unprocessed-r/p

Rock and pop albums with relatively little processing, resulting in sound that conveys the illusion of being unprocessed. It’s an illusion because we know rock and pop albums cannot be unprocessed. They can seem as though they are, and that is what these records sounded like to us.

Neil Young – Zuma

More of the Music of Neil Young

  • Boasting two outstanding Double Plus (A++) sides, this copy of Neil’s amazingly well recorded 1975 masterpiece is guaranteed to floor audiophiles and Neil Young fans alike – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Zuma captures a kind of garage band purity that makes practically any other studio album you own sound processed and desiccated in comparison
  • For a hard-rockin’ Neil Young album with Demo Disc quality sound, you’ll have a hard time finding a better choice than a Hot Stamper pressing of Zuma
  • A Must Own Top 100 Title – just drop the needle on “Danger Bird” or “Cortez the Killer” to have your mind blown!

Can any one artist lay claim to two of the best sounding rock albums ever made? Neil Young can!

After the Gold Rush and Zuma are Demo Discs and super discs of the highest order, right up there with Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat, the other two albums by a single artist that deserve to be placed on that rarified plane.

Part of Zuma’s attraction is that it has exceptionally unprocessed sound that seems to have been recorded “live in the studio.”

The fact that Gold Rush and Zuma both involve Neil Young is doubtless not an accident. I would be very surprised to learn that he was not intimately involved with every aspect of the recording of both Masterpieces, from the miking to the final mix and every step in between.

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The Pentangle – Self-Titled

More British Folk Rock

  • The Pentangle’s Masterpiece returns to the site for the first time in years, here with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this early UK Transatlantic pressing – 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
  • This is one of the Holy Grail titles we have been trying to find on Transatlantic UK vinyl in clean condition for more than a decade, with almost nothing to show for our efforts until now
  • We can find Pentangling — they made a lot of those and for a compilation they sound great on the best pressings
  • But this record is in an entirely different league altogether — I suspect it will be many years before we can do it again
  • “It is one of the best albums one will ever hear, and as the liner notes say, ‘Play this record to those you love.'” – Rolling Stone

This is an honest-to-goodness Demo Disc. When for a (thankfully) brief time back in the 70s I was selling audio equipment, the song “Pentangling” was a favorite demo cut to play in the store. The sound of the string bass and snare drum are amazingly natural; I don’t know of any other pop album from the era that presents the vibrant timbre of those two instruments better.

This record easily qualifies for our Top 100 List, it’s that good (but unfortunately too rare to make the cut).

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Alice Cooper – School’s Out

More of the Music of Alice Cooper

  • This early Green Label pressing boasts solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom
  • Surprisingly rich and full-bodied, the better copies really rock with big bass and punchy drums – just the right sound for Alice Cooper’s brand of hard-rockin’ chaos
  • The beloved title track remains the most-performed song in his concert history, and the presence on this copy will put the band right there in your listening room
  • 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: “School’s Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track.”
  • If you’re a fan of the band, this title from 1972 is clearly one of their best

Yet another impossible-to-find record in clean condition with good sound has made it to the site, and those of you who are fans should scoop it up because it takes us about four years to find enough copies to do this shootout. Check back with us in 2024 if this one is sold by the time you get to the end of this sentence!

We had poor luck with the second and third label copies on this AC title. It seems that, unlike so many records we play, the originals are the only way to go on School’s Out. (more…)

Badfinger – Straight Up Is Back!

More Classic Rock

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom, this early Apple pressing is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Straight Up you’ve heard
  • The sound here just jumps out of the speakers, which is exactly what the better copies of the album are supposed to (but rarely) do
  • If you like your Rock and Pop with minimal audio processing and the most natural, raw and real sound, the hottest of the Hot Stamper pressings we offer will sound exactly the way you want them to
  • If you’re a fan of the band – or Power Pop in general – this is the Straight Up you’ve been waiting for
  • Straight Up is one of the hardest albums to find with audiophile-quality playing surfaces (as these sides can attest to), which is the main reason our last shootout was more than ten years ago (!)
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…Here, there’s absolutely no filler and everybody is in top form. Pete Ham’s ‘Baby Blue’ is textbook power-pop — irresistibly catchy fuzz riffs and sighing melodies — and with its Harrison-esque slide guitars, ‘Day After Day’ is so gorgeous it practically aches. ‘Perfection’ is an unheralded gem, while ‘Name of the Game’ and ‘Take It All’ are note-perfect pop ballads.”
  • If I had to compile a list of my Favorite Rock and Pop Albums from 1971, this album would definitely be on it

This is Power Pop, plain and simple. The basics are what count: punchy drums, grungy guitars, present vocals, clear but full bass lines — just the meat and potatoes of rock, no fancy sauces.

For this music to work, all the elements need to be in balance, with correct timbre for the relatively few instruments that make up the arrangements.

Opacity, smear or grit instantly destroy the whole point of having a straightforward production, which is to be able to have all the parts laid out cleanly and clearly.

The idea is to get the production out of the way and just let the music speak for itself.

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The Beatles – Please Please Me (UK)

More of the Music of The Beatles

  • Superb sound for the Beatles’ debut studio album, with Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage import pressing
  • This side one has remarkable presence, clarity and size – it’s bigger, bolder and richer, as well as more clean, clear and open than most others we played, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • 5 stars: “Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh [and]…it’s easy to get wrapped up in the sound of the record itself without realizing how the album effectively summarizes the band’s eclectic influences. There’s a love of girl groups, vocal harmonies, sophisticated popcraft, schmaltz, R&B, and hard-driving rock & roll, which is enough to make Please Please Me impressive, but what makes it astonishing is how these elements converge in the originals.”

Folks, if you’re looking for a killer copy of the first Beatles release, here it is! Big and lively with superb presence and energy, this is exactly the right sound for this music. The album itself is nothing short of amazing. It captures more of the live sound of these four guys playing together as a rock and roll band than any record they ever made afterwards. (Let It Be gets some of that live quality, too, and makes a great bookend for the group.)

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).

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The B-52’s / Self-Titled – A Proud Member of Our Top 100

More of the Music of The B-52’s

  • With an INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two, this vintage pressing of The B-52’s’ debut album is overflowing with analog magic in its grooves – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Talk about sound that is positively jumpin’ out of the speakers – every instrument here is clear and present, laid out from wall to wall right in your listening room
  • Tubey Magic in 1979? Somehow they managed to pull it off. So dynamic too – what a recording!
  • The sound of the best pressings is raw, real and exceptionally unprocessed
  • A New Wave Classic, 5 stars in the All Music Guide: “These songs illustrated that the B-52’s’ adoration of camp culture… was a world view capable of turning out brilliant pop singles and, in turn, influencing mainstream pop culture… a hell of a good time.”

We think you will be surprised at just how good the sound can be. And you may or may not be surprised at just how FUN the music is.

Listen to the huge, spacious soundstage and amazingly rich, full-bodied and uncolored tonality that earned this recording a place in our Top 100.

Who knew that good sounding records were still being recorded in 1979? Candy-O comes to mind, but the B-52s’ first album has virtually none of the grit and Roy Thomas Baker heavy-processing of that one, and a lot more Tubey Magic to boot — when you get a pressing like this of course. (more…)

Laurindo Almeida – Virtuoso Guitar

More of the Music of Laurindo Almeida

  • A killer copy of this 45 RPM direct to disc recording featuring Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Some of the tubiest, warmest acoustic guitar sound you could ask for from a “modern” record – this is the sound of analog done right
  • It has the kind of sound we prefer, with none of the razor sharpness that you get on some direct to disc recordings
  • One of the best Almeida albums we know of and probably the best Crystal Clear title (which we know isn’t saying much)

Volume Is Key

This recording has very little processing or EQ boost, and the studio is somewhat dead sounding (all too common in the late 70s). That combination can mean only one thing: If you don’t play this record loud enough, it will not sound right.

The famous Sheffield S9 is exactly the same way. It sounds dead and dull until you turn it up. When you do, lookout — it really comes alive.

The best pressings can sound shockingly like live music, something one just does not hear all that often, even when one plays records all day long as we do.

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Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska

More of the Music of Bruce Springsteen

  • You’ll find STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides of this vintage copy of Nebraska – a tough record to find with audiophile playing surfaces and sound this “good”
  • There’s more space, richness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than practically all others we’ve played, but please take the time to read about the recording of the album so you know what to expect
  • 5 stars: “[A] recording artist’s demos of new songs often come off better than the more polished versions later worked up in a studio. But Bruce Springsteen was the first person to act on that theory, when he opted to release the demo versions of his latest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska”

This famously compromised recording certainly has its limitations, but here is a copy that shows what Bruce recorded on four-track cassette tape in the best possible light. (more…)

The Faces – Long Player

More British Blues Rock

  • An original Green Label pressing of the Face’s sophomore LP with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • Amazing live-in-the-studio sound that conveys completely the raw power of one of the hardest rockin’ bands of all time
  • Click here to see more of our favorite Rock and Pop records with relatively unprocessed sound
  • 5 stars in Allmusic and probably the Faces’ Best Album, for sound and music – “Maybe I’m Amazed”? Hell yeah!
  • “…a ferocious rock & roll band who, on their best day, could wrestle the title of greatest rock & roll band away from the Stones.”
  • This is our pick for The Face’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here on the blog.

We knew this album could sound good, but back in the day we sure didn’t know it could sound like this.

Both musically and sonically I don’t think the group ever recorded a better album than this one.

Take the wonderful song “Bad ‘N’ Ruin” (the opening track on side one) for example. It’s the sound of open mics in a big studio space — nothing more, nothing less. It’s totally free from any phony mastering or bad EQ, and on a Hot Stamper copy like this one, it’s absolute magic.

Martin Birch was the engineer for the first two tracks on side one. You may know him from his work with Fleetwood Mac (1969-1973) and Deep Purple (1969-1977), which include the amazingly well-recorded albums Machine Head and Made In Japan.

It’s a rare record indeed that can rock with the best of them while keeping its audiophile credentials intact. Like we said about our Hot Stampers for Never A Dull Moment, we sure wish more Rolling Stones records sounded like this.

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Squeeze / Argybargy Rocks on UK Vinyl

More Squeeze

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  • Both sides of this vintage British import were giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The overall sonics are rich, full-bodied, lively, and warm, with solid bass and breathy, clear vocals
  • Forget the dubby domestic pressings and whatever crappy Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – if you want to hear this music right, the UK LPs are the only way to fly on Argybargy
  • 5 stars: “If any one album were responsible for sowing the seeds of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook’s reputation as the new Lennon and McCartney, it’s Argybargy, Squeeze’s third album and undisputed breakthrough.”

If you think you might enjoy the mashup of Pub Rock and New Wave that this group unleashed on the pop music scene of the 70s and 80s I could not recommend any album of theirs more highly than Argybargy.

Squeeze’s prime period with Jools Holland on keyboards encompasses four albums, any of which is worth owning. The band really gets going with their second album, Cool for Cats (1979), pulls it all together and takes it to another level for their breakthrough third, Argybargy (1980), and produces two more of high quality, East Side Story (1981, produced mostly by Elvis Costello) and the darker but equally brilliant Sweets from a Stranger (1982).

I’m a huge fan of all four, as well as two from their later days, the amazing-to-this-day Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti (1985) and the weaker but enjoyable Babylon and On (1987). I play all of them on a regular basis.

If you’re a fan of Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson and probably quite a few other lesser-knowns from this era, Squeeze is the band for you. I put them right up there with Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel in the pantheon of British Pop Music of the era.

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