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Varese et al. / Percussion Music / New Jersey Percussion Ensemble

TAS List Records Available Now

  • This crazy fun 20th Century Percussion Music album featuring classical works which rely almost exclusively on percussion (piano and voice also make appearances) boasts INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • Both of these TAS-approved sides are clear and spacious with sound that is positively jumping out of the speakers
  • This copy is transparent, speedy, and tonally correct from top to bottom like nothing else we played
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear how amazing sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting stitches and just be swept away by the music

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Pentangle – Cruel Sister

More British Folk Rock

  • Here is an original UK import pressing of Pentangle’s 1970 release (the first copy to ever hit the site) with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The unprocessed quality found throughout the album has its audiophile credentials fully in order, especially in the area of guitar harmonics, as well as drums that sound like real drums actually sound
  • The true foundation of the music is provided by two legendary guitar heavyweights, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, with Jacqui McShee’s almost unbearably sweet vocals soaring above them
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Cruel Sister shows Pentangle at their artistic height, combining all of their skill and inspiration to create a vital and enduring album.”

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Oliver Nelson – Meet Oliver Nelson

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

  • You’ll find INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout this New Jazz recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • Full, rich, and spacious with an abundance of Tubey Magic and, better yet, never dry, hard or transistory – true Demo Disc quality sound
  • There’s so much life in these grooves – the sonics jump out of the speakers right into your lap
  • 4 stars: “…this was an impressive beginning to a short but productive career and gives one a strong example of the multi-talented Nelson’s tenor playing.”

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Satie – Previn Conducts Satie and Music from France / LSO

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

  • Here is a vintage RCA Red Seal import pressing (the first to ever hit the site) with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from first note to last
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • It’s simply bigger, more transparent, less distorted, more three-dimensional and more real than practically all of what we played
  • Everything that we listen for in a great classical recording can be heard on this copy – it’s immediate, dynamic, very low distortion, spacious, and alive

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Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery – The Dynamic Duo

More of the Music of Jimmy Smith

More of the Music of Wes Montgomery

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom, this is an wonderful sounding pressing of Jimmy and Wes’s classic jazz collaboration from 1966
  • Big, rich and lively, thanks to Oliver Nelson’s arrangements (and RVG’s engineering), this big group of top players is having a blast and we think you will too
  • 5 stars: “The romping, aggressive big band charts [represent] Oliver Nelson at his best… The results are incendiary — a near-ideal meeting of yin and yang… They are an amazing pair, complementing each other, driving each other, using their bop and blues taproots to fuse together a sound.”

The sound of this Verve stereo pressing is tonally correct and natural. The timbre of each and every instrument is right and it doesn’t take a pair of golden ears to hear it. So high-resolution too. If you love ’60s jazz you cannot go wrong here. (more…)

The Brothers Johnson – Right on Time

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • Boasting two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this vintage A&M pressing could not be beat
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • The sound is huge – big, wide, deep, and open, with a punchy bottom end and rhythmic energy to spare, as well as cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
  • Analog at its Tubey Magical finest – you’ll never play a CD (or any other digitally sourced material) that sounds as good as this record as long as you live
  • 4 1/2 stars: “An enjoyable and even infectious collection that, in its sophistication, certainly avoids being just some sort of dry run for [Quincy] Jones … producing Michael Jackson’s wildly successful Off the Wall and Thriller albums…”

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Sly & The Family Stone / There’s A Riot Going On

More Sly and the Family Stone

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER throughout this early Epic Yellow Label pressing of this famously compromised recording – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • The sound is huge – big, wide, deep, and open, with a punchy bottom end and rhythmic energy to spare, as well as cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
  • You just don’t see too many clean copies of this one around – DJs and the like tend to snap them up as soon as they hit the bins (what’s a good party without a little “Family Affair”?)
  • 5 stars: “And damn if this music isn’t funk at its deepest and most impenetrable — this is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness. Sly’s songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write — the foreboding opener ‘Luv N’ Haight,’ the scarily resigned ‘Family Affair,’ the cracked cynical blues ‘Time,’ and ‘(You Caught Me) Smilin’.’ Ultimately, the music is the message, and while it’s dark music, it’s not alienating — it’s seductive despair, and that’s the scariest thing about it.”

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Frank Sinatra – Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back

More of the Music of Frank Sinatra

  • Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back debuts on the site with a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • On a copy this good, Frank will appear as living, breathing (albeit disembodied) person right in your very own listening room – we call that “the breath of life,” and this record has it in spades
  • “Frank Sinatra returned from his brief retirement in 1973 with the appropriately titled Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back. Released amidst a whirlwind of publicity, the album was a commercial success, earning gold status and nearly climbing its way into the Top Ten…. ‘Send in the Clowns’ and the moving ‘There Used to Be a Ballpark,’ both featuring sublime, subtle arrangements from Gordon Jenkins and outstanding singing by Sinatra.”

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Gil Evans – Into the Hot

More Jazz Recordings of Interest

  • Into the Hot debuts on the site with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this vintage ABC Impulse pressing
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • These sides are big and rich, with loads of Tubey Magic, wonderful transparency and lots of space around the players
  • Exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over every other copy we played

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Clifford Jordan – Starting Time

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

  • This vintage Jazzland recording pressed on remarkably quiet OJC vinyl boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last
  • Both of these sides are remarkably rich, clear and transparent with sound that positively jumps out of the speakers
  • 4 stars: “A stirring set, to be sure, with good solo work all around and a rhythm section that, in addition to its flawless time-keeping, is all spunk and fire” – Down Beat

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