Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now
A listing for an early domestic Hot Stamper pressing for Sticky Fingers will typically be introduced this way:
If you have never heard one of our Hot Stamper pressings of the album, you (probably) cannot begin to appreciate just how amazingly well-recorded an album it is.
It is truly a landmark Glyn Johns / Andy Johns / Chris Kimsey recording, as well as our favorite by the Stones, a Top 100 Title (of course) and one that earned 5 stars on Allmusic (ditto).
5 stars: “With its offhand mixture of decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.”
However, we found the new Half-Speed Heavy Vinyl pressing mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road to be seriously lacking in “outright malevolence.” It’s so tame that even at high volume it would be unlikely to disturb the most innocuous afternoon tea in the back garden of a country estate.
Brown Sugar is:
- It’s smaller
- Not as weighty or lively
- Tonally pretty close
Sway is:
- Tonally pretty close
- Just missing some weight and dynamics
Oh, is that all? Well then, not as bad as it could have been, right?
1.5+, which means it would qualify for our lowest Hot Stamper grade. But no record that does not earn at least that grade on both sides can make it to our site, and when we flipped the album over, side two let us down even more than side one.
Bitch is:
- A little sandy up top
I Got the Blues is:
- Missing the dynamics
Grade for side two: 1+. Substandard. Not good enough to sell.