no-demo-disc

We would never make a claim of top quality audiophile sound for these titles.

The Hot Stamper pressings you see on our site must be understood to offer the best available sound and nothing more.

Born in the U.S.A., for example, is not a great sounding record, but some pressings of it sound a lot better than others, and those are the ones we sell.

If you like the music found on these albums, we guarantee that our pressings will sound better than any others you may have heard, or you get your money back.

The Rolling Stones – Steel Wheels

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  • With two Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, we would be very surprised if you’ve ever heard Steel Wheels sound remotely as good as it does on this pressing
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard
  • 4 1/2 stars in Rolling Stone: “All the ambivalence, recriminations, attempted rapprochement and psychological one-upmanship evident on Steel Wheels testify that the Stones are right in the element that has historically spawned their best music – a murky, dangerously charged environment in which nothing is merely what it seems. Against all odds, and at this late date, the Stones have once again generated an album that will have the world dancing to deeply troubling, unresolved emotions.”

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Joe Walsh – The Best of…

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  • An outstanding copy of Walsh’s first compilation album, with Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound on side one matched to a Hot Stamper side two 
  • With sound close to our Shootout Winner on side one, Turn To Stone and Rocky Mountain Way are amazing here
  • We expected to hear dubby, sub-generation tape copy sound, but instead we discovered that these tracks – on the right pressings, natch – sound pretty darn close to the ones on the albums they originally came from
  • The perfect sampler for a casual Joe Walsh fan, featuring songs from his tenure with the James Gang along with some of his best known solo tracks

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Alice Cooper – Goes To Hell

Triple Plus (A+++) Shootout Winning sound on side one — it doesn’t get any better than this, folks! Huge, open and clear, yet rich and full-bodied, this is the sound you want for this Alice Cooper classic. At Double Plus (A++) side two is nearly as good – Alice’s vocals are especially clear and lively. The choruses are big and rich, just the way we like ’em – we guarantee you’ve never heard the album sound this good by a long shot.

I bought this album when it came out in 1976 and played it quite a bit as I recall, one of the few Alice Cooper records I actually used to listen to back in the day. It’s got that Big Production Rock sound that can be rich, powerful and energetic on the better copies.

The pressing we have here simply could not be beat on side one, with a side two that’s not far behind.

Both Sides

Spacious and clear, very 3-D, with solid, punchy deep bass, this side was doing everything right. On top of that it’s got the weight it needs to really ROCK.

Track three had the best sound on side one; check it out. (more…)

Cal Tjader – Mambo w/ Tjader – Blue Vinyl!

This is an Original Fantasy LP pressed on EXCEPTIONALLY QUIET blue vinyl! Finding non-trashed copies of old Fantasy colored vinyl pressings is practically IMPOSSIBLE. And this is the STEREO LP, even more rare. It plays Mint Minus and maybe a tad worse, which, for Fantasy colored vinyl, is as good as it gets in our experience. The sound is good, not great. This is no demo disc by any means, but it is the real Tjader ’50s sound, and it works pretty well for this music.  (more…)

R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction

 

  • This insanely good pressing of the band’s third studio album earned Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades for sound on both sides
  • This vintage pressing is well balanced, yet big and lively, with such wonderful clarity in the mids and highs as well as deep punchy bass and a big open and spacious soundfield
  • 4 stars: “… the group does demonstrate considerable musical growth, particularly in how perfectly it evokes the strange rural legends of the South. And many of the songs on the record — including “Feeling Gravity’s Pull,” “Maps and Legends,” “Green Grow the Rushes,” “Auctioneer (Another Engine),” and the previously mentioned pair — rank among the group’s best.”

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Bonnie Raitt / Nine Lives – An Early Shootout Winning Copy of Her Underrated Album from 1986

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Reviews and Commentaries for Bonnie Raitt’s Albums

I did a little shootout today (7/3/06) with a few copies of this album and this one was CLEARLY SUPERIOR. The others were a bit smeared and thick sounding. This copy has the LIFE of the recording preserved in the grooves. With George Massenburg involved, there’s no way this record could sound “natural”. This copy does sound the way it’s supposed to and that’s the most we can hope for. If you have an aggressive or thin sounding stereo this is not the record for you.  

Side One COOKS from start to finish, with some of her best work — far better (IMHO) than anything she did for Capitol.

Of course the rest of the world disagreed with me about that, as after this album the label dropped her, and her first album for Capitol outsold all the records she ever made put together. But that’s sales. I’m talking about musical quality. Her Capitol albums are much too mellow for my taste. I discovered Bonnie with Home Plate and saw her live numerous times, where she proved she can rock with the best of them (like on this album).

Mellow isn’t the Bonnie I like. If you want an album with more energy, try this one. If you want something to play in the background while you sip wine and engage in polite conversation, both the DCC titles are perfect for that.

Actually that’s not fair: they have much to offer the serious listener whose tastes run more to Norah Jonesy middle of the road fare. I like that kind of material too, but Bonnie Raitt can do both, and I prefer her this way.

Two of her best songs ever are on this album: the rocker “Who But a Fool (Thief Into Paradise)” and the ballad “Angel”, with some of the best slide guitar she ever played while the tape was running. If you don’t like those two songs, send this record back to me and I’ll give you your money back. (more…)

Steve Miller Band / The Joker – Our Shootout Winner from 2012

It took two separate pressings — on two different Capitol labels no less — to bring you White Hot Stamper sound from first note to last on this, Steve Miller’s breakthrough album. The Joker may have topped the charts in January of 1974, but the average pressing has that song sounding worse than it does on the radio! Most copies of this record just plain suck (to use the vernacular appropriate to the band). Dry, thin, flat, opaque, smeary, small, midrangy — we’ve all heard ’70s Capitol pressings with this sound, and most copies of this album have some, even most, of these shortcomings.

Which is why it takes two different records from two different eras in order to get you good sound for both sides. (more…)

Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare

  • Alice Cooper’s debut solo album finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • This one is killer – it’s lively and rich, with plenty of deep punchy bass, a nicely extended top and a huge three-dimensional soundfield
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… a concept album tied into the story line of the highly theatrical concert tour he launched soon after the album’s release… there’s plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around.”

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Eric Clapton – Behind The Sun

  • Clapton’s 1985 release returns to the site with Nearly Triple Plus (A+++) sound – exceptionally quiet vinyl too 
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • “The level of musicianship is impressive. Additional percussion by Phil Collins and Ray Cooper help to make this one of Clapton’s most rhythmically adventurous projects to date… I recommend it to both casual and serious fans. You cannot go wrong with an album featuring such strong tracks as “She’s Waiting, “See What Love Can Do”, “Same Old Blues”, “Forever Man”, and “Just Like A Prisoner”.”

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Bob Dylan – Shot of Love

  • Dylan’s Shot of Love debuts here with stunning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The sound here is bigger, tubier, more dynamic, more lively, more present and just plain more involving than any other copy you’ve heard
  • “Shot of Love finds Dylan still in born-again mode, but he’s starting to come alive again — which isn’t as much a value judgment as it is an observation that he no longer seems beholden to repeating dogma, loosening up and crafting songs again. And it’s not just that his writing is looser, the music is, too, as he lets himself — and his backing band — rock a little harder, a little more convincingly… has flashes of brilliance, such as “Every Grain of Sand,” which point the way to the rebirth of Infidels.”

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