1969

Deep Purple – Self-Titled

More British Blues Rock

  • Deep Purple’s third studio album, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this original UK Harvest pressing
  • 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
  • If you want to hear this music explode out of the speakers and come to life the way the band wanted you to hear it, this record will do the trick
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This is a record that even those who aren’t Deep Purple fans can listen to two or three times in one sitting … [it] holds together astonishingly well as a great body of music.”

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Elvis Presley – From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis

More Elvis Presley

  • The Hot Stamper debut of this 2-LP release, here with roughly Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on all FOUR sides of these vintage pressings
  • Side one and side four were sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • Composed of two full albums: Elvis In Person At The International Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada and Elvis Back In Memphis
  • Rock and roll energy to spare (particularly on sides one, three and four), the kind you will be hard-pressed to find on any modern Heavy Vinyl reissue these days
  • Brimming with Elvis classics: “Blue Suede Shoes,” “All Shook Up,” “Hound Dog,” “I Can’t Help Falling In Love,” “Suspicious Minds” – so many of The King’s best songs are here
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Easily the King’s best live album, In Person at the International Hotel featured a slew of hits, . . . Regardless of what they’re playing, the band really rock throughout.”
  • “History has placed [the] ten tracks [of Elvis Back In Memphis] as mere outtakes to the great ‘From Elvis In Memphis’…but a closer inspection not only reveals ten great tracks but one of the most cohesive records Elvis ever delivered.”

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John Mayall / The Turning Point – A Surprisingly Good Later Mayall Album

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • Here is a vintage Polydor pressing with two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This is a superb recording, something that cannot be said for most of Mayall’s output from this period (and none of his later albums, in our experience)
  • More importantly, this is some of the best music we have ever heard from the man – this is a very special group effort the likes of which we had never heard before
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – those on “So Hard To Share” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This album also signifies a distinct departure from the decibel-drowning electrified offerings of his previous efforts, providing instead an exceedingly more folk- and roots-based confab… [Jon] Mark’s precision and tasteful improvisational skills [on acoustic guitar] place this incarnation into heady spaces.”

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Fairport Convention – Unhalfbricking

More British Folk Rock

  • This early British Island pressing of the band’s very well-recorded third album is doing just about everything right, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • A copy like this is a rare audiophile treat – here is the rich, warm, clear, natural and lively sound you want for Fairport Convention
  • This is a superb collection of songs, including two previously unreleased Bob Dylan tracks, as well as Sandy Denny’s first foray into songwriting, with the achingly powerful “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”
  • 5 stars: “Unhalfbricking was a transitional album for the young Fairport Convention, in which the group shed its closest ties to its American folk-rock influences and started to edge toward a more traditional British folk-slanted sound.”

Forget the dubby domestic LPs on A&M and whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days — the early UK vinyl is the only way to fly on Unhalfbricking.

The ‘haunting, ethereal’ vocals of the lovely Sandy Denny are sublime here. Some of you may recognize her voice from a ditty called “Battle of Evermore,” found on a grayish 70s rock album that no one even bothered to give a name. Wonder whatever became of that group? No doubt by now their story is lost to the sands of time. I have to say I thought the music was pretty good though.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River

More Creedence Clearwater Revival

  • Amazing sound throughout this early Fantasy pressing of CCR’s Roots Rock classic, with both sides earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Plus (A+++) grades
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this incredible copy in our notes: “big and tubey and 3D”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”huge and rich and open”…”great energy and weight”…”crazy bass and snare”…”massive and tubey”
  • An essential Must Own for every Classic Rock collection, this LP includes some of the band’s biggest hits: “Green River” and “Bad Moon Rising,” “Lodi,” “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” and plenty more
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting stitches and just be swept away by the music
  • 5 stars: “If anything, CCR’s third album Green River represents the full flower of their classic sound initially essayed on its predecessor, Bayou Country. One of the differences between the two albums is that Green River is tighter, with none of the five-minute-plus jams that filled out both their debut and Bayou Country, but the true key to its success is a peak in John Fogerty’s creativity.”

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Thelonious Monk / Monk’s Blues

More Thelonious Monk

  • Seriously good Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER brings Monk’s 1969 release to life on this vintage Stereo 360 pressing – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides are rich, full and open throughout, with excellent transparency and real weight to the piano
  • This is not your typical Monk album – here he joins a big band, conducted by the great Oliver Nelson
  • It’s an interesting collaboration that may not succeed in every way, but it’s certainly a fun listen and even more so when you have an outstanding copy like this one
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you

I wish more Blue Note records had this kind of sound — natural, full-bodied, and sweet up top. The bass here is well-defined with real weight and lots of punch. Monk’s piano sounds correct from the highest notes all the way down to the lower register, and Charlie Rouse‘s sax sounds just right — totally free of the “RVG squawk” we often hear on some Blue Notes. The clarity and transparency are superb throughout.

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Traffic – The Best of Traffic

More Music on Island Records

For those who wish to find their own Hot Stamper pressings of the album, we say more power to you. Our helpful advice can be found at the bottom of the listing,

  • This original Pink Label Island pressing was doing just about everything right, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER
  • Side one was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • Here are the full-bodied mids, punchy lows and clear, open, extended highs that let this 1969 release come alive
  • This amazing compilation boasts superb sound, often dramatically better than the very same tracks on many of the original British releases
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • Top 100 and 4 stars: “The entire second side of the LP, comprising ‘Medicated Goo,’ ‘Forty Thousand Headmen,’ ‘Feelin’ Alright,’ ‘Shanghai Noodle Factory,’ and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy,’ was the kind of progressive rock that would define Traffic and give it its place in the rock pantheon.”
  • For our current take on the sound of the various labels and stampers for Mr. Fantasy and The Best of Traffic, please click here.

This British Pink Label Island pressing has some of the best Traffic sound you’ll ever hear! We’ve been flipping out over Hot Stamper copies of this greatest hits comp for ages for a very simple, yet likely shocking, reason — the sound on the best copies can be better than the best original pressings! How can that be you ask, dumbfounded by the sheer ridiculousness of such a statement? Well, dear reader, I’ll tell you. Follow me over the jump to find out.

It’s a dirty little secret in the record biz that sometimes the master for the anticipated “hit single” (or singles) is pulled from the album’s final two-track master and used to make the 45, the thinking being that the 45 is what people are going to buy, or, having heard it sound so good on the radio, cause them to buy the album. One way or another, it’s the single that will do the selling of Traffic’s music.

A dub is then made of the master tape that was used to cut the 45 and spliced back onto the album master, so that the single (or singles) is one generation down from the master for the other songs on the side.

This explains why the “hit single” from so many albums is often the worst-sounding song on the album — most likely to suffer from bad radio EQ and distorted, smeary, sub-gen sound. And it also explains another anomaly those of us who play tons of records run into from time to time: songs on greatest hits albums sounding better than their counterparts on the original albums from which they are taken. That’s crazy talk, but this Traffic record is all the evidence you need to demonstrate that as it crazy as it seems, every once in a while it turns out to be true. This is one of those times.

Heaven Is In Your Mind

Best proof: “Heaven Is In Your Mind,” the second track on side one. It is amazing sounding here and such a disappointment on every Pink Label Island original (and some reissues) we’ve played. Once you know how good that song can sound — by playing a Hot Stamper copy of Best of Traffic like this one — going back to the original version of the song found on the album is not just a letdown, it’s positively painful.

Where’s the analog magic? The weight to the piano? The startling clarity and super-spaciousness of the soundfield? The life and energy of the performance?

They’re gone, brother. Not entirely gone, mind you, more a shadow of what they should be. But once you’ve heard the real thing, it’s no fun listening to a shadow. It’s just a drag.

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Gabor Szabo – 1969

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

Reviews and Commentaries for Gabor Szabo


  • Here is a seriously good sounding copy with Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • Tubey Magical, smooth, sweet and spacious, with a huge three-dimensional soundfield as well as transparency that really allows you to hear into the music
  • Superb choice of material, with a heavy emphasis on Beatles tunes – “Dear Prudence,” “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “In My Life,” and “You Won’t See Me” all make an appearance here
  • Skye pressings are notorious for the quality of their vinyl, or lack thereof, which explains why so few of Szabo titles from this era have ever made it to the site
  • The DCC CD mastered by Steve Hoffman is excellent for those who insist on quieter backgrounds
  • “Szabo acknowledges that worthwhile popular music didn’t die with George Gershwin… [he] deserves credit for bringing a jazz perspective to songs that so many other improvisers were ignoring.”

The four Beatles tunes are the highlight of the album: “Dear Prudence,” “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “In My Life,” and “You Won’t See Me,” as well as two folkie tracks by Joni Mitchell: “Both Sides Now” and “Michael From Mountains.”

A heartfelt ballad is handled with quiet and warm intimacy: Buffy Saint-Marie’s “Until It’s Time For You To Go.”

Uptempo pop classics like Bobby Hyland’s “Sealed With A Kiss,” The Classics IV’s “Stormy” and The Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee” round out the best of the rest.

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Blood, Sweat & Tears – Self-Titled on the 70s Red Label

More of the Music of Blood, Sweat and Tears

  • Here is a superb Red Label copy of BS&T’s self-titled LP with Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout
  • The sound is huge, rich, dynamic and powerful (particularly on side two) – BS&T is a permanent member of our Top 100 and a Demo Disc par excellence
  • This is Roy Halee‘s engineering masterpiece, and here’s the kind of pressing that, given the right equipment, room, and setup, really makes our case (also particularly on side two)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Their finest moment and a testimony to the best of the jazz/rock movement … The album is bold, brassy and adventurous.”

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Jethro Tull – Stand Up

More Jethro Tull

More British Blues Rock

  • A Stand Up like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades throughout this vintage UK import – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This is a true Tull Classic – my favorite by the band – and a very tough record to come by with this kind of sound and surfaces that play this well
  • Both of these sides give you richness, Tubey Magic, clarity and resolution few copies can touch, including most Pink Label Island pressings, especially the early ones
  • “Stand Up! has great textural interest, due, in part, to a more sophisticated recording technique, in part to the organ, mandolin, balalaika, etc., which Anderson plays to enrich each song. The band is able to work with different musical styles, but without a trace of the facile, glib manipulation which strains for attention.”

Need a refresher course in Tubey Magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? These UK 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. We must give thanks to the brilliant engineer Andy Johns.

This record is the very definition of Tubey Magic. 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 of them I would guess, but those of us with a good turntable could care less.

Tubey Magical acoustic guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).

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.

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