1976-fave

These are some of my personal favorite albums from 1976. I recommend all of them highly.

At any given time only a handful will be available as Hot Stamper pressings on the site.

Our standard guarantee is always in effect: If you buy one and don’t care for the music, feel free to return it for a full refund.

10cc – How Dare You!

More of the Music of 10cc

 

  • You’ll find stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on both sides of this early UK pressing of 10cc’s fourth (and most wacky) album, just shy of our Shootout Winner – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This wonderful LP will show you that 10cc’s commitment to audiophile recording quality was as strong as any of the major artists of their day
  • Forget the dubby domestic stuff — this early British pressing is huge, spacious and rich, with prodigious amounts of bass, guaranteed to sound better than any other copy you’ve heard
  • 4 stars: “…a well-crafted album that shows off 10cc’s eccentric humor and pop smarts in equal measure… it remains a solid album of witty pop songs that will satisfy anyone with a yen for 10cc.”
  • If like us you’re a fan of Arty Rock from the era, this is a killer album from 1976 that belongs in your collection.

With this superb British pressing, some of you who might consider yourselves more devoted fans of the band will finally be able to hear what a good recording this is. The typical domestic copy is a disaster, as are some of the British originals and reissues; we should know, we cleaned them, played them and heard them for ourselves.

If you know anything about this band, you know their recordings are often amazing Demo Discs. We’ve done shootouts for all their most important titles and the sound on the best copies is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

If you’re looking for something off the beaten path, this is definitely one to check out. I don’t know of any other album like it.

Best sound on side one: “Lazy Ways.”

Best track on the album: “Rock ‘N Roll Lullaby.”

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Mussorgsky / Danse Infernale – Our Favorite Night On Bald Mountain

More of the Music of Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

  • The best pressings of this 70s DG are some of the best sounding orchestral showpieces we know of
  • After a three year hiatus, our favorite performance of Night on Bald Mountain is back, and it’s guaranteed to blow your mind (and maybe a woofer or two), thanks at least in part to the conducting skills of Arthur Fiedler
  • Side one also boasts an excellent Danse Macabre, with a powerful finish that may remind you of the thrill of live orchestral music
  • Clear and transparent, with huge hall space extending wall to wall and floor to ceiling, this is a sound that the modern Heavy Vinyl reissue fails to reproduce utterly
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.
  • Watch your levels – this pressing is dramatically more dynamic than most Golden Age recordings
  • Click on the link to see more classical “sleeper” recordings we’ve discovered with demo disc sound

This pressing clearly has Demo Disc quality sound — not in every way, but in some important ways. The energy of both the sound and the performances of these barnburning showpieces is truly awesome. Fiedler brings this music to life like no other conductor we have heard.

This pressing boasts relatively rich, sweet strings, especially for a Deutsche Grammophon LP. Both sides really get quiet in places, a sure sign that all the dynamics of the master tape were protected in the mastering of this copy (and the reason it is so hard to find a copy that plays better than Mint Minus Minus.)

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Steely Dan / The Royal Scam

More of the Music of Steely Dan

  • A Royal Scam like you’ve never heard, with seriously good grades from first note to last
  • This pressing of The Dan’s hard-rockin’ classic from 1976 has the right sound for this music – rich and meaty, with powerful rhythmic energy
  • 5 stars: “Drummer Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie lashes out the rolling grooves on most of the nine tracks, establishing the album’s anxious feel, and Larry Carlton’s jaw-dropping guitar work provides a running commentary to Fagen’s strangulated vocals… These are not the sort of Steely Dan songs favored by smooth-jazz stations.”
  • Steely Dan’s fifth release is a Must Own album from 1976, Every one of the first 6 albums belongs in any audiophile quality Rock and Pop music collection worthy of the name.

The best copies of Steely Dan’s brilliant effort from 1976 — so different from the album before, Katy Lied, as well as the album to follow, Aja — manage to combine richness and smoothness with transparency and clarity, a tough combination to find on The Royal Scam. (more…)

Return to Forever – Romantic Warrior

More Jazz Rock Fusion

  • Boasting two excellent Double Plus (A++) sides, this vintage pressing is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Romantic Warrior you’ve heard
  • Our favorite Jazz Rock Fusion Album of All Time – on the right stereo this is a Demo Disc like no other
  • None rocks harder – of course that wouldn’t mean much without the music being so exciting and brilliant, and we’re happy to report it is!
  • These are four instrumental pyrotechnicians – the band is absolutely on fire like no other album they recorded together
  • 4 stars: “Romantic Warrior is the sound of a mature band at the top of its game, which may help explain why it was Return to Forever’s most popular album, eventually certified as a gold record, and the last by this assemblage. Having expressed themselves this well, they decided it was time for them to move on.”
  • If you’re a Jazz Fusion guy, this title from 1976 is surely a Must Own
  • If you’re looking for the best sounding jazz from the 70s and 80s, you might want to check out these titles

If you’re a fan of ’70s jazz fusion there aren’t many albums better than this. (It’s the only RTF record we bother to carry as a matter of fact.) It’s an absolutely phenomenal recording, and if you have any doubts about that fact, these two pressings are more than capable of disabusing you of such like. (more…)

Ambrosia – Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled

Ambrosia

  • An original pressing of this truly phenomenal 70s big rock production (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in years) with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them from top to bottom
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • The reason you never see this album on the site is that it’s extremely difficult to find good sounding pressings that play quietly — most of our best copies are just too noisy to sell, making this shootout pretty much a bust
  • This copy gives you the harmonic coherency, richness, body and Tubey Magic that nothing being pressed today can begin to offer
  • The better sides have the trademark Alan Parsons sound, with huge amounts of space in the studio, and the kind of musical energy that made the first Ambrosia album (which he mixed) such a joy to play
  • I’ve been listening to this album a lot lately — even though I was never that big of a fan of their sophomore effort, now that I’ve played thousands of albums since this one came out, I can tell you that I became obsessed with trying to understand all the musical influences that went into the heads of these four guys and came out on this album
  • “There is an unusual dreamlike quality that pervades its work. The songs seem to be reaching the listener direct from some strange and beautiful realm of the unconscious. It is an experience rare in popular music today or at any time.” – Billboard

Alan Parsons produced this album, and at its best, it is truly a Demo Disc — if you have the system to play it.

This album needs lots of space and a big, wide, open soundstage if it’s going to work, and the best sides deliver that sound. It’s a rare copy that manages to have real presence and top end without getting too edgy; on the good ones, the bass is big, solid and punchy and the energy is superb. (more…)

801 – 801 Live

More Brian Eno

More Live Recordings of Interest

  • 801 Live rocks as hard as ever on this original UK Island copy boasting outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • We shot out a number of other imports and this one had the presence, bass, and dynamics that were missing from most of what we played, not to mention that live rock and roll energy that old records have and new records don’t
  • Recorded at Queen Elisabeth Hall in September 1976 – one of only three gigs the group (a side project of Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera) did over a two-month period
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This album marks probably one of the last times that Eno rocked out in such an un-self-consciously fun fashion, but that’s not the only reason to buy it: 801 Live is a cohesive document of an unlikely crew who had fun and took chances. Listeners will never know what else they might have done if their schedules had been less crowded, but this album’s a good reminder.”
  • If you’re an Eno fan, or perhaps more a fan of mid-70s Art Rock, this title from 1976 is surely a Must Own.

801 Live has some of the biggest, boldest sound we have ever heard. It may not be seen as an audiophile album but it should be, if you have the system to play it. The sound is glorious — wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and as rich and dynamic as it gets.

It’s clearly a big speaker demo disc. Play this one as loud as you can. The louder you play it, the better it sounds.

It’s also transparent, with a large, deep soundfield that really allows you to hear into the music and the space of the venue in which it was recorded.

The real kicker is the amount of energy and musical drive that these two sides have going for them.

This is what the master tape is really capable of — mind bogglingly good sound.

Top of the List

801 Live ranks near the top of the list of my All Time Favorite Albums — a desert island disc if ever there was one.

I stumbled across it decades ago and have loved it ever since. (It started when a college buddy played me the wildly original “Tomorrow Never Knows” from the album and asked me to name the tune. Eno’s take is so different from The Beatles version that I confess it took me an embarrassingly long while to catch on.)

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Andrew Gold – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Hot Stamper Pressings on the Asylum Label Available Now

More Records on Asylum – A Label We Love

The best copies of Gold’s sophomore release are incredibly rich, sweet and Tubey Magical. They also have tons of deep punchy bass and wonderfully breathy vocals.

If you own many Asylum records, you know this title is yet another example of classic Asylum Analog. Think of the sound of the Eagles first album and you won’t be far off.

Andrew Gold is another talented popster who got little respect from the critics, or the public for that matter. His music has a lot of the same qualities as Buddy Holly’s: simple catchy tunes about love, with clever lyrics and tons of hooks. He covers one of Holly’s songs on this very album.

But the best song he ever did is right here on side two: One of Them Is Me. Everybody has been the guy telling this story at one time or another; it’s a heavy song if you make the effort to listen to the lyrics.

More importantly, from an audiophile recording point of view, the song builds and surges to a stirring, dynamically powerful climax, then drops down to the noise floor with just an electric piano playing softly. This is what being a studio wizard is all about, and Gold is definitely a wizard. Any Super Hot or better pressing will demonstrate to you that this is one helluva well recorded album.

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The Doobie Brothers – Takin’ It To The Streets

More of The Doobie Brothers

More Recordings Engineered by Donn Landee

  • With the awesome Michael McDonald contributing a batch of great songs, not to mention some Blue Eyed Soul-ful vocals, this has long been a favorite Doobies album here at Better Records
  • Credit must go to Donn Landee for the full-bodied, rich, smooth, oh-so-analog sound of Hot Stamper pressings such as this one
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…shows off the new interplay and sounds that were to carry the group into the 1980s, with gorgeous playing and singing all around.”

Who in his right mind thought this record could sound this good? We’ve been buying pressings for years, with very little to show for it. Most copies have no real top or bottom; that’s what separates the men from the boys on Takin’ It to the Streets. That shrunken, flat, two-dimensional, lifeless, compressed, midrangy sound you’re so used to hearing on Doobies Brothers albums is the rule, and these sides are the exceptions.

Why go to all the trouble? Because we love the album! This is the first album to feature Michael McDonald’s infusion of white soul into what was otherwise just another radio-friendly boogie rock band, and ’70s soul is precisely the Doobies sound we love here at Better Records.

Most copies of this record are such a letdown, it’s hard to imagine that many audiophiles could be bothered to take it seriously. But they should; the band cooks on practically every song, and the writing is some of their best, with essential Doobies tracks like Losin’ End and It Keeps You Runnin’ and no real dogs in the bunch. (more…)

James Taylor – In The Pocket

More James Taylor

More Blue Eyed Soul

  • Both of these sides are SUPERB in all respects; there’s plenty of Tubey Magic, and that’s one quality that’s hard to come by on this album
  • Rich, sweet, and lively — Woman’s Gotta Have It sounds fantastic here
  • An underappreciated album that we’re big fans of here at Better Records!

The quality of the songwriting is what makes this album such a moving listening experience. These songs are superb, individually and collectively, and can hold their own up against those found on Gorilla, an album with which In the Pocket has much in common.

Just as they did on Gorilla, Taylor and his multi-talented, multi-tracking production team polish these songs into three and four minute gems of popcraft, and they do so without ever compromising the emotional heart of the material. I’ve searched and I honestly cannot find a bad song on the album. Better than that, not even a weak one.

Both of these sides are rich, smooth, yet transparent and high-rez. The vocals are breathy, and again, that is not something we heard nearly enough of in our shootout.

And no hardness. This is key. And the best tonal balance, which is also key. (more…)