punchy-drums

The better pressings of these albums have exceptionally punchy drums. It is often key to the sound of the shootout winning copies.

Elvis Costello – Trust

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, this original UK import pressing is guaranteed to handily beat any other Trust you’ve heard
  • This copy has Demo Disc sound guaranteed to knock you right out of your listening chair (particularly on side one)
  • The clarity and transparency on this side one allow you to appreciate subtleties in the high end even when the bass and drums are really pounding, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • 5 stars: “…their most ambitious and eclectic album to date… Costello & the Attractions demonstrate their musical skill and savvy by essentially sticking to the direct sound of their four-piece band. In the process, they recorded, arguably, their most impressive album, one that demonstrates all sides of Costello’s songwriting and performing personality without succumbing to pretentiousness.”
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die.”
  • Trust is a good example of a record many audiophiles would benefit from knowing better.

This copy has the big sound that lets this music really rock. There’s a ton of low-end on this record; regrettably, most copies suffer from either a lack of bass or a lack of bass definition. I can’t tell you how much you’re missing when the bass isn’t right on this album. It’s without a doubt the single most important aspect of the sound on this album.

When the bass is right, everything falls into place, and the music comes powerfully to life. When the bass is lacking or ill-defined, the music seems labored; the moment-to-moment rhythmic changes in the songs blur together, and the band just doesn’t swing the way it’s supposed to.

Rave Reviews

I pretty much agree with the AMG review below.

Trust, along with My Aim Is True and Armed Forces, is as good as it gets for Elvis on LP. All three are absolute Must Owns that belong in any serious rock collection.

This is that rare breed of music that never sounds dated (especially considering the era in which it was produced). Music with real depth such as this only gets better with the passage of time. The more you play it, the more you appreciate it, and the more you love it.

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Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick

More of the Music of Jethro Tull

  • An early Reprise pressing that was doing just about everything right, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • One of the few copies we’ve found lately with audiophile sound and surfaces – most of the copies we find are just too noisy for the first few minutes, but this one’s intro held up nicely
  • A Top 100 title and the best sounding album Jethro Tull ever recorded – allow us to make the case
  • A stunning Demo Disc to rule them all – sure to be the best you’ve ever heard this band sound, assuming you have the kind of system it takes and a room big enough to hold it
  • 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
  • 4 1/2 stars: “A masterpiece in the annals of progressive rock – a dazzling tour de force, at once playful, profound, and challenging, without overwhelming the listener.”
  • “Whether or not Thick As A Brick is an isolated experiment, it is nice to know that someone in rock has ambitions beyond the four or five minute conventional track, and has the intelligence to carry out his intentions, in all their intricacy, with considerable grace.”
  • TAAB is also one of those albums that helped us dramatically improve our playback quality

The kind of tonal accuracy you hear on the better copies of this album practically disappeared from records over forty years ago, which explains why so many of the LPs we offer as Hot Stampers were produced in the 70s and before. That’s when many of the highest fidelity recordings were made. In truth this very record is a superlative example of the sound the best producers, engineers, and studios were able to capture on analog tape during that very decade.

Which is a long way of saying that the better copies of Thick As A Brick have pretty much everything that we love about vinyl records here at Better Records.

Furthermore, I can guarantee you there is no CD on the planet that will ever be able to do this recording justice. Our Hot Stamper pressings — even the lowest-graded ones — have a kind of Analog Magic that just can’t be captured on one of them there silvery discs.

The Best Sounding Jethro Tull Album Ever Recorded

  • The better copies are shockingly dynamic. At about the three-minute mark the band joins in the fun and really starts rocking. Set your volume for as loud as your system can play that section. The rest of the music, including the very quietest parts, will then play correctly for all of side one. For side two the same volume setting should be fine.
  • The recording can have exceptionally solid, deep punchy bass (just check out Barrie “Barriemore” Barlow’s drumming, especially his kick and floor toms. The guy is on fire).
  • The midrange is usually transparent and the top end sweet and extended on the better pressings.
  • The recording was made in 1972, so there’s still plenty of Tubey Magic to be heard on the acoustic guitars and flutes.
  • Tubey Magical acoustic guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).
  • The better copies can be as huge, wide and tall as any rock record you’ve ever heard, with sound that comes jumping out of your speakers right into your listening room.
  • Unlike practically any album recorded during the 80s or later, the overall tonal balance, as well as the timbre of virtually every instrument in the soundfield, is correct.

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Fleetwood Mac / Greatest Hits

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this vintage British import will be very hard to beat
  • Big, rich, energetic, with an abundance of analog Tubey Magic, this original Orange Label UK pressing has exactly the right sound for this music
  • “Oh Well, Parts One and Two,” “Black Magic Woman,” “Man of the World,” and the surprise Number One single “Albatross” are all here and guaranteed to blow your mind
  • Peter Green is hands down our favorite British Blues Guitarist of All Time – play this record and you will surely see why we feel that way
  • This is a lot of money for a somewhat noisy copy, but the sound is so awesome and quiet pressings of the album so hard to come by that we hope someone will take a chance on it and get the thrill we did from hearing it sound right for once
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with less of an accent on morbidity and more on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life.

If you’re a fan of Fleetwood Mac, this copy is guaranteed to blow your mind. Like all the best vintage British pressings, the sound is smooth, rich and full. This is Old School ANALOG, baby. They don’t make ’em like this anymore because they don’t know how to.

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Talking Heads – Little Creatures

More of the Music of the Talking Heads

  • Little Creatures is back on the site for only the second time in eighteen months, here with solid grades on both sides of this original Sire pressing – this one has the Big Beat sound we love, and fairly quiet vinyl too
  • I ask you, what record from 1985 sounds better than Little Creatures?
  • These sides are rockin’ on tracks like “Stay Up Late,” “Road To Nowhere,” “And She Was,” “Creatures of Love” and more
  • Surprisingly big, punchy and open sound for this 1985 pop classic – a Top 100 album and longtime Better Records favorite
  • We used to think that this album was the best sounding one the band had produced, but recently we came across some phenomenally good sounding pressings of their debut, and they now hold the Talking Heads’ crown for best sound
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Ear Candy …a pop album, and an accomplished one, by a band that knew what it was doing.”

We’re huge fans of Little Creatures, and when you hear a copy like this you’ll know exactly why. Not many records from this era sound as amazingly rich as this one, not in our experience anyway.

On the better copies, the sound is punchy, smooth & so ANALOG, with an especially beefy bottom end, the kind a good Big Beat Pop Album record needs. For a good reference think Get The Knack or Parallel Lines.

Tight, punchy, surprisingly deep note-like bass absolutely makes or breaks the sound on Little Creatures. Without the proper bass foundation this funky beat-crazy Talking Heads album can’t BEGIN to do what it’s trying to do: get your feet tappin’ and your body rockin’ to the music.

The better pressings are surprisingly dynamic, with a sweet, often silky top end. The drums are very well recorded throughout — you can really hear the room around that big kit. You will also find that the higher-rez pressings give David Byrne’s vocals the presence and breathy texture they need. The overall sound will be open, spacious, and sweet — even three-dimensional.

The Last Great Talking Heads Album

This is the Last Great Talking Heads album. The first four and this one give you all the Talking Heads music you’ll ever need. Each of them is brilliant in its own way. One of the ways this one is especially brilliant from our admittedly skewed point of view is that it’s the best sounding record the Talking Heads ever made.

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Elvis Costello / Punch The Clock

More of the Music of Elvis Costello

  • Here is a vintage F-Beat import pressing of Punch the Clock with great sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Two Costello classics are found on side one: “Everyday I Write the Book,” and “Shipbuilding,” with a heartbreaking trumpet solo by none other than Chet Baker himself
  • We guarantee there is more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard or you get your money back – it’s as simple as that
  • “Elvis Costello … remains the most consistently interesting songwriter in rock & roll, and there is evidence that a new, more emotionally generous sensibility may soon be present in his work.” -Rolling Stone

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Shelly Manne & His Men / At The Blackhawk, Volume 2

More of the Music of Shelly Manne

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last, this early Contemporary stereo pressing will be very hard to beat
  • This is West Coast Jazz at its best, and if anyone can capture the realism of a live jazz club, it’s the engineers and producers at Contemporary
  • Each instrument here sounds right – the piano is weighty and percussive; the drums are punchy; and the brass has lovely leading edge transients
  • 4 stars: “These lengthy performances (“Vamp’s Blues” is over 19 minutes long) give trumpeter Joe Gordon, the cool-toned tenor-saxophonist Richie Kamuca, pianist Victor Feldman, bassist Monty Budwig and the leader/drummer a chance to really stretch out. Fine 1950s bebop.”

Wonderful sound and music! This is West Coast Jazz at its best. The sound is superb — airy, open, and spacious with a stunningly good bottom end. You won’t believe how alive the bass sounds — the depth and definition are out of this world! Each instrument here sounds just right — weighty, percussive piano; punchy drums; and lovely leading edge transients on the brass. Contemporary got live nightclub jazz sound down to a “T” here.

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Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Further Out 6-Eye in Stereo

More of the Music of Dave Brubeck

  • Outstanding sound throughout this vintage Stereo 6-Eye pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • It’s bigger, richer, more Tubey Magical, and has more extension on both ends of the spectrum than most other copies we played
  • This copy demonstrates the big-as-life Fred Plaut Columbia sound at its best – better even than Time Out(!)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The selections, which range in time signatures from 5/4 to 9/8, are handled with apparent ease (or at least not too much difficulty) by pianist Brubeck, altoist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright, and drummer Joe Morello on this near-classic.”

Time Further Out is consistently more varied and, dare we say, more musically interesting than Time Out.

If you want to hear big drums in a big room, these Brubeck recordings will show you that sound better than practically any record we know of. These vintage recordings are full-bodied, spacious, three-dimensional, rich, sweet and warm in the best tradition of an All Tube Analog recording.

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Supertramp – Even In The Quietest Moments (Domestic)

More of the Music of Supertramp

  • Boasting two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides, we guarantee you’ve never heard Supertramp’s 1977 release sound this good – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • On side two, the recording quality of the solo piano at the start of the second track is nothing short of breathtaking
  • No piano on any Supertramp album sounds more powerful, more real or more present than the one on “From Now On”
  • The bottom end is big and punchy, the top is smooth and sweet, and the vocals are present and breathy
  • On a transparent copy such as this, the drums really punch through the dense mixes clearly, giving the music more life and energy
  • “…it’s a transitional album, bridging the gap between Crime of the Century and the forthcoming Breakfast in America… [it] has plenty of fine moments aside from ‘Give A Little Bit,’ including the music hall shuffle of ‘Loverboy,’ the Euro-artiness of ‘From Now On,’ and the ‘Fool on a Hill’ allusions on ‘Fool’s Overture.'”
  • If you’re a Supertramp fan like me, this art rock classic from 1977 belongs in your collection.

What To Listen For

The piano on “Give A Little Bit” can get buried in the dense mix. Side ones that are rich and tubey and smooth with a clear piano did very well in our shootout.

“Lover Boy” is a Demo Quality Track on the better copies. It can be huge, spacious and lively. Getting the strings to sound harmonically rich without sliding into shrillness may not be easy but some copies manage it. On the biggest, richest copies the breakdown at about 2:20 is a lot of fun.

On side two, the recording quality of the solo piano at the start of the second track is nothing short of breathtaking. No piano on any Supertramp album sounds as good.

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The Police – Outlandos d’Amour

More of The Police

  • This copy was giving us the sound we were looking for on the band’s debut album, with both sides earning very good Hot Stamper grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Few audiophiles (I’m guessing) know how well recorded this album is – you need just the right UK pressing to show you what’s really on the tape
  • “Roxanne,” “So Lonely,” “Can’t Stand Losing You” all sound quite good on these two sides
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Although Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland were all superb instrumentalists with jazz backgrounds, it was much easier to get a record contract in late-70s England if you were a punk/new wave artist, so the band decided to mask their instrumental prowess with a set of strong, adrenaline-charged rock, albeit with a reggae tinge.”

What’s amazing about this copy? There are sweet highs and ambience that we didn’t think were possible — and it rocks! Whatever it’s doing, it sure doesn’t take a pair of golden ears to hear it.

Not only does the high end exist, but it sounds sweet and doesn’t rip your ears out of your earsockets (trust me, I’m a doctor). This is vitally important in songs like “Roxanne,” where Andy Summers’ reggae influenced guitar can sound squawky and brittle if there is too much compression.

Sting’s vocals are detailed, present, and you can really hear his background vocals separate themselves away from the lead, obvious on this copy in a denser track like “So Lonely.”

There’s a ton of punchy bass which actually equates to a ton of life and energy on this album. If Stewart Copeland’s kick drum isn’t punching you in the chest, then you’re missing out on some of the fun. We even heard ambience around the cymbals, and that is information most copies of the album simply cannot resolve.

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Lincoln Mayorga – The Missing Linc

More of the Music of Lincoln Mayorga

  • With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this Sheffield Direct to Disc recording is certainly as good a copy as we have ever heard
  • Guaranteed to be dramatically richer, fuller and more Tubey Magical than any other copy you have heard, with especially punchy drums and rosiny-textured strings
  • The bass on side one extends all the way into whomp land for that big bass drum at the end of “Limehouse Blues” – what a sound!
  • The top end is key to the better pressings too – lots of string harmonics and bells and other high frequency stuff gets lost on most pressings, but not this one, it’s all there on this pressing
  • The audiophile “Sgt. Pepper” of its day, a record that was so much better than anything else you’d ever heard it made you rethink the possibilities (and they did the same thing with Volume III two years later)
  • If you’re a Sheffield Labs fan, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this title from 1972 is clearly one of their best
  • If you’re a fan of big drums in a big room, with jump out of the speakers sound, this is the album for you.

This is definitely not your typical Sheffield pressing. Some of them are aggressive, many of them are dull and lack the spark of live music, some of them have wonky bass or are lacking in the lowest octave — they are prey to every fault that befalls other pressings.

Which shouldn’t be too surprising. Records are records. Pressing variations exist for every album ever made. If you haven’t noticed that yet, start playing multiple copies of the same album while listening carefully and critically.

Just listen to the texture on the saxophone on “Limehouse Blues” — you can really hear the leading edge transients of the brass that are so important to the sound of those instruments. Track after track, the sound gets surprisingly more open and airy. The harpsichord has such great presence it jumps out of the speakers. 

I was selling audio equipment (Audio Research, Fulton speakers) back in the ’70s and this was a favorite demo disc in our store. The bass drum at the end of track two would shake the foundation with a big speaker like the Fulton J.

Every bit as amazing to me was the string quartet on side 2. You could actually hear the musicians breathing and turning the pages on their music stands, just as if you were actually in their “living presence.”

This is one of the albums that made me realize how good audio in the home could really be. In a way this was the Audiophile “Sgt. Pepper” of its day, a record that was so much better than anything else you’d ever heard it made you rethink the possibilities.

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