Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Billy Joel Available Now
Dynamic and open, with driving rhythmic energy – the best early pressings really bring this great batch of songs to life.
Jam packed with hits: An Innocent Man, The Longest Time, Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl, Leave a Tender Moment Alone, and more – seven singles in all.
The best sides have the huge soundstage and startling clarity and immediacy that characterizes this album, but they also add an ingredient missing from most of the copies we played — a full, rich, musical midrange!
On many pressings, the vocals can get hard and harsh on the more uptempo tracks.
“Uptown Girl” is a notable offender in this regard, and never sounds quite as good as the other tracks.
A prime example of an album in which the hit sounds worse than the rest of the album.
As you can see from the notes for our our most recent White Hot shootout winning copy, side one was doing everything right, and side two, where Uptown Girl can be found, was doing the best it could, all things considered.
Side One
Jumping out / weighty and rich / very full vocals and kick drum
Side Two
Three-dimensional vocals / jumping out / full and lively / much less hardness
The notes for side two point out that it less hard sounding than the typical pressing, and that, coupled with its many other desirable qualities, put it over the top and made it the winner for side two.
Other records that are good for testing midrange hardness can be found here.
Hey, want to find your own top quality copy?
Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that consistently win our shootouts.
This record has been sounding its best for many years, in shootout after shootout, this way:
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