1976-best

These are the albums with some of the best sound and best music that were released in 1976.

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…)

The Three on Inner City – By Far the Best Way to Get All Six Tracks

More of the Music of The Three

  • A Demo Disc quality Inner City pressing of this wonderful recording with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • The transients are uncannily lifelike – listen for the powerful kinetic energy produced when Shelly whacks the hell out of his cymbals
  • My favorite Piano Trio Jazz Album of All Time; every one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed
  • 4 stars: “One of Joe Sample’s finest sessions as a leader” – with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown, we would say it’s clearly his finest session, as a leader or simply as the piano player in a killer trio

If you want to hear the full six tunes recorded by The Three at that famous Hollywood session (which ran all day and long into the night, 4 AM to be exact), these 33 RPM pressings are the best way to go. The music is so good that I personally would not want to live without the complete album. The Three is, in fact, my favorite Piano Trio Jazz Album of All Time; every one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed (if you have the right takes of course; more about that later).

More On The Subject Of Energy

This is a quality no one seems to be writing about, other than us of course, but what could possibly be more important? On this record, the more energetic copies took the players’ performances to a level beyond all expectations. It is positively shocking how lively and dynamic the best copies of this record are. I know of no other recording with this combination of sonic and musical energy. It is sui generis, in a league of its own.

Both sides are so transparent you can hear Shelly Manne vocalizing as he’s playing the drums. The drum solo on side two is killer here. So full of energy and so dynamic. Why aren’t more drum kits recorded this well? Check out the pictures inside the fold-open cover to see all the mics that were used on the drums. That’s where that wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling sound comes from.

The transients are uncannily lifelike, conveying the huge amounts of kinetic energy produced when Shelly whacks the hell out of his cymbals.

Ne Plus Ultra Piano Trio

This record is made from the “backup” tape for the session. East Wind released two versions of the famous direct to disc version at 33 RPM, and for those of you who bother to read the commentary, you know that take one of that pressing presents a completely different performance of the music than the one found on the Inner City on offer here.

There was a time when the best copies of a recording like this would go directly into my collection. If I wanted to impress someone, audiophile or otherwise, with the You-Are-There illusion that only Big Speakers in a dedicated room playing a live recording can create, this would be up near the top of the list. There is practically nothing like it on vinyl in my experience.

This is without a doubt my favorite piano trio record of all time. Joe Sample, Shelly Manne, and Ray Brown only made one album together, this one, recorded direct to disc right here in Los Angeles for Eastwind in the Seventies. Joe Sample for once in his life found himself in a real Class A trio, and happily for jazz fans around the world, he rose to the occasion. Actually, it was more like an epiphany, as this is the one piano trio album I put in a class by itself. All three of The Three are giving us the best they’ve got on that November day in 1975.

When it comes to small combo piano jazz, there is none better.

(more…)

Boz Scaggs – Silk Degrees

More Blue-Eyed Soul

  • Solid Double Plus (A++) sound brings Boz’s very well recorded Masterpiece of Soulful Pop to life on this vintage Columbia pressing
  • Both of these sides are punchy, open and clear, with the kind of big bass and rhythmic energy so critical to this music
  • This copy brings out of the mix the solid, weighty piano that’s missing from the CBS Half-Speed and 90% of the reissues
  • 5 stars: “[Scaggs] hit the R&B charts in a big way with the addictive, sly ‘Lowdown’… and expressed his love of smooth soul music almost as well on the appealing ‘What Can I Say.'”

There is excellent sound on the better-recorded tracks, which I’m happy to say are most of them. And why not? This band is basically Toto with Boz Scaggs singing lead. David Paich wrote most of the songs and most of the Toto band (which didn’t exist yet, of course) is in the house. (No Lukather, but the guitarists on hand manage to pull it off without him.) Check out the legendary Jeff Porcaro’s twin hi-hats on “Lowdown,” one per channel, energizing the rhythm of the song big time.

One of the main qualities separating the winners from the also-rans on this title is the quality of the bass. This is rhythmic music, first and foremost. David Hungate just kills on this album; he’s giving a master class on rock and roll bass on practically every track.

And, for us audiophiles, the good news is the bass is very well recorded — big, punchy and well upfront in the mix. The bad news is that only the best copies show you the note-like, clear, rich bass that must be on the master tape. Vague and smeary bottom end is the rule, not the exception, and it’s a veritable crime against well-recorded sophisticated pop such as this.

(more…)

J.J. Cale – Troubadour

More Roots Rock

  • An outstanding copy of 5 with Double Plus (A++) sound from the first note to the last
  • The overall sound here is rich, full-bodied and musical with lots of Tubey Magic and a solid bottom end — the perfect sound for this laid-back bluesy rock
  • If you’ve got a hankerin’ to hear Cocaine on the authentic original, you will really have to work hard to hear it sound any better than it does on this pressing.
  • Wikipedia lists his many styles as “Americana, Cajun, blues, swamp rock, country rock, Red Dirt, Tulsa Sound” but we think Americana is probably all you really need.
  • If you like Dire Straits, try this one – J.J. Cale and Mark Knopfler have a lot in common, probably more than you think
  • “While Cale remains the ultimate laid-back Blues artist, he still manages to conjure up the spirit of Country, Soul and subdued Funk in each of the tracks on 5, making this album one of the best loved in his catalog.”
  • 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 these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life. Cale’s breakthrough album is a good example of a record many audiophiles may not know well but should.

(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…)

Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive

The Music of Peter Frampton Available Now

  • All FOUR sides of this vintage copy were giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning seriously good Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Mixed and mastered so that the guitar solos soar the way they do in live music – what a thrill it is to hear them finally sounding the way they should (particularly on sides one and three)
  • An excellent copy like this one is a potent reminder of why we all went so crazy for this album back in the 70s – at least I did anyway
  • 4 1/2 stars on Allmusic, which agrees with us that many tracks here are “much more inspired, confident, and hard-hitting than the studio versions.”

On the better copies, the guitar solos are the loudest parts of some of the songs, which, as everyone who’s ever been to a rock concert knows, is exactly what happens in live rock music. Fancy that.

Not many live albums are mixed to allow the guitar solos to rock the way these do. (Other records with exceptionally dynamic guitar solos can be found here.)

Since Frampton is one of my favorite players, hearing his work get loud on this album is nothing less than a thrill. It’s hard to turn up the volume on most copies — they tend to get aggressive in a hurry — but that simply doesn’t happen on our hottest Hot Stampers. They sound right when they’re loud.

A Reminder

It’s ridiculously hard to find good sound for this record. Most copies are thin, dry and transistory. And it’s time-consuming to clean and play as many copies of this double album as it takes to find enough Hot Stampers to make the endeavor worthwhile. When this album doesn’t have the sonic goods, it’s nobody’s idea of a good time.

A great copy like this one will remind you — we hope — what made everybody so crazy for this music back in the 70s.

(more…)

Steve Miller Band – Fly Like An Eagle

More Steve Miller Band

  • Fly Like An Eagle returns to the site after a three year hiatus, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • A surprisingly difficult record to find with good sound and quiet surfaces — they pumped these out by the millions and most copies aren’t worth eve the bad vinyl they’re pressed on
  • The sound is clear, full-bodied and detailed with tremendous space, critical to reproducing the recording’s spacey (and pretty cool) effects
  • The title track and “Take The Money And Run” both sound excellent (but so does pretty much everything else)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The key is focus, even on an album as stylishly, self-consciously trippy as this, since the focus brings about his strongest set of songs (both originals and covers), plus a detailed atmospheric production where everything fits.”
  • If you’re a Steve Miller fan, or perhaps a fan of mid-’70s Classic Rock, this title from 1976 is surely a Must Own.

On this copy, you get richness and warmth, front and center immediacy, extension up top and down low, and loads of energy. The synths have texture, the guitars are full-bodied and the bottom end is nice and meaty.

The soundfield is especially open and transparent, with three-dimensional space that brings out the trippy effects the band threw in all over the place. When they sound this good, they really work some Seventies Analog Magic. (more…)

Jackson Browne – The Pretender

More Jackson Browne

 More Asylum Label Recordings

  • ou’ll find STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides of this this vintage Asylum pressing
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this killer copy in our notes: “weighty and rich”…”vox jumping out of the speakers”…”smooth and full and present”…”3D and rich”…”lots of bass”
  • The best pressings are Rock / Pop Demo Discs – they’re so rich and full-bodied they make most of the competition sound positively anemic
  • Five Stars in Rolling Stone, one of their Top 500 Albums, and a true classic from 1976
  • One of the best sounding records Jackson Browne ever made, along with his debut – this is the pressing that backs up everything we say and more
  • If you’re a Jackson Browne fan, this title from 1976 is surely a Must Own
  • Asylum in the Seventies was known for its especially smooth recordings, but plenty of other labels produced smooth recordings, and here is a link to some of our favorites
  • These superb vintage pressings are quite different from the ones they are making these days, which have taken the concept of “smooth sounding analog” and stretched it well past its limits, resulting in a great many pressings that are far too smooth to be taken seriously

As I’m sure you know by now, especially if you own a few copies, most pressings of The Pretender don’t sound like Demo Discs. In fact, most copies of this record are mediocre at best — thin, grainy, and flat sounding.

This copy is none of those things. And it positively kills the famous MoFi pressing.

Problems to Watch For

Some of the more common problems we ran into during our shootouts were slightly veiled, slightly smeary sound, with not all the top end extension that the best copies have.

You can easily hear that smear on the guitar transients; usually they’re a tad blunted and the guitar harmonics don’t ring the way they should.

These problems are just as common to the original Asylum pressings as they are to the later LPs. Smeary, veiled, top-end-challenged pressings were regularly produced over the years. They are the rule, not the exception.

(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…)

Led Zeppelin – Presence

More of the Music of Led Zeppelin

xxx

  • Massive amounts of Zeppelin rock and roll energy on this copy, with both sides earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades
  • Here is a pressing with the power, the dynamic contrasts, the low end WHOMP, as well as the in-the-room midrange presence (pun only slightly intended) you’ve been waiting for
  • Featuring a stripped down, harder rock sound, Presence really benefits from the outstanding bottom end found on this early LP
  • “Presence has more majestic epics than its predecessor, opening with the surging, ten-minute ‘Achilles Last Stand’ and closing with the meandering, nearly ten-minute ‘Tea for One.'”

(more…)