Hot Stamper Pressing of the Music of Joni Mitchell Available Now
This commentary about a very special 2-pack was written close to ten years ago. We think it’s every bit as true today as it was then.
The long and the short of it is simply that when it comes to collecting high quality vinyl:
There are no easy answers and there are no quick fixes.
To those of us who have been doing this for a long time, the above is obvious, perhaps even axiomatic in the sense that it is a “self-evident truth that requires no proof.”
(The fact that the modern audiophile reviewer class has yet to appreciate this basic concept goes a long way in explaining how inadequate and error-prone their approach to records and audio has always been. Some of them may still be living in 1982, but I’m glad to say we’re not. Our business could not exist in 1982. Many of the technologies on which it is based had not yet been invented.)
Once you stop looking for easy answers and quick fixes, you will then be free to build a truly wonderful stereo system and acquire a superb sounding record collection to play on it. It will, naturally, and to some of you surprisingly, comprise virtually nothing but vintage vinyl.
The album under discussion today is Joni Mitchell’s Song to a Seagull. Our commentary begins:
It took two records to make this White Hot Stamper 2-pack, with top quality sound from start to finish. The result? One of the best sounding, if not THE best sounding copy to ever hit the site. If you’re a Joni fan this is one of her strongest records, and one that definitely belongs in your collection. If you own any other pressing we’re confident that this copy will positively blow your mind.
These two sides have the kind of sound quality you probably never imagined would be possible — but it is! We played it, we heard it for ourselves, and now we offer it to you, the Joni Mitchell (nee Roberta Joan Anderson) fans of the world.
I’ve been trying to get this album to sound good for more years than I care to remember. If you own a copy you know what I’m talking about — the sound is typically drenched in echo, with Joni sounding like she’s standing at the back of a cave. Harmonically-challenged acoustic guitars. Vocals with no breathy texture (much like practically all the heavy vinyl reissues we’ve suffered through over the course of the last decade or two).
Blue vs Song to a Seagull
In its own way, it’s every bit the challenge that Blue is, just reversed.
Blue tends to be bright, shrill, thin and harsh.
Song to a Seagull is usually dark, veiled, smeary and dull.