1975

Rachmaninoff – Symphony No. 1 / Previn

More of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

  • Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 returns to the the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this original British EMI pressing
  • These sides are clear, full-bodied and present, with plenty of space around the players, the unmistakable sonic hallmark of the properly mastered, properly pressed vintage analog LP
  • The only Rachmaninoff symphonies we know of with the potential for audiophile sound are those conducted by Andre Previn for EMI in the ’70s
  • However, we have quite a large number of reviews and commentaries for Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos

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Supertramp – Crisis? What Crisis?

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More Arty Rock Albums

  • This UK import copy was doing just about everything right, earning superb Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • Most pressings are painfully thin and harsh, but this one had much more of the richness and smoothness we were looking for, miles away from the painfully bad original domestic pressings we know to avoid
  • Credit the man behind the board, Ken Scott (Ziggy Stardust, Honky Chateau, Crime of the Century, A Salty Dog, Magical Mystery Tour, America and more), who knows a thing or two about Tubey Magic
  • A Desert Island Disc for TP, from all the way back in 1975 when I first gave it a spin on my Ariston RD 11 turntable
  • 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
  • “Even simple tracks like ‘Lady’ and ‘Just a Normal Day blend in nicely with the album’s warm personality and charmingly subtle mood. Although the tracks aren’t overly contagious or hook laden, there’s still a work-in-process type of appeal spread through the cuts, which do grow on you over time.”

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Joan Baez / Diamonds and Rust

More Joan Baez

More Folk Rock

  • Superb Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it brings Baez’s 1975 release to life on this early A&M pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This side two is rich, full, warm, and sweet, with wonderfully full-bodied, present and breathy vocals, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • Guaranteed to handily beat the Nautilus Half-Speed as well as the TAS List-approved MoFi (which is awful by the way)
  • 5 stars: “…the real hit was the title track, a self-penned masterpiece and… her finest moment as a songwriter…”

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Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night

More Neil Young

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Neil Young

  • An original (and very cool) Black Label Reprise pressing of Neil Young’s brilliant sixth studio album with superb Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • You get clean, clear, full-bodied, lively and musical ANALOG sound from first note to last
  • With no marks that play and minimal signs of use, this copy has surfaces that even picky audiophiles (are there any other kind?) can appreciate
  • 5 stars: “…Young’s musical expression of grief, combined with his rejection of the stardom he had achieved in the late ’60s and early ’70s … was immediately recognized as a unique masterpiece by critics, and it has continued to be ranked as one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever made.”
  • If you’re a fan of Mr. Young — and what audiophile wouldn’t be? — this dark classic from 1975 belongs in your collection.
  • The complete list of titles from 1975 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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David Bowie – Young Americans

More David Bowie

  • A seriously good copy of Bowie’s one and only soul album with Hot Stamper sound on both sides
  • This pressing was simply bigger and fuller than most of the competition, with plenty of funky energy and three-dimensional studio space
  • On an exceptionally transparent copy such as this one, it’s much easier to pick out all the background vocalists in the relatively dense mixes that Bowie tends to favor
  • One of our favorites by The Man, with so many killer tracks: “Young Americans,” “Win,” “Fascination,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “Across the Universe” and, of course, “Fame”
  • 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. Young Americans is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but would be well advised to get to know better.

The strings have amazing amounts of texture — you can really hear the sound of the rosin on the bow. The highs are silky sweet and the bottom end is punchy and powerful. You won’t believe how lively the cymbal crashes sound — you’re right there in the room with all these guys and gals.

This is one of our favorite Bowie albums. Nobody seems to care about it anymore. They dismiss it as disco junk, but it actually has some of his best music on it. I especially like the song Win. David Sanborn’s saxophone sounds like it’s coming from 60 feet behind Bowie, a nice effect. (more…)

Bob Dylan and The Band – The Basement Tapes

More Bob Dylan

More of The Band

  • With seriously good Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides, this copy of The Basement Tapes is doing just about everything right
  • The recording may not be an audiophile dream come true, but this pressing is far better than most others we can ever recall playing, and lets the music come through in a way that we guarantee you have never heard before
  • 5 stars: “… the music here (including the Band’s) is astonishingly good. The party line on The Basement Tapes is that it is Americana, as Dylan and the Band pick up the weirdness inherent in old folk, country, and blues tunes, but it transcends mere historical arcana through its lively, humorous, full-bodied performances. Dylan never sounded as loose, nor was he ever as funny as he is here, and this positively revels in its weird, wild character… among the greatest American music ever made.”

This vintage Columbia Double LP pressing has some of the very best sound we’ve ever heard for this album.

Of course, given the nature of these recordings, you don’t get stunning sonics along the line of, say, Magical Mystery Tour or Dark Side Of The Moon, but at least you get to hear these great songs sound the way they were intended to, without the complications of bad mastering and pressing getting in the way.

Most of the copies we’ve heard wouldn’t be fit to list on the site at any price, but we felt strongly that this copy did justice to the music in a way that the typical pressing does not. While this may not be a Demo Disc, it’s MUCH better sounding than most copies we’ve come across. We’ve played a bunch of these over the years and most of them paled in comparison to this one.

This is of course a famous album, with The Band backing up Dylan (and adding some of their own material) in the famous Big Pink House which would later be the place where The Band’s 1st album was born. (more…)

Bonnie Raitt – Home Plate

More Bonnie Raitt

More Women Who Rock

  • An outstanding copy of Home Plate with Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Sound this good means you’re probably hearing the album better than they did when they played back the master tape in the control room — studio monitors being what they are
  • Since this is one of my three favorite Bonnie Raitt albums — the others being Sweet Forgiveness and Nine Lives — and quite possibly the best sounding album she ever made, it goes without saying that this is THE Must Own Bonnie Raitt Hot Stamper Pressing of All Time
  • “. . . a wonderful hybrid of American music, built on a thoroughly impressive set of songs, all delivered with Raitt’s warm, expertly shaded, and undeniably sexy singing.”

Another in the long list of recordings that really comes alive when you Turn Up Your Volume. This is a classic case of a record that really starts to work when the levels are up. It’s so free from distortion and phony processing it wants to be played loud, and that’s the level this music works at. It’s the level it was no doubt mixed at, and that mix sounds pretty flat at moderate levels. If you want to hear the real rockin’ Bonnie Raitt you gots to turn it up!

Like a lot of the best recordings from the mid-’70s, the production and recording quality are clean and clear, and we mean that in a good way. There is very little processing to the sound of anything here; drums sound like drums, guitars like guitars, and Bonnie sings without the aid of autotuning — because she can sing on-key, and beautifully. Her vocals kill on every song. (Her dad had a pretty good set of pipes too.)

Click here to see more of our favorite Rock and Pop records with relatively unprocessed sound.

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Paul McCartney & Wings – Venus and Mars

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More of The Beatles

  • Venus and Mars returns to the site on this superb British pressing with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • We shot out a number of other vintage UK LPs and this one had the presence, bass, and dynamics that were missing from most other copies we played
  • These sides have real depth to the soundfield, full-bodied, present vocals, plenty of bottom end weight, and lovely analog warmth
  • “Venus and Mars is an interesting mix of musical styles, punctuated by Paul McCartney’s unerring sense of melody and hooky songs.” – Oldies.com

This original UK Capitol pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely 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…)

John Klemmer – Touch

More John Klemmer

Audiophile Recordings with Excellent Sound

  • This copy of the best MoFi title to ever hit the site is close to the best we’ve heard, with stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades on both sides, just shy of our Shootout Winner – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Musically and sonically this is the pinnacle of Klemmer’s smooth jazz – we know of none better
  • The best sounding Smooth – But Real – Jazz Album ever made, and the only vintage MoFi we know of that deserves a place in your collection
  • “This is music straight from the heart, smooth but with a few twists and turns to make it interesting. But there are no cliche blues licks, none of the crap that players in this genre try to foist upon as ‘hip.’ Indeed, Klemmer has more in common with the late 60’s mantra playing of Coltrane or Sanders than those other guys (whose names will not be mentioned.)”
  • 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,” but with less of an accent on morbidity and more on the joy amazing audiophile-quality recordings like this one can bring to your life. Touch is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but should.

Touch is probably the best sounding record Mobile Fidelity ever made, and the only record of theirs I know of that can’t be beaten by a standard real-time mastered pressing.

We’re talking Demo Disc quality sound here. The spaciousness of the studio and the three-dimensional placement of the myriad percussion instruments and bells within its walls make this something of an audiophile spectacular of a different kind — dreamy and intensely emotional.

Shocking as it may be, Mobile Fidelity, maker of some of the worst sounding records in the history of audio, is truly the king on this title.

Klemmer says pure emotion is what inspired the album’s creation. Whatever he tapped into to find the source of that inspiration, he really hit paydirt with Touch. It’s the heaviest smooth jazz ever recorded. Musically and sonically, this is the pinnacle of Klemmer’s smooth jazz body of work. I know of none better. (If you want to hear him play more straight-ahead jazz, try Straight from the Heart on Nautilus Direct to Disc.) (more…)

Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow

More Rainbow

More Deep Purple

  • Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow makes its Hot Stamper debut on this early domestic Polydor pressing with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • HUGE Rock Sound – the guitars and drums are positively jumping out of the speakers with dynamic energy, with more bottom and top end extension than all other copies we played
  • “[A] young Ronnie James Dio… is at his best when he fully gives in to his own and Blackmore’s medieval fantasy leanings, in hard-rocking tracks like ‘Sixteenth Century Greensleeves’ and ‘Man on the Silver Mountain.’ The dark, trudging doom rock of ‘Self Portrait’ most clearly showcases what they were capable of.”

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