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Letter of the Week – “They break so many conventions, and it all works. What planet did John and Paul come from?”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now

One of our customers had this to say about some Hot Stamper pressings he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,

I just got The Beatles first album in the mail and put it on and it blew me away. I was thinking I didn’t need the first couple albums but this book I read, John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie, published in 2025. made me rethink all that.

I did not foresee reading ANOTHER Beatles book. It is getting over the top reviews but I looked at it because my friend from my college days recommended it. It covers many of the same events and anecdotes any real Beatles fan would know but that are given new context by viewing their history – fundamentally – through the prism of the relationship of these two friends.

You realize by the time they released their first album in 1963, they’d been preparing for it since 1958, egging each other on as performers and songwriters.

Paul had written songs actually predating 1958, but they made their union as songwriters soon after they met. They had learned so many great pop songs such that every song on those early albums is either an amazing cover they make their own (e.g. “Twist and Shout” “Boys” etc.) or one of their original compositions that demonstrates the depth of their skills.

They break so many conventions, and it all works. What planet did John and Paul come from?

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Letter of the Week – “I feel (and tremble) as if I am sitting in the Abbey Road Studios while they are recording.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now

Our good customer Alex had this to say about a White Hot Stamper pressing of Sgt. Peppers he purchased from us a while ago:

Hey Tom,   

I was very excited to have purchased a Triple/Triple Sgt. Pepper. So much so that I went out and bought a new stereo system. My copy arrived in January. There was no way I was going to take a chance and play it on my 30+ year-old vintage set-up. I have a friend who sells wicked awesome gear and I spent about a month from middle January to Middle February listening to quite a few turntables and speakers.

Once I settled on the system I then made an appointment to listen to Pepper. My wife and I went over to hear this White Hot Stamper.
The results? Tears of profound JOY.

And a big you-know-what eating grin on my face for the last week (and probably for the rest of my life). I was 9 years old in 1967 and I had only heard this LP on a cheap record player for years and I still loved it. It has been my most loved music for my entire life.

This copy is absolute, mind-blowing PERFECTION! The Fabs are at their BEST and I feel (and tremble) as if I am sitting in the Abbey Road Studios while they are recording.

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Music Is Always More Important than Sound

More Entries from Tom’s Audiophile Notebook

You can find Demo Disc quality records all over the site, but what if you are not interested in demonstrating your equipment and just want to play the music you love?

And what if the music you love wasn’t recorded all that well?

What if the music you love is on the third Band album, Stage Fright, a notoriously problematical recording?

You buy the best sounding version you can find and put up with the sonic limitations because the music is always more important than the sound.

(My wife toured with the band Asia in Europe one year, a tour to celebrate their Number One debut album. It happens to be one of the worst sounding records I have ever played, but that didn’t stop people from loving the music. Why would it?)

A better example than Stage Fright are the albums released by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Good recordings, not great ones, nothing like Demo Discs, just some of the greatest roots rock music ever made. Their first six albums probably belong in any collection of pop and rock. (Number seven, not so much.)

It’s how Washington Post writer Geoff Edgers first learned for himself that our records are the real deal.

We sent him one of their albums, a second rate copy with one good side, and according to him it’s still the best sounding CCR record he’s ever heard. I told him he should play the AP pressing and he said “Why bother?” He’s heard enough of their records to know what to expect, and it sure isn’t better sound.

And, because I can’t resist, allow me to point out that the Heavy Vinyl pressings those AP guys made were really something, and by really something, I mean really bad. After playing the Heavy Vinyl (and the MoFi), I had only one question: why would anyone want to take all the fun out of CCR’s music?

Still waiting for an answer to that one.

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