jeffesurre

Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow

More of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane

  • The band’s sophomore release is back on the site for only the second time in fourteen months, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER from top to bottom
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • If this price seems high, keep in mind that the top copy from our most recent shootout went for $1000, and the vinyl was not as quiet
  • It’s the rare copy of this 60s Psych Classic that has this kind of freedom from grit and distortion – it’s also swimming in Tubey Magic, the glorious sound of vintage analog vinyl, found on the real thing and, let’s be honest, nowhere else
  • An incredibly difficult album to find with audiophile sound, but this pressing has the goods and is guaranteed to beat – and by a very large margin – whatever you care to throw at it
  • 5 stars: “Every song is a perfectly cut diamond … a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia that hit — literally — like a shot heard round the world…”
  • The DCC is a hopeless disaster – after fighting its way through Kevin Gray’s transistory, opaque, airless, low-resolution cutting system, whatever was good about the recording is completely gone
  • If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1967, this album would definitely be on it
  • As is sometimes the case, there is one and only one set of stampers that consistently wins our shootouts for this album.  Click on this link to see other titles with one set of stamper numbers that always come out on top

Three Qualities Are Key 

The best copies of Surrealistic Pillow have three things in common.

  1. Low Harmonic Distortion,
  2. Driving Rock and Roll Energy, and
  3. Plenty of Tubey Magical Richness.

It’s the exceedingly rare copy that has all three. The more of each of these qualities a given pressing has, the higher the sonic grades we typically will award it.

In order to find these three qualities, you had better be using the real master tape for starters. At this point, we only buy the Black Label Original RCA pressings, preferably in stereo but occasionally in mono when they’re clean enough to take a chance on, although we think the mono pressings are not competitive with the best of the stereo LPs.

Next, you need a pressing with actual extension up top, to keep the midrange from getting congested and harsh.

Richness, Tubey Magic, weight, and warmth — the other end of the spectrum — are every bit as important, if not more so.

Add freedom from dynamic compression — the exciting, lively sound that’s practically impossible to find on any modern reissue — and you should have yourself a musically involving, hopefully not-too-noisy LP to throw on the table and enjoy whenever you like, for years to come.

We know that the best pressings of this groundbreaking album, when played back on modern, high quality equipment, are every bit the thrill you remember — if you were around at the time like I was — from more than fifty years ago.

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Listening in Depth to Surrealistic Pillow

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane Available Now

This commentary was written many years ago. We thought we could do one shootout a year back then. Now it is one shootout every two to three years if we are lucky. Too many of the good early pressings are just too noisy.

Before we get into the sound of Surrealistic Pillow, I’d like to point out that Hot Stampers for this title — and the shootouts that allow us to find them — are becoming increasingly rare. I’d be surprised if we can even find enough clean copies to play once a year nowadays. As unfortunate as it may be, it is nevertheless a reality.

With clean Led Zeppelin RL pressings frequently commanding $1000 and up on ebay, you can be pretty sure we won’t have many of those to sell you in the months and years to come either. [Although we do still find them, and sometimes we pay the grand or more it takes to buy them.]

Same with this record. We love it but we just can’t find copies we can shootout, which are limited to those on the original label, in stereo, and neither heavily played or scratched.

On to the sound.

What’s amazing is how much the harmonic distortion in the choruses of She Has Funny Cars on side one changes from copy to copy, even ones that are tonally similiar and have the same stampers. I must confess it’s all a bit of a mystery to me. The distortion can’t all be on the tape if some copies of the record have so much less of it. When you get one with undistorted vocals, it’s almost shocking how much better it sounds than its competition.

Side One

She Has Funny Cars

This one is almost always too bright and can often be quite aggressive. If this track sounds even halfway decent, you have a pretty darn good copy, better than average at the very least.

What’s amazing is how much the harmonic distortion in the choruses changes from copy to copy, even ones that are tonally very similar and have the same stampers. I must confess it’s a bit of a mystery to me. The distortion can’t all be on the tape if some copies of the record have much less of it. When you get one with undistorted vocals, it’s almost shocking how much better it sounds than its competition.

As a rocker, this track needs good solid bass to anchor the sound. You can hear it right away in the guitars; they should have plenty of body. Too jangly or thin and you are in trouble.

Somebody to Love
My Best Friend
Today

This is the most important test track on side one.

If the tambourine in the right channel sounds tonally correct, the whole side is likely to be correct from the mids on up. Most of the time that tambourine is sizzly and sparkly, which means the upper midrange is boosted, and that’s the last thing in the world you want on side one. It makes all the harmonic distortion in the vocals unlistenable.

Comin’ Back to Me

This is my favorite song on the album. Like most of the quieter cuts, it’s also one of the best sounding tracks. (Fewer bounces = better sound.)

Listen for the oh-so-subtle phrasing in the vocals. The transparency of the best copies allows the emotional quality of each line to come through clearly.

Side Two

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Surrealistic Pillow – A Disaster on DCC

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane Available Now

Sonic Grade: F

Sour and opaque, a major disappointment.

You can do worse but you would really have to work at it.

No, I take that back. That’s really not fair. The average RCA reissue with any label other than the original is likely to be every bit as bad as this Heavy Vinyl disaster.

Years ago we thought we thought we had found a good one on the orange label, but I doubt that I would see things the same way today.

If you would like to avoid the worst sounding pressings put out on the DCC label, steer clear of this group. They’re awful.

Other records mastered by Steve Hoffman that badly missed the mark in our judgment can be found here.

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Surrealistic Pillow – Our Shootout Winner from Way Back

More of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane

An OFF THE CHARTS side one with more tubey magic than you probably ever imagined.

We always have fun playing a great copy of the psychedelic 60s masterpiece, because the sound gives you so many of the qualities we love about good ol’ analog. No one’s recording albums any more with this kind of richness, sweetness, and warmth, that’s for sure.

Drop the needle on My Best Friend or Today to hear that trippy Sixties San Francisco sound at its best. 

This album is an exceedingly difficult nut to crack — no matter how many copies we have, no matter how much information we have to work with. Play the typical copy and you’ll likely run for cover — we heard played copies that were aggressive, shrill, lifeless, dull, thick, veiled, bass-shy — you name it, we heard it.

Not only that, but as a rule these early pressings are BEAT TO DEATH. Finding a copy that sounds any good and plays Mint Minus Minus or better is a real challenge.

But we didn’t give up. We knew that the best pressings of this album have tubey magic in spades. Undaunted, we kept up the search and eventually found some OUT OF THIS WORLD Hot Stamper copies.

Almost every pressing you’ll ever find suffers from at least a bit of harmonic distortion — some MUCH worse than others. We were convinced at one point that it was on the tapes, but after playing these super clean copies, we now know that not to be the case. (more…)

Surrealistic Pillow (Mono) – Sundazed Reviewed

More of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane

Reviews and Commentaries for the Jefferson Airplane

Sonic Grade: C-

Back around 2000, I spent a fair amount of time comparing this pressing with both an RCA 1S Black Label original, two different RCA Orange Label reissues, and the DCC 180 gram pressing. To make a long story short, if you’re willing to buy this record for the songs that really sound amazing on it, like “Today,” then you should consider trying one.

If you want the whole album to sound good, you have your work cut out for you. Hot Stampers in good condition for this record are incredibly hard to come by.

The right Black Label original RCA pressings are superb, but try to find a quiet one.

If you love this album as much as we do, you’ll understand why we went to all this trouble to find the best pressings. There is NO OTHER GAME IN TOWN for this album — the Sundazed Mono pressing can’t handle the rock songs, and I’ve never been a fan of the DCC.

Surrealistic Pillow – We Found a Good Sounding Orange Label Pressing

Hot Stamper Pressings of Folk Rock Albums Available Now

This review was written more than ten years ago. At this time [2023] we no longer pick up any pressings with the later label. So few sound any good, why waste time searching for so few needles sitting in so many haystacks?

This QUIET orange label (!) pressing has surprisingly good sound, some of the best sound we have ever heard for that more-often-than-not dismal second label in fact. It actually beat a few of our black label originals, with more tubey magic and less distortion and harshness than we expect from these later pressings. 

We always have fun playing this psychedelic ’60s masterpiece. The sound — problematical as it may be — gives you so many of the qualities we love about good ol’ analog. No one’s recording albums these days with this kind of richness, sweetness, and warmth, that’s for sure. Drop the needle on My Best Friend or Today to hear that trippy Sixties San Francisco sound at its best.

This album is an exceedingly difficult nut to crack — no matter how many copies we have, no matter how much information we have to work with. Play the typical copy and you’ll likely run for cover — we heard copies that were aggressive, shrill, lifeless, dull, thick, veiled, bass-shy — you name it, we heard it. Not only that, but as a rule most pressings, even the orange labels ones, are BEAT TO DEATH. Finding a copy that sounds any good and plays Mint Minus Minus or better is a real challenge.

Less Distortion

This one is cut very clean, with less of the grit and grunge that you hear on so many copies. The overall sound is rich, full, and tonally correct. There’s a touch of smear and the vocals don’t have all the presence of the best originals, but this is still an excellent copy that will sound better and play quieter than most copies out there. (more…)