- You’ll find incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound throughout this British copy of this shockingly well recorded album, just shy of our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
- Here is the Tubey Magic, presence, size and space we guarantee you have never heard on Meddle no matter what pressing you may own
- A Top 100 audiophile demonstration quality recording on a par with Dark Side of the Moon, which is really saying something
- 4 1/2 stars: “Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era.”
- This killer reissue puts to shame the originals we’ve auditioned, and the reissues we offer on the site are guaranteed to do the same
- If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this title from 1971 is clearly one of their best
1971
America – Self-Titled
More of the Music of America
- Boasting a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two, this early Green Label pressing could not be beat – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- This was the only copy in our shootout to earn a 3+ grade on any side that did not have a sizable number of marks that played, which is disappointing considering how hard it is to find top quality sound on this title!
- One of our favorite Hippie Folk Rock albums – the instruments and voices are so well recorded they will seem to be floating right in front of you
- The Tubey Magical acoustic guitars on this record are a true test of stereo reproduction – thanks, Ken Scott
- 4 stars: “America’s debut album is a folk-pop classic, a stellar collection of memorable songs that would prove influential on such acts as the Eagles and Dan Fogelberg…”
This is clearly America’s best album. You’ll find the kind of immediacy, richness and harmonic texture that not many records (and even fewer CDs) are capable of reproducing. The version we are offering here has the song “A Horse With No Name.” Some copies without that song can sound very good as well, but with grades this good, this copy is going to be very hard to beat.
Interestingly, “A Horse With No Name” never sounds quite as good as the rest of the album. It was recorded in 1971, after the album had already been released, and subsequently added to newer pressings starting in 1972. Unlike the rest of the album, it was not engineered by Ken Scott at Trident, but by a different engineer at Morgan Studios. The engineer of that song took a different approach to that which Scott had taken, and we leave it to you to decide how well it worked out.
Sly & The Family Stone / There’s A Riot Going On
More Sly and the Family Stone
- You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER throughout this early Epic Yellow Label pressing of this famously compromised recording – fairly quiet vinyl too
- The sound is huge – big, wide, deep, and open, with a punchy bottom end and rhythmic energy to spare, as well as cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
- You just don’t see too many clean copies of this one around – DJs and the like tend to snap them up as soon as they hit the bins (what’s a good party without a little “Family Affair”?)
- 5 stars: “And damn if this music isn’t funk at its deepest and most impenetrable — this is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness. Sly’s songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write — the foreboding opener ‘Luv N’ Haight,’ the scarily resigned ‘Family Affair,’ the cracked cynical blues ‘Time,’ and ‘(You Caught Me) Smilin’.’ Ultimately, the music is the message, and while it’s dark music, it’s not alienating — it’s seductive despair, and that’s the scariest thing about it.”
Astrud Gilberto – Gilberto With Turrentine
More Bossa Nova
- Here is a vintage copy of Gilberto’s 1971 collaboration with Turrentine that boasts an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
- It’s rich, warm and natural with wonderful transparency, loads of ambience and – this is key – plenty of Tubey Magic
- Rudy Van Gelder did an outstanding job as usual engineering these 1971 sessions – his live-in-the-studio approach is tough to beat
- “The real treasures of this album though are the outstanding arrangements by Eumir Deodato, who once again proves he is the master of this type of music. Nearly every track is full of interesting, complex, yet beautiful instrumentation. He blends mellow low strings with lots of Fender Rhodes electric piano, plenty of electric and acoustic guitar, and a wide variety of Brazilian percussion instruments.”
This vintage CTI pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. 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. (more…)
Jethro Tull – Aqualung
More of the Music of Jethro Tull
- Incredible sound for Jethro Tull’s fourth studio album, with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
- The sonics are outstanding from start to finish – big, punchy, present, tubey and bursting with rock and roll energy
- A Better Records Top 100 title that still floors us on the best copies, with sound that will jump right out of your speakers
- Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – those on “My God” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
- 4 1/2 stars: “… one of the most astonishing progressions in rock history… the degree to which Tull upped the ante here is remarkable… Varied but cohesive, Aqualung is widely regarded as Tull’s finest hour.”
- We think Stand Up is musically an even better album, but it’s hard to argue with the big, bold sound of Aqualung
Folks, for hard-rockin’, Tubey Magical, 70s Arty Proggy Rock in ANALOG, it just does not get much better than Aqualung. You need the right pressing to bring it to life though, and this one is certainly up to the task.
Joni Mitchell – Blue
More of the Music of Joni Mitchell
- Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) sides, this copy of Joni’s 1971 masterpiece is doing just about everything right – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- Full-bodied and balanced with the kind of smooth musicality that’s not always easy to find for Blue
- We lucked into this quiet copy during our most recent shootout, but in our experience that is something we would not expect to happen very often, but we’re glad it did in the case of this wonderful pressing
- A Better Records Top 100 title that belongs in any audiophile music collection worthy of the name
- 5 stars: “Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell’s songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity…”
- Everything changed for us in 2007 with the release of the Hoffman/Gray Rhino pressing of Blue, a record that made us ask ourselves, “Why are we selling records that we would not want to listen to ourselves?”
- It was a kicked-by-a-mule moment for all of us here at Better Records, and I am glad to say one kick was all it took to loosen the rocks that had embedded themselves in my head
The best copies bring out the breathy quality to Joni’s voice, and she never sounds strained. They are sweet and open, with good bass foundation and transparency throughout the frequency range.
The best pressings (and our better playback equipment) have revealed nuances to this recording — and of course the performances of all the players along with it — that made us fall in love with the music all over again. Of all the tough nuts to crack, this was the toughest, yet somehow copies emerged from our shootouts that made it easy to appreciate the sonic merits of Blue and ignore its shortcomings.
Hot Stampers have a way of doing that. You forget it’s a record; it’s now just Music. The right record and the right playback will bring this music to life in a way that you cannot imagine until you hear it. That is our guarantee on Blue — better than you ever thought possible or your money back.
Roberta Flack – Quiet Fire
More Soul, Blues and R&B
- Quiet Fire is back on the site for only the second time in five years, here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from top to bottom
- Tubey Magical, lively and clear, with the naturally smooth analog sound that only vintage pressings seem to offer
- Marks and 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
- “… thanks to top players like guitarist Hugh McCracken, organist Richard Tee, bassist Chuck Rainey, and drummer Bernard Purdie, the varied mix all comes off sounding seamless.”
- 4 1/2 stars: “Quiet Fire proves to be an apt title, as Flack’s MOR-informed jazz and gospel vocals simmer just below the surface on the eight [tracks] here. Forgoing the full-throttled delivery of, say, Aretha Franklin, Flack translates the pathos of gospel expression into measured intensity and sighing, elongated phrases… One of Flack’s best.”
Prokofiev / Peter and the Wolf – Sargent
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Sergei Prokofiev
UPDATE 2026
What you see below is a very old review. After hearing better performances with better sound, we are no longer big fans of this recording, but if you can pick one up for cheap — which is very doable as this record should be sitting in the bins for under ten bucks — you might want to give it a try.
We recommend you look for the earlier STS label, Silver and Black, and avoid the later Orange and Black label pressings, as those are almost always inferior sounding.
We prefer Previn’s recording for EMI but this one is very good and easily found in record stores.
Our Old Review
SUPERB SOUND! This Orange and Black label British pressing has sweet strings, powerful dynamics, plenty of depth and a wide soundstage.
It’s major faults are a lack of deep bass and some congestion during loud passages.
The Faces – A Nod Is As Good As A Wink…
More British Blues Rock
- Two amazing WB Green Label sides, both with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – The Faces are rockin’ their asses off on this copy
- Punchy, solid and rich through and through, with driving energy like nothing you’ve ever heard from the band
- There’s a reason you almost never see this title on the site — it’s a lot of trouble to find enough clean copies to do a shootout
- We send back, or trade in, 80% of what we buy, and that means the hassle factor for a title like this is jsut way off the charts
- 5 stars: “[It] doesn’t feel cobbled together and it serves up tremendous song after tremendous song… It’s another classic — and when you consider that the band also had Long Player to their credit and had their hands all over Every Picture in 1971, it’s hard to imagine another band or singer having a year more extraordinary as this.”
Fleetwood Mac – The Original Fleetwood Mac
More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac
- Here is an original UK import pressing with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- Most of the time this album sounds like Fleetwood Mac is playing live in the studio, which they probably were, and on big speakers at loud volumes that is a glorious sound
- 4 stars: “An undeniably strong collection culled primarily from the band’s first incarnation, featuring John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, and Jeremy Spencer.”
- If you’re a Fleetwood Mac fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this Peter Green era title from 1971 is one of their best sounding
The music on this album was recorded when they were still a blues band — tracks left off their early albums for one reason or another.
As is so often the case with unreleased material, these songs do not have that overproduced, too-many-generations-of-tape sound. This sounds like Fleetwood Mac live in the studio most of the time. In other words, awesome.
If the drum sound on the first track isn’t enough to convince you this is an amazing sounding record, I don’t know what would.
These British imports are the only way to go. The domestic copies are definitely made from dub tapes. They can sound good, but they sure don’t sound this good! (more…)