1979-best

The Eagles / The Long Run

More of the Music of The Eagles

  • With INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides, this copy has a rockin’ “Long Run” like you have never heard
  • The sonics are full, rich and vibrant with impressive punch down low and nice extension up top
  • The best songs prove that the Eagles were still at the height of their powers, at least some of the time…
  • The first two songs on both sides are practically as good as it gets for mainstream rock from this era – they’re playlist staples of Classic Rock stations from coast to coast to this day
  • The last song on side two, “The Sad Cafe,” is also a standout. Others, as they used to say in school, ‘need improvement.’
  • But five Killer Eagles songs is nothing to sneeze at. This is an album that belongs in most rock and pop collections, even if you choose to only listen to the best material on it.
  • “The Long Run is a chilling and altogether brilliant evocation of Hollywood’s nightly Witching Hour, that nocturnal feeding frenzy first detailed by Warren Zevon on his haunting Asylum debut (Warren Zevon, 1976) and the equally powerful Excitable Boy.” – Rolling Stone

The True Test For Side One

Want to know if you have a good side one on your copy? Here’s an easy test. Timothy B. Schmit’s vocal on “I Can’t Tell You Why” rarely sounds right. Most of the time he’s muffled, pretty far back in the soundstage, and the booth he’s in has practically no ambience. On the good copies, he’s not exactly jumping out of the speakers, but he’s clear, focused, and his voice is breathy and full of emotional subtleties that make the song the heartbreaking powerhouse it is.

This is why you need a Hot Stamper. Most copies don’t let you feel the song. Not like this one does. And the rest of the band is cookin’ here as well. From the big, full-bodied bass to the fat, punchy snare, this side is doing pretty much everything we want it to.

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The Jam – Setting Sons

More Rock and Pop

  • Setting Sons appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage Polydor pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides have energy and presence that positively jumps out of the speakers, two of the qualities that we prize most highly in our Hot Stampers, and two of the things (among many) that Heavy Vinyl does so poorly
  • It’s the rare copy that’s this lively, solid and rich… drop the needle on any track and you’ll see what we mean
  • 5 stars: “Setting Sons often reaches brilliance and stands among the Jam’s best albums….”

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Elvis Costello / Armed Forces – A Phenomenal Demo Disc from 1979

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • This vintage UK pressing will show you just how good sounding Elvis’s best recording can be, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides
  • It’s some of the biggest, boldest rock sound ever recorded
  • A Top 100 Demo Disc, and just amazing here – every track is Elvis at his best
  • 5 stars: “In contrast to the stripped-down pop and rock of his first two albums, Armed Forces boasted a detailed and textured pop production… However, the more spacious arrangements – complete with ringing pianos, echoing reverb, layered guitars, and harmonies – accent Costello’s melodies… It’s a dense but accessible pop record and ranks as his third masterpiece in a row.”
  • There are about 100 records we think deserve to be more popular with audiophiles, and Armed Forces is one of them.

This album checks off a number of our most-prized boxes:

Armed Forces is one of the best-sounding rock records ever made, and a copy like this is proof enough to back up that claim. The best copies are extremely transparent and silky sounding, but with unbelievably punchy, rock-solid bass and drums.

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Supertramp – Breakfast In America

More of the Music of Supertramp

  • Both sides of this vintage copy have stunning sound for the band’s Must Own 1979 release, earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • An excellent recording with huge, powerful, dynamic sound – the Tubey Magical richness of these sides will have your jaw on the floor
  • Turn it up good and loud and you will be amazed at how dynamic some of the guitar solos are.
  • As is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, there are some bad marks that play (most notably on “Take the Long Way Home” and “Casual Conversations”) but once you hear just how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The majority of the album consisted of tightly written, catchy, well-constructed pop songs, like the hits ‘The Logical Song,’ ‘Take the Long Way Home,’ and ‘Goodbye Stranger.'”

We’re always amazed by just how good the better copies of this album can sound — huge, spacious, punchy sound we can never get enough of around here. If you have big speakers, a great copy will blow your mind…and it will probably blow your mind even if you don’t!

We are not the least bit ashamed to say that we love this album here at Better Records, and a copy like this will certainly help to show you why. Drop the needle on “Gone Hollywood,” “The Logical Song” or “Take The Long Way Home” to hear how powerful this music can sound when you have a great pressing.

Most copies of this record are grainy, thin, shrill and aggressive. When you get a Hot Stamper like this one, the highs are sweet and silky. This recording has plenty of top end, so if the highs aren’t correct it pretty much ruins the sound of the record.

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The B-52’s / Self-Titled – A Proud Member of Our Top 100

More of the Music of The B-52’s

  • With an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two, this vintage pressing of The B-52’s’ debut album is overflowing with analog magic in its grooves – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Talk about sound that is positively jumpin’ out of the speakers – every instrument here is clear and present, laid out from wall to wall right in your listening room
  • Tubey Magic in 1979? Somehow they managed to pull it off. So dynamic too – what a recording!
  • The sound of the best pressings is raw, real and exceptionally unprocessed
  • A New Wave Classic, 5 stars in the All Music Guide: “These songs illustrated that the B-52’s’ adoration of camp culture… was a world view capable of turning out brilliant pop singles and, in turn, influencing mainstream pop culture… a hell of a good time.”

We think you will be surprised at just how good the sound can be. And you may or may not be surprised at just how FUN the music is.

Listen to the huge, spacious soundstage and amazingly rich, full-bodied and uncolored tonality that earned this recording a place in our Top 100.

Who knew that good sounding records were still being recorded in 1979? Candy-O comes to mind, but the B-52s’ first album has virtually none of the grit and Roy Thomas Baker heavy-processing of that one, and a lot more Tubey Magic to boot — when you get a pressing like this of course. (more…)

Tom Petty / Damn The Torpedoes

More of the Music of Tom Petty

  • Both sides of this vintage copy were giving us the hard rockin’ sound we were looking for
  • Credit for the tremendous presence and energy of the recording goes to the brilliant engineer Shelly Yakus
  • The better copies of Damn the Torpedoes are, simply put, the best sounding Tom Petty albums we have ever played
  • Tons of hits too: “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” and my favorite of the bunch, “Don’t Do Me Like That”
  • 5 stars: “Few mainstream rock albums of the late 70s and early 80s were quite as strong as this, and it still stands as one of the great records of the album rock era.”

Credit must obviously go to the man behind the console, Shelly Yakus, someone who we freely admit, now with a sense of embarrassment, has never been one of our favorite engineers. After hearing a White Hot Stamper pressing of Damn the Torpedoes and a killer copy of Animal Notes, we realize that we have been seriously underestimating the man.

If your Damn the Torpedoes doesn’t sound good (and it probably doesn’t), you sure can’t blame him — the master tape is mind-boggling in its size, weight, power and sheer rock n’ roll energy.

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Led Zeppelin – In Through The Out Door

More of the Music of Led Zeppelin

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this vintage copy of Zep’s final release
  • It’s all here: huge amounts of rock-solid bass, grungy guitars, breathy, natural vocals, and jump-out-of-the-speakers presence and energy
  • “Fool In The Rain” and “All My Love” are two of the best, and best sounding, tracks on the album
  • 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
  • “The album’s opening number, ‘In the Evening,’ with its stomping rhythms and heavy, staggered riffs, suggests that Zeppelin haven’t deviated from their course, but by the time the rolling shuffle of ‘South Bound Suarez’ kicks into gear, it’s apparent that they’ve regained their sense of humor.”
  • If you’re a Zep fan, this title from 1979 is surely a Must Own
  • The complete list of titles from 1980 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

This may not be Zep’s best album, but there are some great songs here, and the music really works when the sound is this good. (more…)

Rickie Lee Jones – Self-Titled

More of the Music of Rickie Lee Jones

  • You’ll find STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides of this vintage copy of Rickie Lee Jones’s debut LP
  • Exceptionally present, real and resolving, this pressing is guaranteed to murder any remastering undertaken by anyone, past, present and future
  • The superbly talented musicians and engineers deserve much of the credit for making this album a Grammy Winning Must Own audiophile favorite
  • Both of our two best sounding pressings had condition issues, as did many of the other copies we played, which we chalk up to the Warner Bros. quality control department of 1979
  • Not their finest hour, but at least they still knew how to record in rich, smooth, very real sounding analog as that decade came to a close
  • 4 stars: “One of the most impressive debuts for a singer/songwriter ever, this infectious mixture of styles not only features a strong collection of original songs but also a singer with a savvy, distinctive voice that can be streetwise, childlike, and sophisticated, sometimes all in the same song.”

This vintage Warner Brothers LP has the kind of Tubey Magical midrange that modern pressings barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back.

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Muddy Waters / Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • An early Blue Sky pressing (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 – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This side two is big, lively, and jumpin’ out of the speakers, and side one is not far behind in all those areas – just right for this down and dirty music
  • If you’re looking for a Hot Stamper Blues album to add a little variety to your collection, you can’t do much better this copy of Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live
  • “Accompanied by Johnny Winter and his band, Muddy Waters turns in an enthusiastic performance on Muddy ‘Mississippi’ Waters Live. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the sound quality and performances are mostly energetic… Muddy ‘Mississippi’ Waters Live is a nice addition to the Muddy Waters catalog…” -AllMusic

If you’ve got the system to play a record like this (the bigger the better), you can have Muddy Waters perform live in your listening room — eyes closed of course; you won’t be able to see him, but you sure will be able to hear him, and in shockingly realistic sound.

It’s amazing how well recorded Muddy’s later albums are. Who knew?

His earlier records on Chess may be better; can’t say, haven’t found too many that were in playable condition. But they sure won’t sound like this, or be pressed on quiet Blue Sky vinyl like this.

Muddy Waters won the Grammy three years in a row, for Hard Again (1977), I’m Ready (1978) and this album. At least one, and maybe even all three belong in any serious record collection (along with Dixon’s I Am the Blues).

This is Muddy Waters at his best. He’s going down to Florida, where the sun shines damn near every day, so catch him before he gets on his train. There won’t be many copies on the site like this one.

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Mussorgsky & Ravel – Pictures at an Exhibition

More of the Music of Modest Mussorgsky

  • With two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides, this British EMI import pressing is doing just about everything right – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Our favorite performance by far, with big, bold and powerful sonics like no other recording we know
  • The brass clarity, the dynamics, the deep bass and the sheer power of the orchestra are almost hard to believe
  • No vintage recording of these works compares with Muti’s – and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite is an extra special added bonus on side two
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we’ve awarded the honor of offering the best performances with the highest quality sound, and this record certainly deserve a place on that list.
  • If you like orchestral spectaculars, have we got amazing sounding records for you

This EMI import pressing gives you the complete Pictures at an Exhibition with a top performance and superb sonics.

As this is my All Time Favorite performance of Pictures, this record naturally comes very highly recommended. Pictures is a piece of music that has been recorded countless times, and I’ve played scores of different recordings, but the only one that truly satisfies is this one, Muti’s 1979 recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Much like Previn and the LSO’s performance of The Planets, he finds the music in the work that no one else seems to.

A Must Own Classical Record

This orchestral spectacular should be part of any serious Classical Collection. Other Must Own classical recordings can be found here.

For his 1979 review of the Mussorgsky, Robert Layton in the GRAMOPHONE writes of Muti and The Philadelphia Orchestra :

…what orchestral playing they offer us. The lower strings in ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle’ have an extraordinary richness, body and presence, and “Baba Yaga”, which opens the second side, has an unsurpassed virtuosity and attack as well as being of demonstration standard as a recording. The glorious body of tone, the richly glowing colours, the sheer homogeneity of the strings and perfection of the ensemble is a constant source of pleasure.

Of the performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird, Layton writes:

…Muti’s reading is second to none and the orchestral playing is altogether breathtaking. The recording is amazingly lifelike and truthful.

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