Great sounding new vinyl

Thanks for the info. Do you have any other pressings to compare it with?

Good newer ones I have personal experience with:

Classic Records:CSN(1st), Norah Jones:Come Away With Me, David Crosby:If Only I Could Remember My Name, Led Zeppelin:1 and 4, Miles Davis:Kind of Blue

Speakers Corner:Supertramp:Crime of the Century, Miles Davis:Round About Midnight, Bob Marley:Natty Dread, Joe Cocker:A Little Help From My Friends

Simply Vinyl:Roxy Music:Avalon, Eagles:Hell Freezes Over

Sundazed:Bob Dylan monos:Freewheelin Bob Dylan, Times They Are A Changin

MoFi:Not many but I like the Alison Krauss LPs:Others diagree

Eric Clapton Unplugged:German Import

Can't remember labels of these but:Beck:Sea Change(noisy but with great sonics), Son Volt:Straightaways, Paul McCartney:Unplugged, Green Day:American Idiot, Nirvana:Nevermind Import with Biem on label

There are many more that I've heard are good but don't have personal experience with. Hopefully this will help some of you find enjoyable pressings of some great music without wasting money on bad ones.

I am interested to hear if anyone likes the soon to be available Famous Blue Raincoat on Cisco 45 RPM vinyl. This is a great recording but the Cisco would have to be something special compared to my Cypress pressings to justify the $80 price. Apparently the 45 RPM of Classic's If Only I Could Remember My Name is amazing if you can find it(out of print) but I've heard it already sells on EBAY for hundreds.

Like I said, I'm interested to hear if this release cuts the mustard(audiofeil, you can quote that too if you want). I knew it would be out soon and was interested to see what the early buzz on it is.

J,

It's easy for people to become jaded toward new vinyl issues after being bitten a few times. It doesn't help that magazine reviewers gush about almost everything they hear. That's why I would steer you toward the Better Records site for recs on new vinyl. The "Hot Stampers" are high priced and probably overhyped but Tom is not afraid to stand up and call a spade a spade. If it doesn't sound good, he'll trash it. Conversely, if he recommends it, you can bet there's something behind it. I buy most of my new releases from him just because I appreciate his honesty.

Sorry,
Also meant to say that, although the Classic is getting out of reach for FBR, keep your eyes open for the Cypress. My last two NM copies were $11 and $6, both quite good.

Madfloyd,
Click on the first section, "All Vinyl". Scroll down and you'll find links to Recommended classical, rock, pop, and blues on heavy vinyl and even Audiophile recordings of special merit. You're right, he tends to hate most new vinyl but I find when he has anything at all good to say about a new release it proves to be one that's worth the trouble.

I don't believe Hot Stampers are snake oil and I don't blame those who prefer to buy records that way. I do believe finding your own hot copies is easier and more fun than advertised. No record is guaranteed to sound good even if it has all the right markings but there are some tell-tale marks that will put you in the right ballpark most of the time. I won't detail all of this here nor do I claim to have all the answers. For those interested, a few of the things to look for in the dead wax have already been posted on audio asylum under the heading "Hot Stampers Secrets Revealed" No guarantees but time and time again when I pull out my favorite sounding copies I find one of these indicators. What I once thought was a random search has now taken on more of a pattern. It at least gives you some indication of which ones to bother with. Best of all, your local record store doesn't know the difference(or care) so won't charge any more for the good ones. Tom Port knows more about this than probably almost anyone and he'll find them for you if you want. It's not snake oil, more like a service.

Hevac1,
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I have never learned how to create these links. I just looked up the post on audio asylum though and it's still there. You may have more luck if you click on vinyl to get to the vinyl asylum first, then in the "text to find" box enter "Hot Stampers Secrets Revealed". Rwwear, look up this information and then re-examine these good copies you've found accidently. I'm guessing most of them bear one or more of these initials/marks. If so, you should be able to use some of this information to help you start having these happy "accidents" more often.

You can't know for sure sure what you have until you clean it and play it but the information on the audio asylum thread can serve as a guide. None of it is a secret but the thread is a nice concise collection of useful information. For example, anything mastered at Sterling or Masterdisc by Robert Ludwig is worth checking out. But there are many others like KP(Ken Perry), LH(Lee Hulko), GK(Gilbert Kong). Discs mastered at Kendun(Mushroom's Dreamboat Annie for example)usually a good bet. I used to think The Eagles Long Run and The Guess Who's Greatest Vol 1 were good sounding discs until I found pristine copies that were flat sounding. Turns out the good ones I have bear the TML(M or S)stamp(The Mastering Lab)Same for James Taylor's JT. No guarantees, just other indicators along with early pressings, no barcodes and good condition. Look up the thread. It details more than I can.

Me too. That's the thing about this. You learn more as you go. Now I pass up a lot of the ones I would have bought before.