1978

Neil Young – Comes A Time

More of the Music of Neil Young

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on both sides, this wonderful early pressing of Neil’s brilliant folky album from 1978 will be very hard to beat – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The better copies of Comes A Time are the sonic equal of the best recordings in Neil’s catalog – and that’s saying a lot
  • Marks 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
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Comes a Time finally was the Neil Young album for the millions of fans who had loved Harvest, an acoustic-based record with country overtones and romantic, autobiographical lyrics, and many of those fans returned to the fold, enough to make Comes a Time Young’s first Top Ten album since Harvest.”

Here’s a copy of Comes A Time that actually delivers the kind of Tubey Analog Magic you get from the good pressings of his earlier albums.

This superb Demo Disc has been overlooked by the audiophile press for forty years. The best-sounding Neil Young records — just look in our Hot Stamper listings to find them — have Demo Disc sound to beat the band. I defy anyone to play me a better-sounding record than Zuma or Gold Rush. Analog doesn’t get any more magical.

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Count Basie & Oscar Peterson – Yessir, That’s My Baby

More of the Music of Count Basie

More of the Music of Oscar Peterson


  • Superb sound for this wonderful Basie/Peterson record pressed on fairly quiet Pablo vinyl, with Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides
  • This copy is bigger, clearer and more full-bodied than most of what we played (particularly on side two) – man, this is the glorious sound of analog
  • “The two pianists (backed by bassist John Heard and drummer Louis Bellson) play five standards and three blues with predictable swing, finding much more in common with each other than one might have originally suspected.”

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Ry Cooder / Jazz

More of the Music of Ry Cooder

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER throughout this vintage copy – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These are the stampers that always win our shootouts, and when you hear them you will know why – the sound is big, rich and clear
  • A one-time TAS list Super Disc that proves its worth on this superb pressing
  • “The complexity of the material on Jazz, as well as the arrangements by Joseph Byrd, dictate that this is Cooder’s most polished and orchestrated effort to date.”
  • We’ve discovered a number of titles in which one stamper always wins, and here are some others
  • If you’re a fan of Ry Cooder’s, this classic from 1978 belongs in your collection.
  • “The complexity of the material on Jazz, as well as the arrangements by Joseph Byrd, dictate that this is Cooder’s most polished and orchestrated effort to date.”

We’re big fans of Ry Cooder here at Better Records, and it’s always fun to hear the eccentric instruments and arrangements he and his cohorts cook up. Of course, it’s even more fun when you have a great sounding pressing like this one that lets you hear what the musicians were up to. (more…)

Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • Wow — Solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this Elvis Costello classic!
  • You’re gonna love the sound here – full-bodied and punchy with a solid low end and excellent presence for Elvis’s vocals
  • The bass is right – the moment-to-moment rhythmic changes in the songs are clear and the band swings the way it’s supposed to
  • 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
  • 5 stars: “The most remarkable thing about the album is the sound — Costello and the Attractions never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, ever again.”

Pump it up! This British import Radar LP has two outstanding sides that brilliantly and powerfully convey the energy of this hard rockin’ music.

The overall sound is punchy, lively, and dynamic with plenty of tight, note-like bass. This is key to the better copies.

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Miklós Rózsa – Quo Vadis (Music From the Film on London)

More Decca & London Records

  • 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
  • This 1978 re-recording of Rózsa’s original work for the 1951 film, here performed by the Royal Philharmonic in glorious orchestral sound
  • The Decca pressing is on the TAS Super Disc List, and those are the ones that always win our shootouts, but the London pressings can also have excellent sound and tend to be priced much lower owing to the fact that they are much more findable here in the states
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Rózsa gets spirited performances out of the orchestra and the chorus, but with the latter he also achieves a level of subtlety in their performance of his work which greatly enhances the finale to the piece.”

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Foreigner – Double Vision

More of the Music of Foreigner

  • This vintage copy will show you just how good Foreigner’s second album can sound on vinyl, with a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • If you own the Half-Speed or any modern reissue, you won’t believe how much bigger, clearer and more energetic this pressing is
  • Keith Olsen produced and engineered – he’s the man behind the amazing sound of Buckingham/Nicks and Fleetwood Mac (1975)
  • 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
  • 4 stars: “Foreigner promptly followed up its blockbuster debut with the equally successful Double Vision LP in 1978, which featured the FM mega-hits ‘Hot Blooded’ and the driving title track.”
  • If you’re an Arena Rock fan, this title from 1978 is surely a Must Own

As I’m sure you know, there is a Mobile Fidelity Half-Speed Mastered version of this album currently in print, and an older one from the days when their records were pressed in Japan (052).

We haven’t played the latter in years; as I recall it was as lifeless and sucked-out in the midrange as most of the other MoFis of that period, notably The Doors (051) and Trick of the Tail (062). Is there any doubt that the new MoFi will be every bit as bad or worse? If any of our Hot Stamper customers have purchased the current release, I would be interested in hearing how you think it stacks up against this copy. (more…)

Miklós Rózsa – Quo Vadis (Music From the Film on Decca)

More Orchestral Spectaculars

  • This Decca Phase 4 Stereo pressing of Rózsa’s sweeping cinematic score boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • These TAS-approved 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
  • This 1978 re-recording of Rózsa’s original work for the 1951 film, performed by the Royal Philharmonic, succeeds in achieving glorious Phase IV orchestral sound
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Rózsa gets spirited performances out of the orchestra and the chorus, but with the latter he also achieves a level of subtlety in their performance of his work which greatly enhances the finale to the piece.”

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Kate Bush– Lionheart

More of the Music of Kate Bush

  • An original UK pressing of Kate’s sophomore LP (only the second copy to ever hit the site) with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • We shot out a number of other imports and the midrange presence, bass, and dynamics on this outstanding copy placed it head and shoulders above most of the other pressings we played
  • Both of these sides are dramatically richer, fuller and more Tubey Magical than all others we played, with Kate’s exceptionally present and breathy vocals front and center where they belong

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Kate Bush – The Kick Inside

More Women Who Rock

  • A vintage copy of Kate’s debut LP with an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • Forget the domestic pressings (with the different cover), forget all the lame reissues that have come or will come down the pike – if you want to hear this album right, a Hot Stamper British pressing is the only way to go
  • Our last shootout was over a year ago and we will not be in a hurry to do another one anytime soon – with so many incompetent “record dealers” in the game now, getting clean copies of Kate Bush’s albums across the pond was much more difficult and expensive than it should have been
  • Includes Bush’s hit “Wuthering Heights,” and a number of tracks written by this precocious artist at only 15
  • 4 stars: “… the sound of an impressionable and highly precocious teenager spreading her wings for the first time… a mightily impressive debut.”

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Al Stewart – Time Passages

More of the Music of Al Stewart

  • Amazing sound throughout this vintage British import, with both sides earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades
  • The better sides have the kind of analog richness, warmth, and smoothness that make listening to records so involving
  • Standout tracks include “Song on the Radio” and “Time Passages” (an edited version of which made it all the way to #7 on the Pop charts)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…this is exceptionally well-crafted, from Stewart’s songs, where even three-minute songs seem like epics, to Alan Parsons’ cinematic arrangements and productions. [O]ne of Al Stewart’s very best albums.”

Our Hot Stampers of Year Of The Cat are always a big hit, and this, the 1978 follow-up, shares many of the same qualities. Alan Parsons is a pretty good producer and engineer it turns out.

This copy is richer and sweeter than most, with a big, bold, three-dimensional sound that perfectly suits the kind of Big Productions that are his stock in trade. The bigger the better we say!

Standout tracks include “Song on the Radio” and “Time Passages” (an edited version of which made it all the way to #7 on the Pop charts.) Both of these songs are more than six minutes long on the album.

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