Hot Stamper Pressings of Court and Spark Available Now

Reviews and Commentaries for Court and Spark

• Both sides of this early Asylum pressing were doing practically everything right, earning stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades – just shy of our Shootout Winner
• The sound is rich, warm and natural, with wonderful transparency, ambience and loads of Tubey Magic
• Musically this is one of our favorite Joni albums here at Better Records, and probably her Best Recording as well
• A proud member (along with Blue) of our Top 100 Rock and Pop albums – yes, it’s that good sounding when it’s mastered and pressed as well as this copy is
• 5 stars: “[A] remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz … the music is smart, smooth, and assured from the first note to the last.”
• If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1974, this album would definitely be on it

Court and Spark deserves to be heard with all the clarity, beauty and power that our Hot Stampers reproduce so well. If there is a better sounding album with Joni Mitchell’s name on the cover, you’ll have to prove it to us.

What you hear is the sound of the real tape; every instrument has its own character because the mastering is correct and the vinyl — against all odds — managed to capture all (or almost all; who can know?) of the resolution that the tape had to offer. (more…)