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Face Value with Hugh Padgham’s Big Drum Sound

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Phil Collins Available Now

There may be some hope for Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982), but Phil’s third album, 1985’s No Jacket Required, sounds digital and way too heavily processed.

I suppose not many albums from 1985 weren’t, but it’s still an unfortunate development for us audiophile types who might’ve wanted to enjoy these albums but are just not able to get past the ridiculously bad sound. (If we ever do a listing for it, you can be sure it will go right into our hall of shame.)

The recording of Face Value is still analog and the quality is excellent, thanks to hugely talented engineer and producer Hugh Padgham (Peter Gabriel, Genesis, The Police, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, etc.)

On the best copies, the sound is nothing short of superb.

Check out Phil’s take on Tomorrow Never Knows for some heavily reverbed vocal effects, complete with a slew of backwards psychedelic sounds. If anybody can play the weirdly syncopated rhythms of TNK, it’s Phil Collins.

Whomp!

Until we heard some of the better copies, we were never able to appreciate just how important bass definition and weight are to the sound of this record. When the bass is wooly or thin, as it is on so many copies — not clear, not deep, not full enough — it throws the rest of the mix off.

When the bass is huge and powerful, the music itself becomes huge and powerful.

The copies with the big bottom end are the only ones that really make you sit up and take notice of just how big the sound is. The best Hot Stamper pressings will be Demo Discs for bass on big speakers at loud levels. Here are some others you may enjoy reading about.

After moving into our new custom-built studio and spending a few months optimizing the room treatments, we now have even more transparency in the mids and highs, while improving the whomp factor (the formula goes like this: deep bass + mid bass + speed + dynamics + energy = whomp) at the listening position.

There’s always tons of bass being produced when you have three 12′ woofers firing away, but getting the bass out of the corners and into the center of the room is one of the toughest tricks in all of audio.

Transparency Is Key

Phil’s lead and harmony vocals are both breathy and present on the best copies, with natural, not hyped-up, texture, and harmonics. This is especially important for the love songs.

The many ballads on the album — This Must Be Love and If Leaving Me Is Easy are two of our favorites — don’t work unless the sound is intimate and immediate.

Only the best pressings have the high-resolution, full-bodied sound that allows both the rockers and the ballads to sound their best.

If you’re a fan of big drums in a big room, with jump out of the speakers sound, this is the album for you.

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On Our Top Copy of Face Value, How Did We Know that One Side Lacked Weight?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Phil Collins Available Now

We described our most recent shootout-winning pressing this way:

An early UK copy of Phil Collins’s killer solo debut with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a nearly as good side one.

The recording of this album is still analog and the quality is excellent, thanks to hugely talented engineer and producer Hugh Padgham (Peter Gabriel, Genesis, The Police, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, etc.).

Song after song, Collins’s songwriting and musicianship shine with this breakout record, the first and clearly the best of all his solo albums. The sound on the better copies is vibrant, with superb extension on the top, punchy bass, and excellent texture on the drums and percussion, as well as spacious strings and vocals.

Side two was killer in every way, and the way we know that is we played a bunch of copies and nothing could beat it. This side two took top honors for having exactly the sound we described above.

For Those About to Rock

Of special interest to those of you who would like to do your own shootouts for the album are some of the specific notes we took:

The third track is “much less pinched,” with the most warmth and the least hardness.

Those are the areas that set this killer side two apart — it wasn’t as pinched and hard as most copies, and it had more warmth. Listen for those three things on the third track of the second side and you might just find it’s a lot easier to pick a winner.

Side one was doing great in many areas. Track three (again) was punchy, rich and relaxed, with no hardness.

It had most, but not all of the weight.

Same story as side two. Listen for all those qualities, especially hardness and how much weight you can hear on the first side. You will need big speakers to do this shootout, and don’t be afraid to turn them up.

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Letter of the Week – “I quickly sold all those [audiophile] copies and began building a real world-class collection of Hot Stamper level records.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Hall and Oates Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

I want to thank you once again.

Quite a few years ago now I contacted you and talked about this concept called “Hot Stampers.” It ended up both saving me a lot of misdirection and foolishly trying to rebuild my vinyl collection with new vinyl re-releases often called “audiophile” and “Half-Speed” issues.

After a few confirmations of what you said, I quickly sold all those copies and began building a real world class collection of vinyl “original” Hot Stamper level records. A good number came from your business and I also made a hobby of trying to do what you do in finding “Hot Stampers.”

Fortunately Philadelphia has a reasonable number of used record stores but unfortunately, as you well know, this is a rigorous and costly endeavor, but it can be rewarding at times and at other times requires that I rely on you.

So today I’m snowed in here and I fired up the rig and decided to do some small scale shootouts and find the true great copies from my already culled collection.

Put on several Hall and Oates and focused on “She’s Gone.” One was just clearly dynamic, clear and present.

Then I put on several Dire Straits “Love Over Gold” and ended up with 3 killer copies (such a good LP).

I then put on about 5 copies of Phil Collins “Face Value” with “If Leaving Me is Hard.” What a great love song, and narrowed it to 2.

Yes my rig is really awesome for close-up intimate listening at any level. It is something I have worked on for decades to become resolving, dynamic, harmonic, dimensional transparent, and involving. I can listen loud and close without distortion. When I suddenly find that “Hot Stamper” Phil Collins is in the room where I hear his voice articulate and rich with background singers just as good and the band perfectly balanced to his vocal.

And it is then I think of your contribution to all of this and want to tell you. So that is what I am doing. I know what three stars means. I can’t afford many of them as I would assume some wealthy customers can but I really appreciate them and their unfortunate rarity and I appreciate all the work you have done to make this possible.

Ed

Ed,

We love it when our customers take the time and make the effort to do their own shootouts.

And swearing off the modern Heavy Vinyl pressing is surely one of the clearest signs of progress any audiophile can see for himself.

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Phil Collins – Face Value

More of the Music of Phil Collins

  • An early UK copy of Phil Collins’ killer solo debut with superb Double (A++) sound from start to finish
  • The recording quality of this album is still analog and can be excellent, thanks to hugely talented engineer and producer Hugh Padgham (Peter Gabriel, Genesis, The Police, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, etc.)
  • We’ve tried his other albums, but nothing we’ve played has struck us as being remotely as well recorded as his debut
  • 5 stars: “. . . Collins’ most honest, most compelling work. He went on to become a huge star, with loads more hits, but Face Value stands as his masterpiece and one of the finest moments of the ’80s musical landscape.”
  • If you’re a fan of Phil’s, this has to be seen as a Top Title from 1981, one that belongs in your collection
  • It’s without a doubt his best sounding album, and, to our way of thinking, his only essential one
  • The sound may be heavily processed, but that kind of sound works surprisingly well on the best sounding pressings (played at good, loud levels on big dynamic speakers in a large, heavily-treated room, of course)

Song after song, Collins’ songwriting and musicianship shine with this breakout record, the first and clearly the best of all his solo albums. The sound on the best copies, like this one, is VIBRANT, with SUPERB extension on the top, PUNCHY BASS, and excellent texture on the drums and percussion, as well as spacious strings and vocals.

There may be some hope for Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982), but Phil’s third album, 1985’s No Jacket Required, is digital and ridiculously processed sounding. I suppose not many albums from 1985 weren’t, but it’s still an unfortunate development for us audiophile types who might’ve wanted to enjoy these albums but are just not able to get past the bad sound.

If you’re a fan of big drums in a big room, with jump out of the speakers sound, this is the album for you.

(more…)