drumming on that track much better than the Greatest Hits album we also recommend. It’s very unlikely that you can find better sound for that classic than right here on this very copy.

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Quincy Jones – Walking In Space

More Jazz Fusion

  • Here is a vintage A&M pressing (and one of only a handful of copies to ever hit the site) with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The sonics on this side one are rich and Tubey Magical, yet transparent and spacious in the way that only vintage pressings ever are, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • The vocals (courtesy Hilda Harris, Maretha Stewart, Marilyn Jackson, and Valerie Simpson) are wonderfully sweet and breathy with remarkable in-your-listening-room presence (particularly on side one)
  • 5 stars: “The protean Quincy Jones returned to the recording studio as a leader after a long stretch in Hollywood with this triumphantly contemporary big band album. For jazz buffs, the long, dramatic title track from the then-raging musical Hair is the highlight… This is one of the great peaks of Creed Taylor’s A&M period, and it still sounds spectacular today.”

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