1983-best

Mark Knopfler – Local Hero

More Dire Straits

  • A KILLER Vertigo import pressing of Knopfler’s 1983 soundtrack album, with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on both sides
  • This one is doing everything right – it’s bigger, bolder, richer and more clean, clear and open than anything else we played
  • As good as the Warner Brothers pressings might be, we think these Vertigo originals are a step up in class
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler’s intricate, introspective finger-picked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth’s comedy film, Local Hero… The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler’s more memorable melodies.”

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Eurythmics – Touch

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  • The Eurythmics third studio album was their breakthrough, and here it is with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound
  • This copy was surprisingly rich, smooth and analog sounding, with an especially nice weighty quality to Lennox’s powerful vocals
  • Includes some of the most memorable synth-pop anthems of the era – “Here Comes The Rain Again,” Who’s That Girl?” and more
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The cool, sophisticated musical experimentalism all over Touch cemented Eurythmics’ reputation as one of the most innovative duos of their time… Touch is a testament to what Eurythmics were at the height of their electronic-techno phase and, without doubt, is a milestone in 1980s pop music.”
  • If you’re a Eurythmics fan, this title from 1983 is surely a Must Own
  • The complete list of titles from 1983 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

We’ve tried a fair number of this band’s albums and to be honest, every one but this one has had horribly bright, overly-processed, distorted sound, even on import vinyl.

Until we run across something a lot better than what we have been auditioning, this will be the only title we can offer as a Hot Stamper from Eurythmics. (more…)

Count Basie – 88 Basie Street

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Labels We Love – Pablo

  • With KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from first note to last, this copy was getting the sound of this big band right
  • This is a Top Basie Big Band title in every way — musically, sonically, you name it, 88 Basie Street has got it going on!
  • With 18 pieces in the studio this is a real powerhouse – the sound is is rich, full and HUGE
  • 4 stars: “One of Basie’s final albums, the very appealing title cut seems to sum up his career, a lightly swinging groove with a strong melody. Two small-group performances with guest Joe Pass on guitar add variety to a particularly strong set.”
  • If you’re a Count Basie fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this title from 1983 is surely a Must Own
  • The complete list of titles from 1980 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

This album can be a real powerhouse — if you have the right copy — and this killer pressing can show you just how lively and dynamic this music can be. It’s a true Demo Disc, no doubt about it.

Both sides here have real strength down low, nice extension up top, and incredible clarity and transparency. Play this one good and loud and put yourself front and center for a rip-roarin’ performance led by the king Bill (The Count) Basie.

We’ve become huge fans of these Basie Big Band records. Allen Sides knew just how to record this stuff by the time Basie came around to Pablo — on the best pressings you can hear that this is big band music recorded just right. The sound is clean and clear with excellent transparency and the kind of separation between the instruments that lets you appreciate the contributions of each player. (more…)

Huey Lewis & The News – Sports

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  • This superb copy of Sports boasts Shootout Winning Triple Plus Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side two married with an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side one – mostly quiet vinyl too
  • The bass is tight, the drum hits are BIG, the guitars are meaty with lots of texture and the energy level is off the charts!
  • 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
  • 4 1/2 stars: “There’s a reason why well over half of the album… were huge American hit singles — they have instantly memorable hooks, driven home with economical precision by a tight bar band, who are given just enough polish to make them sound like superstars.”

Here’s another great example of an album we had pretty much forgotten about over the years that completely re-earned our respect after hearing it come to life on the good copies. The songs are great, the band is on fire and the sound is wonderful throughout.

Most copies are somewhat flat, dry and grainy, but a pressing like this is an entirely different story. The sound is much more analog — rich, smooth and full — and you get more energy as well as a strong, punchy bottom end. The bass is tight, the drum hits are BIG and the guitars are meaty with lots of texture. (more…)

ZZ Top – Eliminator

More ZZ Top

  • A SUPERB copy of Eliminator with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it from first note to last on this original Warner Brothers pressing – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • We guarantee the sound is dramatically bigger, richer, fuller, and livelier than any pressing you have ever heard
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The songs alone would have made Eliminator one of ZZ Top’s three greatest albums, but their embrace of synths and sequencers made it a blockbuster hit, since it was the sound of the times.”

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Talking Heads / Speaking in Tongues – Our Shootout Winner from Way Back

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White Hot Stampers discovered, hot enough to burn down the house! We just finished a HUGE shootout for the last great Talking Heads album and were as pleased as punch to finally hear a few copies of this album that deliver the same kind of magic that we’ve been getting on the better pressings of Little Creatures. Most copies of Speaking In Tongues are too flat, dry and veiled to get worked up about, but this one shows you that excellent sound for this album is indeed possible, albeit very difficult to find.

We’re serious Talking Heads fans here at Better Records, as you may have gathered by now. Not only is their music completely innovative and original, but their recordings are as well. That’s not to say that their records are Demo Discs along the lines of Tea For The Tillerman, Fragile or Abbey Road, but when you find a killer copy of any of their albums you can’t help but notice how much work they put into making them.

We played a ton of copies before we even heard a hint of the magic we were hoping for. Most of them sounded like CDs. When you turned up the volume, sure they got louder, but they didn’t really get any better. That’s a sure sign of a mediocre pressing, and it just kept happening over and over again in the shootout. Just as we were about to throw up our hands and give up, a copy hit the table with enough analog qualities to rope us back in. We added a little extra volume and started to hear the qualities that we needed from this music: rich, full mids; punchy bass; breathy vocals; and above all, ENERGY. On a Hot Stamper copy with the traits listed above, the music becomes involving and vital. If Burning Down The House doesn’t get you moving to the beat, what’s the point? (more…)

Bill Evans – The Paris Concert: Edition One

More Bill Evans

  • An outstanding copy of this live album, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last – reasonably quiet vinyl for this kind of quiet piano music
  • These sides are doing pretty much everything right – as befits a live concert, there’s an overall unprocessed quality to the sound and good space around all three players
  • 4 1/2 stars: “With bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe La Barbera, Evans had one of the strongest trios of his career… The close communication between the players is reminiscent of Evans’ 1961 unit with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian.”

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Count Basie – Me and You

  • An excellent sounding copy of Basie’s 1983 release, with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Forget 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 this wonderful session from 1983, this is the only way to go 
  • This is the Basie Big Band album that came out right after 88 Basie Street, a hard act to follow – top engineering by Dennis Sands
  • “… recorded only a little more than a year before his death. However, the spirit of this music (helped out by some Ernie Wilkins) arrangements) make Count Basie seem ageless.”

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Count Basie & Oscar Peterson – The Timekeepers

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Oscar Peterson

Hot Stamper sound on both sides of this Pablo original pressing of the Two Masters in a small group setting. Basie and Peterson recorded five albums together, and this may very well be the best of the bunch, though I have yet to hear one that I didn’t enjoy. I wrote a rave review about this title when I first heard it more than ten years ago. If you like small group piano jazz — here we’re talking two pianists accompanied by Louie Bellson on drums and John Heard on bass — this should be right up your alley. 

Side One

Big, rich pianos. Everything here is clear with no smear, with a fair amount of space. This side is a bit opaque compared to the best we heard, and the bass isn’t quite as deep as it was on the top copies, but overall this side is doing most of what we wanted it to.

Side Two

This side is lively and tonally correct — getting the music right — but lacks extension on both ends. (more…)

R.E.M. – Murmur

  • For the first time ever — a stunning sounding copy with Triple Plus (A+++) sound on the first side and Double Plus (A++) on the second
  • Both sides here are big and full yet still clean, clear and open with a punchy bottom end
  • 5 Stars: “R.E.M. may have made albums as good as Murmur in the years following its release, but they never again made anything that sounded quite like it.”

This is certainly one of the best sounding copies of Murmur that we’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Fans of the band’s music will have a hard time finding better sound for the album than this very copy, that’s for sure. We guarantee it will murder anything you have ever heard. And if you own the ridiculously thick and opaque MoFi pressing from the ’90s then you are really in for a treat! (more…)