1987

Simply Red – Men and Women

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More Rock and Pop

  • Simply Red’s sophomore LP makes its Hot Stamper debut with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout this original import pressing – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides are amazing clear and transparent, with present and breathy vocals throughout
  • Analog at its Tubey Magical finest – you’ll never play a CD (or any other digitally sourced material) that sounds as good as this record as long as you live
  • “…the album holds up as a solid and assured work, and the musicianship is as stellar as you’d expect.”

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Whitney Houston – Whitney

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  • A vintage Arista pressing (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in close to three years) with surprisingly natural sound for an 80s release, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades from first note to last – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Full-bodied, big, rich and solid, this album has the kind of analog sound we did not expect to find, but were pleasantly surprised, thank goodness
  • Lot of hits here: “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”
  • 4 stars: “Whitney Houston became an international star with this album. It sold more than ten million copies around the world, yielded a string of number one hit singles across the board…”

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Joe Satriani – Surfing With The Alien

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  • Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this vintage copy of Joe Satriani’s sophomore release (one of only a handful to hit the site in nearly three years) was giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for
  • Trust me on this one – you’re going to have a difficult and (and expensive) adventure trying to find a great sounding copy of this album on your own
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Joe Satriani’s 1987 breakthrough can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late 80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred.”

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INXS – Kick

More Rock and Pop

  • With two killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sides, this copy is practically as good as we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner
  • Surprisingly rich and full-bodied, the better copies really rock with big bass and punchy drums
  • The Big Rock sound comes courtesy of Chris Thomas‘s production and Bob Clearmountain‘s mix
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Kick is an impeccably crafted pop tour de force, the band succeeding at everything they try. Every track has at least a subtly different feel from what came before it; INXS freely incorporates tense guitar riffs, rock & roll anthems, swing-tinged pop/rock, string-laden balladry, danceable pop-funk, horn-driven 60s soul, 80s R&B, and even a bit of the new wave-ish sound they’d started out with.”

These Nearly White Hot Stamper pressings have top-quality sound that’s often surprisingly close to our White Hots, but they sell at substantial discounts to our Shootout Winners, making them a relative bargain in the world of Hot Stampers (“relative” meaning relative considering the prices we charge). We feel you get what you pay for here at Better Records, and if ever you don’t agree, please feel free to return the record for a full refund, no questions asked.

Vintage covers for this album are hard to find in exceptionally clean shape. Most of the will have at least some amount of ringwear, seam wear and edge wear. We guarantee that the cover we supply with this Hot Stamper is at least VG

For a recording from 1987, there is a surprising amount of Tubey Magical analog sound to be found here.

There is almost always a trace of hardness in the loudest vocal parts; that’s where the 1987 recording technology raises its head, but the better copies such as this one keep it to a bare minimum.

The copies that were the richest and had the biggest bottom end, without being smeary or dark from a lack of top tended to do the best in our shootout. The copies that lacked weight or lower midrange fullness were most often rejected; rhythmically driven Funk Rock simply doesn’t work without plenty of richness and bass.

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Los Lobos – By the Light of the Moon

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  • This original Slash pressing was doing just about everything right, earning outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Both sides are rich and smooth like good ANALOG should be, with plenty of energy and rock and roll drive
  • Guaranteed to be a huge improvement over anything you’ve heard, this copy is big, punchy, and full-bodied with excellent presence
  • 4 stars: “While the soundtrack album to the movie La Bamba, released the same year, captured Los Lobos at their most carefree and high-spirited as they called up the spirit of Ritchie Valens, By the Light of the Moon showed the other side of the coin as the group looked into the hearts and souls of themselves and the community around them, and if it’s a harder album to enjoy than those that preceded it, its depth rewards repeated listenings.”

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Benny Carter / Meets Oscar Peterson – A Pablo We Liked Back in the Day

More of the Music of Benny Carter

More of the Music of Oscar Peterson

We used to like this record back in the day. Have not played it in 15 years so it’s hard to say what we would think of it now. Probably still pretty good, somewhere in the B range.

“Benny Carter had recorded with pianist Oscar Peterson back in the early ’50s for Norman Granz’s Verve label. More than 30 years, later he teamed up with Peterson again, this time for Granz’s Pablo company. There was no sign of decline or disillusionment in either of the co-leaders’ playing; in fact, if anything, they had improved with age. Joined by guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Dave Young and drummer Martin Drew, Carter and Peterson are both in a joyous mood and in typically swinging form on six standards and a blues.” — AMG

This is an Older Jazz 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.)

We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.

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Basia – Time and Tide

More of Basia

More Records We Only Offer on Import Vinyl

  • This outstanding pressing of Time and Tide boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The sound is rich and Tubey Magical, yet transparent and spacious in the way that only the best vintage pressings ever are
  • Allmusic: “This is sophisticated pop music that sounds ideal for playing in any number of upholstered locations — a black-tie cocktail party, a fashion-show runway, the back seat of a limousine. Basia’s lightly accented voice adds an exotic flavor to the Euro-disco style of the music.”

Man, here is the Audiophile Pop Sound we go absolutely CRAZY for here at Better Records. Toto Shmoto, THIS is Pure Pop for Audiophile Now People like nothing you have ever heard.

You will have a very hard time finding another modern recording (this one is from the ’80s so those of you who don’t like synths steer clear) with the kind of formidable MIDRANGE POWER heard here.

It must be on the tape, right? Who knew?! Somehow it managed to make it to the record.

Demo disc qualities? Too many to list! Spacious, rich, present, punchy bass, yada yada yada, you know all our favorites by now I’m sure. They’re all here and more.

YOU Pronounce It

Basia (nee Barbara Trzetrzelewska) exploded on the scene with this outstanding debut. Songs like New Day For You and Promises were all over AOR radio, which made me immediately dismiss her as a TOP 40 One-or-Two-Hit-Wonder, but I was wrong. This whole album is overflowing with cleverly arranged, beautifully sung, well-written popular songs about the stuff pop songs are mostly written about: love.

Time and Tide

Her one Killer Pop Song for the Ages is here: Time and Tide. If you aren’t impressed by the complexity and sheer length of the melody line, then you are one hard-to-please pop person. That song ranks up with the greatest Three Minute Wonders ever produced.

A Final Note

The CBS Gold CD of the album is far better than the stock copy I own, and actually quite good. But it sure won’t sound like this.

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Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction

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  • A KILLER copy of band’s debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Hard rockin’ energy to spare, the kind you will be hard-pressed to find on any modern Heavy Vinyl reissue these days – Appetite for Destruction is big and bold and simply amazing here
  • Turn this one up – on a pressing this good, the louder you play it, the better it sounds
  • 5 stars: “. . . as good as Rose’s lyrics and screeching vocals are, they wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the twin-guitar interplay of Slash and Izzy Stradlin, who spit out riffs and solos better than any band since the Rolling Stones, and that’s what makes Appetite for Destruction the best metal record of the late ’80s.”

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U2 – The Joshua Tree

More U2

More 5 Star Albums

  • An outstanding pressing with excellent sound throughout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Big and rich, with correct tonality from top to bottom, strong bass and plenty of space – this copy sounded just right to us
  • Stunning sound for the album’s biggest hits, including With Or Without You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, and Where the Streets Have No Name
  • 5 stars: “With the uniformly excellent songs… the result is a powerful, uncompromising record that became a hit due to its vision and its melody. Never before have U2’s big messages sounded so direct and personal”
  • Based on the U2 albums we have played, we must consider this the band’s Magnum Opus, their single greatest achievement. We don’t know of any U2 album with better music or better sound.
  • Better music, absolutely. Better sound? We grade albums on a curve, so the most we can say for this album is that the best pressings strike us as being the truest to the intentions of the artists and engineers. Not Demo Discs by any means, but records that sound right for who made them and when they were made.
  • This is also the last U2 album we have found with much in the way of audiophile quality sound, since the dreadful Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop were the next three to be released, and we have never cared for any of them.

The soundstage is huge, and the overall quality of the recording is big and bold. Most copies of this album are either thin, shrill and aggressive — like most U2 albums — or thick and veiled. This one is smooth and natural sounding, with the added benefit of some deep punchy bass. (more…)

R.E.M. – Document

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  • This original I.R.S. pressing has insanely good Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • You will not believe how punchy, lively, dynamic, and exciting these sides are
  • Clean and clear and open are nice qualities to have, but rich and smooth are harder to come by on this record – yet here they are!
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made all the more indelible by its righteous anger. In other words, it’s not only a commercial breakthrough, but a creative breakthrough as well, offering evidence of R.E.M.’s growing depth and maturity…”

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