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Another Classic Record Is Shown the Out Door

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

After finishing our first shootout for In Through the Out Door in 2007, our faces were positively red with shock and embarrassment. Once again we found smeared with egg on our faces.

We used to think the Classic version that came out in 2001 was pretty decent, one of the three we’d liked and recommended back in the day when we were selling Heavy Vinyl, but now we know that the best originals slaughter it.

We’d never done a shootout for this album before 2007. We didn’t feel up to the challenge, because most pressings tend to be miserable — gritty, grainy, hard sounding, with congested mids, dull, and so on.

The best pressings of this album sound amazing, but they are few and far between.

The test any copy of the album must pass is an easy one — a copy that makes you want to turn up the volume is likely a winner. The Classic fails that test.

One reason the turn up your volume test is such a great test is this: as problems in the sound get louder, they become harder and harder to ignore. Records that have edgy vocals and an upper midrange boost cannot be played at realistic levels without their artificiality inducing a palpable sense of discomfort in the listener. Isn’t listening to music supposed to be fun? Not when it sounds like this.

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Led Zeppelin – In Through The Out Door

More of the Music of Led Zeppelin

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this vintage copy of Zep’s final release
  • It’s all here: huge amounts of rock-solid bass, grungy guitars, breathy, natural vocals, and jump-out-of-the-speakers presence and energy
  • “Fool In The Rain” and “All My Love” are two of the best, and best sounding, tracks on the album
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • “The album’s opening number, ‘In the Evening,’ with its stomping rhythms and heavy, staggered riffs, suggests that Zeppelin haven’t deviated from their course, but by the time the rolling shuffle of ‘South Bound Suarez’ kicks into gear, it’s apparent that they’ve regained their sense of humor.”
  • If you’re a Zep fan, this title from 1979 is surely a Must Own
  • The complete list of titles from 1980 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

This may not be Zep’s best album, but there are some great songs here, and the music really works when the sound is this good. (more…)

Every Top Copy of In Through the Out Door Must Pass This Test

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

In our review for this album, we debunked the Classic Records pressing using a very simple test which you may want to try at home.

The test we stumbled upon is actually quite an easy one to use.

A copy that makes you want to turn up the volume is likely to be a winner. The Classic does not pass that test.

We threw one on and just couldn’t deal with the edgy vocals and upper-midrange boost. We wanted to turn down the volume as quickly as we could get our hands on the knob. As far as we’re concerned there’s no substitute for The Real Thing. As hard as it is to find great sounding copies of this album, it’s even harder for us to sit through a sub-par version like the Classic.

And boy were our faces red. We used to think the Classic version was pretty decent, but the best originals SLAUGHTER it! We had never done a shootout for this album before 2007. We didn’t feel up to the challenge, because the typical pressing tends to be miserable — gritty, grainy, and hard sounding, with congested mids, dull up top, and on and on.

But 2007 turned out to be a milestone year for us here at Better Records.

Looking back on that year, the discovery of the Prelude Record Cleaning System, along with some system upgrades, allowed us to jump to the next level.

With better cleaning and more revealing and accurate playback, the Zeppelin shootout we conducted in 20o7 made it clear to us that the Classic was all sorts of wrong when played head to head against the best domestic pressings.

Try the Turn Up the Volume Test and see if your copy makes the grade, or makes you want to turn it right back down. I’m guessing the latter, unless you were lucky enough to get one of our Hot Stampers from the last shootout. There sure weren’t enough to go around.

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In Through The Out Door – Zep’s Last But Not Least

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

One of our early shootouts taught us a lot about this album.

On a super transparent, super low distortion copy, all the subtleties really come to life.

Too many copies we played were a bit grainy — you could really hear it on the cymbal crashes. This copy is as smooth and sweet as you could ever ask for.

It’s open and spacious, and the vocals are tonally correct. The bottom end has deep, well-defined bass and an exceptionally punchy kick drum sound.

There’s lots of extension up top and a silky quality to the vocals and cymbals.

The presence is staggering — the guitar solo on All My Love positively JUMPS out of the speakers.

Musically this certainly isn’t Zep’s best work, but there is still some really great material.

We found the best sounding tracks to be “Fool In The Rain” on side one and “All My Love” on side two.

“In The Evening” can rock with the best of them, “South Bound Saurez” can be very rich and sweet, and “I’m Gonna Crawl” can sound out of this world.

In fact, after playing two knockout copies we found back to back, I am a bigger fan of this album than I ever was.

Zep II it ain’t, but it’s still Zep, and that oughta tell you plenty.

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