1979

XTC / Drums and Wires – Reviewed in 2010

This is an original Minty Virgin British Import LP that includes a bonus 7-inch single. The record plays quietly and sounds EXCELLENT! 

“The album that followed the lineup change, Drums and Wires, marks a turning point for the band, with a more subdued set of songs that reflect an increasing songwriting proficiency. The aimless energy of the first two albums is focused into a cohesive statement with a distinctive voice that retains their clever humor, quirky wordplay, and decidedly British flavor.” – AMG

This is an Older Review.

Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into a fine art.

We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the Sonic Grades and Vinyl Playgrades are listed separately.)

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Aerosmith – Night In The Ruts

  • A KILLER copy of Night In The Ruts with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – we’ve never heard the record sound better
  • Both sides of this original Columbia pressing are doing everything right — big, rich and full-bodied yet still clean, clear and lively
  • Lauded by Steven Tyler as his favorite Aerosmith album, this collection includes “Mia,” a lullaby Tyler wrote for his daughter
  • “While the band looks back upon this period as hazy and frustrating, Night in the Ruts is a surprisingly coherent and inspired album. … it was definitely leaner and more focused than their last studio release.”

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Myrow & Seagrave – Phantasm (OST)

  • A stunning sounding copy of this Varese Sarabande TAS list record with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades
  • These sides are clean, clear and dynamic yet still super rich and full-bodied with plenty of bottom end weight; exceptionally quiet vinyl too!
  • “The music by Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave is properly eerie and involving.” – The Hollywood Reporter
  • “Their magnificent theme is an integral component of the worldwide success of Phantasm and its several acclaimed sequels.” – Liner Notes

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Bill Evans & Toots Thielemans – Affinity

More Bill Evans

This is a unique jazz album (in my experience, anyway) with very good sound. Piano with harmonica accompaniment is something I’ve never heard before, and most of the time it actually works. Both of these guys are top flight musicians, and their ability to communicate in order to create this wonderful improvisational jazz is a joy to experience.

Side Two

White Hot — nothing could touch it. The sound is especially lively and clear, with highly resolving sound that lets you hear all the nuances and harmonics of every instrument.

Exceptionally open and spacious. Love that studio!

Side One

Nearly as good in every way, perhaps falling short a bit in the realm of resolution, but clearly superior to almost every other copy we played. (more…)

Bee Gees / Spirits Having Flown – Our Shootout Winner from 2012

We sat down with a big stack of pressings recently and only found a few that really had their mojo workin’. This copy was one of the best we heard, earning an A+++ grade on side one — where the best songs are found — and performing quite well on side two also (A+ to A++). The energy factor is off the charts on side one, and that’s exactly what this music needs to really come to life. You are going to be surprised how rich and full-bodied this album can sound when you have a great copy like this.

Variety is the spice of life, and since we can’t play Neil Young records every week we decided to take this disco classic for a spin. We were very impressed with the better pressings, but most copies we played bored us to tears. Most copies are just too thin and dry to take seriously, and even the richer and fuller ones usually lacked too much in the way of life or immediacy. (more…)

Bonnie Raitt / The Glow – Our Shootout Winner from 2012

More of the Music of Bonnie Raitt

After a nearly two year hiatus, finally, a Top Copy makes it to the site. Side one here is nearly White Hot (A++ to A+++), which means it finished just a half step behind our shootout winner. It’s got that big, rich, solid ANALOG Val Garay (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) sound that we go crazy for here at Better Records (where the records are still made from analog tapes, even if it’s only because there aren’t any other kind to make them from!).

And side two is nearly as good, earning Two big Pluses for itself for Bonnie’s-in-the-room-with-you presence and huge Disappearing-Speaker-Effect presentation. It may not have all the space within the soundstage as the best we played. but it’s as wide and as tall as any. Either way, it certainly is impressive. On big speakers, you are there.

The Glow’s best material can be found in the deeper cuts — I would point potential listeners in the direction of Your Good Thing (Is About to End) on side one — with an amazing sax solo (he holds the patent in perpetuity) courtesy of David Sanborn, and (Goin’) Wild for You Baby at the end of side two. Once you get past the more radio-friendly lead-off tracks on both sides, the quality of the writing and performing improve markedly. (more…)

Art Pepper – Straight Life

More Art Pepper

More Jazz Recordings featuring the Saxophone

This Jazz Classic boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound, or close to it, from first note to last. The two long ballads, “September Song” at over ten minutes, and “Nature Boy” at just under ten, give Art and the boys a chance to stretch out and take it to another level.

Art Pepper’s saxophone sound is just right — present, breathy and airy with clear leading edge transients. The lineup on this LP is truly stellar, especially for 1979, with the legendary Tommy Flanagan on piano, Billy Higgins on drums, and the great Red Mitchell on bass. (more…)

Foreigner – Head Games

More Foreigner

More Rock Classics

  • This outstanding copy of the band’s third album earned outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • One of the better copies from our recent shootout – big, bold and lively with a punchy bottom end 
  • With plenty of energy, killer rock bass, and clear, present vocals, this pressing has all the key qualities we look for in a Foreigner record
  • 4 stars: “Foreigner continued its platinum winning streak on Head Games, the band’s third album… and the supergroup’s successes would continue well into the ’80s.”

This copy showed us just how good this album can sound — BIG, rich and ENERGETIC.

As I’m sure you know, there is a Mobile Fidelity Half-Speed Mastered version of this album currently in print and I can only imagine how terrible it sounds. 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.

What’s key to the sound of Foreigner’s records? Obviously, the big one would have to be ENERGY, a subject we have discussed at length here on the site.

Next would be punchy ROCK BASS, followed by clear, present vocals. Those would be the big three. (more…)

Charles Mingus – Me Myself an Eye

More of the Music of Charles Mingus

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Charles Mingus

If you hear something that sounds like Frank Zappa’s music circa Waka Jawaka, don’t be surprised, we heard it too. Mingus and Zappa were both eccentric geniuses so it only makes sense that they arrived at some of the same musical ideas as they evolved as composers. 

Side one is big, rich, Tubey Magical and natural. The saxophone that solos is front and center and lively. Above all the music works on this side.

Side two is especially rich and tubey. It will sound thick and dark unless you get the volume up to the level it wants to be for the mix to work (which simply means that the album was balanced at louder levels to sound correct at louder levels). A little more top end extension would be nice but the music sounds right on the copy the way it is. (more…)

Willie Nelson – Sweet Memories

More Willie Nelson

More Country and Country Rock

Excellent sound for these tough-to-come-by early Willie Nelson songs! This is a compilation of material from some of Willie’s earlier albums, records that are very hard to find these days and almost impossible to find with great sound and clean surfaces. Fortunately, this record was cut very well, giving us a chance to hear just how good this music can sound.   

This album features a bunch of Willie originals plus great covers of Help Me Make It Through The Night, Everybody’s Talkin’ and Both Sides Now. Tracking down the original albums these songs come from would be a tough task for anyone, and acquiring Hot Stamper copies would be prohibitively expensive for all but the most die-hard fans of the Red Headed Stranger. (more…)