1981-best

Willie Nelson – Somewhere Over The Rainbow

More of the Music of Willie Nelson

  • Boasting KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish, this original Columbia pressing could not be beat
  • These sides are wonderfully rich, full-bodied and warm, yet clear, lively and dynamic
  • The Red-Headed Stranger arranges and sings a selection of 40s pop standards as only he can
  • “While it isn’t quite a continuation of what he did on Stardust and Always On My Mind, the record is a safe resting spot and something all… can enjoy.”

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Art Pepper – Winter Moon

More of the Music of Art Pepper

  • A Winter Moon like you’ve never heard, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage Galaxy pressing
  • The sound here is rich and Tubey Magical, which is the only way this music makes any sense on record
  • You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy that’s this well balanced, big and lively, with wonderful clarity in the mids and highs and Pepper’s sax front and center
  • Rosiny string texture is key to the best pressings – the ones that have the highest-resolution strings with the most sheen tend to do the best in our shootouts
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Pepper sounds quite inspired performing seven strong compositions highlighted by Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Winter Moon,’ ‘When the Sun Comes Out’ and a clarinet feature on ‘Blues in the Night.'”
  • If you’re a fan of Art’s, this is an excellent title from 1981 that belongs in your collection.

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The Pretenders – Pretenders II

More of the Music of The Pretenders

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  • Seriously good sound throughout this vintage copy (the first to hit the site in over three years), with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER
  • The right original British pressings are an audiophile dream when they have this kind of punchy bass and pile-driving energy
  • Bill Price engineered and Chris Thomas produced, brilliantly of course – you know them from the Sex Pistols’ debut and The Clash’s London Calling
  • 4 stars: “What’s more the unique American voice of Hynde matched with the tribal beat of Martin Chambers and spangly guitar of Honeyman-Scott was as close to perfect as a band could get in the late 70s.”
  • If you’re a fan of these hard-rockin’ Brits (with an American frontwoman), this classic from 1981 surely belongs in your collection.
  • The complete list of titles from 1981 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

If any of this commentary looks familiar there’s a simple explanation for that fact; it’s lifted practically wholesale from our listings for the first Pretenders album.

The two albums are twins, with the same engineer, the same producer, even the same band members, something that was regrettably and tragically to change soon enough. (more…)

Little Feat / Hoy-Hoy Sampler – A Demo Disc Disc Like No Other

More Rock and Pop Demo Discs

  • Knockout Demo Disc Rock and Roll sound for this amazing Little Feat EP, with both sides earning INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This is the Big Rock Sound we love – huge and punchy with plenty of space and a big bottom end
  • This EP may only hold four songs, but each is a Demo Disc track of the highest order

It may contain only a handful of tracks from the Hoy Hoy album but, folks, stunning sound doesn’t begin to do justice to this EP. I would state categorically that there is not a single rock record on the TAS List that can hold a candle to it in terms of live-rock-in-your-living-room blasting power. This is one of the most Amazing Demo Discs of All Time. If it were an album I would put it on a Top Ten Best Sounding Rock and Pop List (if we had such a thing).

It’s really not fair to judge the Harry’s List by records like this, which have never been the man’s forte. We, on the other hand, know these kinds of records about as well as anyone can, and to prove it we would love to send you this copy.

And do you know how we discovered it many, many years ago? We had a couple of these promos lying around, and after shooting out the Hot Stamper Hoy-Hoys, we figured what the hell, throw one of them on just for fun. To our shock and dismay, it blew the doors off our BEST Hot Stamper pressings song for song. As good as those album sides sound, the EP took the same material to an entirely new level of sonic splendor.

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Elvis Costello – Trust

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, this original UK import pressing is guaranteed to handily beat any other Trust you’ve heard
  • This copy has Demo Disc sound guaranteed to knock you right out of your listening chair (particularly on side one)
  • The clarity and transparency on this side one allow you to appreciate subtleties in the high end even when the bass and drums are really pounding, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • 5 stars: “…their most ambitious and eclectic album to date… Costello & the Attractions demonstrate their musical skill and savvy by essentially sticking to the direct sound of their four-piece band. In the process, they recorded, arguably, their most impressive album, one that demonstrates all sides of Costello’s songwriting and performing personality without succumbing to pretentiousness.”
  • 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.”
  • Trust is a good example of a record many audiophiles would benefit from knowing better.

This copy has the big sound that lets this music really rock. There’s a ton of low-end on this record; regrettably, most copies suffer from either a lack of bass or a lack of bass definition. I can’t tell you how much you’re missing when the bass isn’t right on this album. It’s without a doubt the single most important aspect of the sound on this album.

When the bass is right, everything falls into place, and the music comes powerfully to life. When the bass is lacking or ill-defined, the music seems labored; the moment-to-moment rhythmic changes in the songs blur together, and the band just doesn’t swing the way it’s supposed to.

Rave Reviews

I pretty much agree with the AMG review below.

Trust, along with My Aim Is True and Armed Forces, is as good as it gets for Elvis on LP. All three are absolute Must Owns that belong in any serious rock collection.

This is that rare breed of music that never sounds dated (especially considering the era in which it was produced). Music with real depth such as this only gets better with the passage of time. The more you play it, the more you appreciate it, and the more you love it.

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Tom Petty – Hard Promises

More of the Music of Tom Petty

  • A Hard Promises like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Recorded at Sound City, home to some of the greatest analog sound ever recorded, this 1981 Backstreet pressing still has plenty of analog magic in its grooves
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…filled with great songwriting, something that’s as difficult to achieve as a distinctive sound… ‘The Waiting’ became the best-known song on the record, but there’s no discounting ‘A Woman in Love,’ ‘Nightwatchman,’ ‘Kings Road,’ and ‘The Criminal Kind,’ album tracks that would become fan favorites… it has a tremendous set of songs and a unified sound that makes it one of Petty’s finest records.”
  • If you’re a fan of Tom Petty and his hard-rockin’ bandmates, this is a classic from 1981 that belongs in your collection

The album tends to be bright, thin, edgy, pinched and gritty — radio friendly, maybe, but not especially audiophile friendly.

We hate that sound but we are happy to report that some copies manage to avoid it, and this is one of them.

Is that richer, fuller sound the sound of what’s on the master tape or did the mastering engineer “fix” it?

We’ll never know, obviously. How could we?

What we do know is the sound of the pressings we actually have to play, and this one is killer.

Recorded by Shelly Yakus at Sound City, Van Nuys and at Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA, this vintage Backstreet pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.

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The Cars – Shake It Up

More of the Music of The Cars

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides, this vintage copy is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Shake It Up you’ve heard – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • It wouldn’t be a Cars Hot Stamper pressing without big, bold sound flying out of the speakers and friends, let me tell you, this baby’s got that in spades
  • Outstanding sound for some of their most memorable songs – “Since You’re Gone,” “Shake It Up,” “I’m Not the One,” “A Dream Away” and more
  • “The band’s sound may have been evolving with each succeeding album, but Ric Ocasek was still writing compelling new wave compositions despite all the change, many of which would ultimately become rock and roll standards.”

If you have big dynamic speakers and like to rock, you can’t go wrong with a Hot Stamper copy of Shake It Up. For a band with thin ties, leather jackets, jangly guitars, synths and monstrously huge floor toms that fly back and forth across the soundstage, Shake It Up is going to be the record for you, no doubt about it.

The first two Cars albums were both in our Top 100 at one time, with good reason: they’re superb recordings. The Cars have been in “heavy rotation” on my system since the albums came out in the late 70s. We started doing shootouts for both albums right around 2006 or 2007 and they continue to be a regular feature of our rock and pop section, not to mention some of the most fun shootouts we do in any given week.

Before then had you ever read a word in any audiophile or record collecting publication about how amazing the originals can sound? Of course not. These people wouldn’t know a good record from a hole in the ground. If anything the typical audiophile probably has one or both of the disastrous Nautilus half-speed mastered versions, and, having played them, would not be inclined to think highly of the sound.

We knew better than to waste our time with that muck. Recently Mobile Fidelity has taken upon itself to remaster a selection of the band’s titles with the same flawed half-speed mastering approach. We haven’t played any of them and don’t intend to. We know that sound and we don’t like it.

Our point, other than to bash a record we have never played, is simply this: if you have any of those MoFi versions, we would love to send you a Hot Stamper copy of the album so that you can hear for yourself what it’s really supposed to sound like.

The End of the Cars Production Line

I consider this to be one of the last good records the Cars made. Side one is fairly consistent, with the first three tracks all being excellent. Side two starts out with one of their best songs, “A Dream Away,” which is a personal favorite of mine.

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James Taylor / Dad Loves His Work

More of the Music of James Taylor

  • This original Columbia pressing of JT’s 1981 release boasts incredible shootout winning sound – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both of these sides are exceptionally rich, Tubey Magical and spacious – thanks, Val Garay!
  • We were knocked out at how good this album sounds on a great pressing like this one – one of the more impressive 80s pop recordings we’ve played in some time
  • The sound may be heavily processed, but that kind of sound works surprisingly well on the highest quality pressings
  • 4 stars: “James Taylor bounced back from the spotty Flag with this all-original album led by his collaboration with J.D. Souther on ‘Her Town Too,’ his biggest pop hit since ‘Handy Man,’ and his biggest non-cover hit since his first, ‘Fire And Rain’…”
  • If you’re a fan of JT’s, or Folky Pop in general, this has to be seen as a top title from 1981.
  • 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. Dad Loves His Work is a good example of a record many audiophiles would benefit from knowing better.

The soundstage and depth on our best Hot Stamper copies is HUGE — this is without a doubt the most spacious recording by James Taylor we’ve ever heard. If you want your speakers to disappear, replaced by a huge studio full of musicians playing their hearts out, this is the album that can do it.

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Men At Work – Business As Usual

More Titles Only Offered on Import Vinyl

  • This excellent UK import copy (one of only a handful to hit the site in three years) boasts two solid Double Plus (A++) sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • “Who Can It Be Now” and “Down Under” are the big hits, and we guarantee you’ve never heard them sound as good as they do on this vintage pressing
  • Big and full-bodied, and much smoother than most, with an abundance of energy, the sound here immediately set the sonic bar very high
  • “The production sound was low-key, but clean and uncluttered. Indeed, the songs stood by themselves with little embellishment save for a bright, melodic, singalong quality.”
  • In our opinion, Business As Usual is the band’s best sounding album, and probably the only Men at Work record you’ll ever need. Click on this link to see more titles we like to call one and done.

As a bit of background just in case you are not familiar with the album, the domestic pressings are horrendously bright. We have never played one that didn’t sound like the treble was jacked up to a level just this side of ear-bleed.

The only way to hear this album sound right is on Australian, Dutch, British and, more than a little surprisingly, even Japanese vinyl. Yes, we have heard them all. We’ve liked about one out of every one hundred Japanese pressings we’ve played over the last twenty years. We were surprised to find that the Japanese copy of Business As Usual we played many years ago was pretty good, for what that’s worth.

(We can’t be sure that on our current system with our current ears we would feel the same.)

We tend to prefer the Brits but it seems that any import is worth a listen. The key, as always, is in the mastering and pressing.

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Squeeze – East Side Story

More Squeeze

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them throughout, this original British A&M pressing is guaranteed to handily beat any other East Side Story you’ve heard – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • The sound on side two of this superb import is rich, full-bodied, lively, and warm, with solid bass and breathy, clear vocals, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • Don’t waste your money on whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – if you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of Squeeze’s fourth studio album, a vintage 80s pressing like this one is the only way to go (particularly on this side two)
  • 5 stars: “…it stands as Squeeze’s tour de force, the best pop band of their time stretching every one of its muscles.”

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