1977

Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • With seriously good Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from start to finish, this early pressing of Fleetwood Mac’s Magnum Opus will be very hard to beat
  • Tubey Magical Analog – the sound is open, spacious and transparent, with a huge three-dimensional soundfield
  • A Better Records Top 100 title – when you hear it sound as good as it does here, you’ll know why we’ve long considered Rumours an Audiophile Demo Disc
  • If you own the album on two 45 RPM discs (you know the one), allow us to send you a copy that will beat the pants off that modern mediocrity – this one!
  • 5 stars: “Each tune, each phrase regains its raw, immediate emotional power—which is why Rumours touched a nerve upon its 1977 release, and has since transcended its era to be one of the greatest, most compelling pop albums of all time.”
  • A list of Must Own Rock from 1977 would have to have this album on it, somethere near the top I would think

When you hear a good copy of Rumours, it’s very easy to understand why this is one of the best-selling pop music albums of all time. Just about everyone knows how great these songs are, but I bet you didn’t know they could sound like this!

It’s tough finding Hot Stamper copies of this album. With over 75 sets of stamper numbers for each side, it’s an extremely taxing project, even for us. We know some of the better stampers and have been acquiring them since then in preparation for this shootout. (more…)

Grateful Dead – Terrapin Station

More of the Music of The Grateful Dead

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish, we guarantee you’ve never heard Terrapin Station sound this good – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Produced by Keith Olsen of Fleetwood Mac fame, it’s no surprise that the recording quality is quite a bit better than most of the records the band had been making at the time
  • “Terrapin Station offers a few choice glimpses of the band doing what it does best. While the most prominent example is the album’s extended title suite, there are a few others such as the cover of the Rev. Gary Davis gospel-blues ‘Samson and Delilah’ and a resurrection of the Martha & the Vandellas hit ‘Dancin’ in the Streets.'”

Most Dead studio albums after Workingman’s Dead are full of filler, but this one actually has some good songs: the extended title song suite, the hard-rockin’ “Passenger,” and “Estimated Prophet.” The cover (note the similarities to Fleetwood Mac’s Station Man) and the darkly funky “Dancin’ In The Streets” may have earned this album the epithet of Disco Dead, but it’s actually a good bit of fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

Terrapin Station marked the Dead’s return to a major label (Arista) and was only their second album ever to make use of an outside producer (Keith Olsen, who also worked on the two smash hit Fleetwood Mac albums of the era — Rumours and the self-titled LP, two records that can sound stunning on the right pressing). As such, the songs are a bit more concise than you might expect from these crazy guys — only the title song goes over five and a half minutes, and it’s one of the band’s most famous jams!

What To Listen For

Most copies have a severe lack of top end extension, but this one actually sounds pretty nice up there. If you like the sound of Little Feat’s albums, you can expect similar qualities from this record.

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10cc – Deceptive Bends

More of the Music of 10cc

  • A huge and lively copy that was doing just about everything right, earning excellent Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom
  • These sides are bigger, with even greater immediacy in the vocals, as well as more bass and dynamics, all qualities that are much less audible when playing the average copy
  • A longstanding member of our Top 100, this is one of the most dynamic, energetic, well recorded pop albums we know of, right up there with the band’s Masterpiece, The Original Soundtrack.
  • Deceptive Bends is a Demo Disc for bass, a Demo Disc for dynamics, and a Demo Disc for energy all rolled into one
  • 4 stars: “Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman kept the group alive and turned in a surprisingly solid album with 1977’s Deceptive Bends. It may lack the devil-may-care wackiness that popped up on previous 10cc albums, but it makes up for it by crafting a series of lush, catchy pop songs that are witty in their own right. All in all, Deceptive Bends is the finest achievement of 10cc’s post-Godley and Creme lineup…”

This is an amazingly well recorded album, a record I would have no problem ranking in the Top Rock Recordings of All Time. We’re tough graders on this album because we know how good it can sound, which is shockingly good.

Maximum 10cc Effect

One of the many elements that combine to push this album well beyond the bounds of most popular recordings is the thought and care that went into the soundstaging. Listen to the stereo separation on any track — the sound of each instrument has been carefully considered within the context of the arrangement and placed in a specific location within the soundfield for a reason — and usually that reason is for maximum effect.

That’s why we love 10cc. Their recordings from this era are an audiophile dream come true. Compare that to some of the stereo mixes for the Beatles albums, where an instrument or vocal seems to panned to one channel or another not because it should be, but because it could be. With 10cc those hard-left, hard-right effects make the songs jump. They call attention to themselves precisely because the band is having a blast in the studio, showing off all the tricks they have up their sleeves. They want you to get as big a kick out of hearing them as they did conjuring them up.

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Supertramp – Even In The Quietest Moments (Domestic)

More of the Music of Supertramp

  • Boasting two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides, we guarantee you’ve never heard Supertramp’s 1977 release sound this good – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • On side two, the recording quality of the solo piano at the start of the second track is nothing short of breathtaking
  • No piano on any Supertramp album sounds more powerful, more real or more present than the one on “From Now On”
  • The bottom end is big and punchy, the top is smooth and sweet, and the vocals are present and breathy
  • On a transparent copy such as this, the drums really punch through the dense mixes clearly, giving the music more life and energy
  • “…it’s a transitional album, bridging the gap between Crime of the Century and the forthcoming Breakfast in America… [it] has plenty of fine moments aside from ‘Give A Little Bit,’ including the music hall shuffle of ‘Loverboy,’ the Euro-artiness of ‘From Now On,’ and the ‘Fool on a Hill’ allusions on ‘Fool’s Overture.'”
  • If you’re a Supertramp fan like me, this art rock classic from 1977 belongs in your collection.

What To Listen For

The piano on “Give A Little Bit” can get buried in the dense mix. Side ones that are rich and tubey and smooth with a clear piano did very well in our shootout.

“Lover Boy” is a Demo Quality Track on the better copies. It can be huge, spacious and lively. Getting the strings to sound harmonically rich without sliding into shrillness may not be easy but some copies manage it. On the biggest, richest copies the breakdown at about 2:20 is a lot of fun.

On side two, the recording quality of the solo piano at the start of the second track is nothing short of breathtaking. No piano on any Supertramp album sounds as good.

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The Alan Parsons Project – I Robot

More Alan Parsons

  • An early UK pressing (and the first copy to hit the site in over three years) with seriously good Double Plus (A++) sound throughout
  • Many copies tend to be overly smooth, but this one has the kind of clarity that allows the natural textures of the instruments to come through
  • Transparency is key to the sound of the better copies, and that is precisely where the dubby domestic pressings fall short
  • 4 1/2 stars: “. . . that sense of melody when married to the artistic restlessness and geeky sensibility makes for a unique, compelling album and the one record that truly captures mind and spirit of the Alan Parsons Project.”

If you’re a fan of this album who has been playing a typical copy, or — even worse — one of the MoFi versions, you are sure to be impressed with the kind of sound this superb copy delivers. You get a strong, solid bottom end setting the foundation, which is exactly what you need to make a funky tune like I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You come to life. (more…)

Glenn Miller Orchestra – The Direct Disc Sound of…

More of the Music of The Glenn Miller Orchestra

  • An original pressing of a Great American Gramophone Company direct-to-disc recording with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout
  • Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this incredible copy in our notes: “tubey and 3D and breathy”…”huge and lively”…”powerful orchestra”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very rich and present”
  • Great energy, but the sound is relaxed and Tubey sweet at the same time, never squawky, with plenty of extension on both ends – that’s analog for ya!
  • This is no sleepy over-the-hill Sheffield Direct-to-Disc (referring to the later Harry James titles, not the excellent first one) – these guys are the real deal and they play their hearts out on this live-in-the-studio recording
  • Note that side two did not have all the space but it was so punchy and 3-D that it was easy to award it 2.5+. The copy that beat had all the same qualities and more space, sounding like side one of this copy.

One of the all time GREAT Direct to Disc recordings. For sound and music, this one is hard to beat. And the vinyl is as quiet as any you will find.

We went a bit overboard years ago when we wrote, “I don’t think you can find a better sounding big band record on the planet.” Well, we’ve heard plenty of amazing big band albums in the course of our Hot Stamper shootouts for the last five or ten years, albums by the likes of Basie, Zoot Sims, Ellington, Shorty Rogers, Ted Heath and others.

Not to mention the fact that the shockingly good Sauter-Finegan track “Song of the Volga Boatman” from the LP Memories Of Goodman and Miller is played regularly around these parts for cartridge setup and tuning, as well as general tweaking.

But that should take nothing away from this superb recording, made at the famously good-sounding Capitol Records Studio A, with none other than Wally Heider doing the mix and Ken Perry manning the lathe.

We also noted that, “It absolutely murders all the Sheffield big band records, which sound like they were made by old tired men sorely in need of their naps. Way past their prime anyway”, which is mostly true.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra heard here was an actively touring band. They know this material inside and out, they clearly love it, and they’re used to playing the hell out of it practically every night.

If you like the tunes that Glenn Miller made famous — “String of Pearls,” “In The Mood,” “Tuxedo Junction” — you will have a very hard time finding them performed with more gusto, or recorded with anything approaching this kind of fidelity.

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The L.A. 4 / Going Home

More Hot Stamper Audiophile Recordings

Reviews and Commentaries for Direct to Disc Recordings

  • A vintage East Wind 33 RPM Japanese import pressing with outstanding sound from start to finish
  • A top album in both rarity and demand – you’d be hard pressed to find another copy with this kind of transparency, clarity, presence, and sound (assuming you could find one)
  • This is one of the best sounding copies with all 7 tracks we have ever played
  • This 33 RPM version features all seven of the original tracks – “Greensleeves” and “Django” were omitted from the shorter 45 RPM pressing
  • Lee Herschberg recorded these sessions direct to disc – he’s the guy behind the most amazing piano trio recording I have ever heard, a little album called The Three
  • The star of this record is Shelly Manne, who really plays up a storm

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Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols

More Rock and Pop

More Records We Only Sell on Import Vinyl

  • Sex Pistols’ debut LP appears on the site for the first time ever, here with an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • 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
  • We shot out a number of other imports and the midrange presence, bass, and dynamics on this outstanding UK copy placed it head and shoulders above most other pressings we played
  • 5 stars: “…one of the greatest, most inspiring rock records of all time.”

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The L.A. 4 – Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte (33 RPM)

More of the Music of the L.A. 4

  • Boasting two outstanding Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this East Wind 33 RPM Japanese import pressing will be very hard to beat – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Side one was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be amazed at how big and rich the sound is
  • This is one of the better sounding versions with all 7 tracks we’ve played
  • Lee Herschberg recorded these sessions direct-to-disc – he’s the guy behind the most amazing piano trio recording I have ever heard, a little album called The Three
  • Both of these sides give you the richness, clarity, presence and resolution few copies can touch
  • This 33 RPM version features all seven of the original tracks – “C’est What” and “Corcovado” were omitted from the shorter 45 RPM pressing

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Les Brown – Goes Direct to Disc

More Large Group Jazz Recordings

More Reviews of Century Direct to Disc Records

  • Excellent sound throughout this original Great American Gramophone Company (later Century Records) pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Great energy, but the sonics are relaxed and tubey sweet at the same time, never squawky, with plenty of extension on both ends – that’s analog for ya!
  • Both sides here fulfill the promise of the Direct to Disc recording technology in a way that few – very, very few – Direct to Disc pressings can
  • Try “Tickle Toe” and “Gonna Fly Now” on side two to hear the best combination of excellent sonics and superb musicianship

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