{"product_id":"addersomet_2604xx","title":"Adderley, Cannonball - Somethin' Else - Super Hot Stamper (With Issues)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a mark that plays 15 times at a light to moderate level and intermittently about 1\/2 way into track 1 on side 2, \"Somethin' Else.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe music here is simply amazing, but the good news for us audiophiles is that it's also one of the \u003ci\u003eBest Sounding Blue Note Albums\u003c\/i\u003e we know of, if not The Best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to \"see\" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- \u003ci\u003ethis sound\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it -- not often, and certainly not always -- but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Somethin' Else Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221958%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1958\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. \u003ci\u003ePlaying the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above,\u003c\/i\u003e and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSetting the Record for Straight Ahead Jazz\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter doing this shootout in 2015, the current consensus here at Better Records is that this album deserves to hold three -- count 'em, three -- somewhat related titles:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne, The Best Sounding Blue Note record we have ever played.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo, The Best Sounding Jazz Record we have ever played.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree, Rudy Van Gelder's Best Engineering (based on the copies we played).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur shootout winners had more energy, presence, dynamics and three-dimensional studio space than any jazz recording we have ever heard. The sound was as BIG and BOLD as anything in our audio experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdd to that a perfectly balanced mix, with tonality that's correct from top to bottom for every instrument in the soundfield and you may begin to see why we feel that the best copies of this album set a standard that no other jazz record we're aware of can meet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHave we played every Blue Note, every RVG recording, every jazz record? We would never say such a thing (nor should anyone else).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, in our defense, who could possibly claim to have critically evaluated the sound of more jazz records than we have?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are multitudes of music experts in the world of jazz. For \u003ci\u003ejazz sound quality\u003c\/i\u003e the numbers must surely be orders of magnitude smaller, and here is where we're sure we have more than a few critically valuable advantages: better playback equipment, better record cleaning, stacks of copies of the same title, a scientifically blinded approach and, most importantly of all, a single-minded purpose. All our efforts are in service to only one end, to find the ultimate in analog sound. (Naturally, we leave the sound of CDs and other digital formats to others.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat To Listen For On Somethin' Else\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe better copies are rich and tubey; many pressings were thin and modern sounding, some were opaque and recessed, and they would lose a lot of points for those shortcomings. We want our Hot Stamper pressings to sound like something RVG recorded in 1961, and the better copies give you that sound, without the surface noise and groove damage the originals doubtless have to offer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSomethin' Else Indeed\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's not much we can say about this music that hasn't been said (please check out the reviews and liner notes in this very listing). It's obviously one of the most beloved Blue Notes of all time, and with good reason. The wonderful reading of \"Autumn Leaves\" is a major highlight for us, but you could really pick any track here and make a case for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this a Miles Davis album as much as a Cannonball Adderley album; Miles picked out most of the material and is a featured soloist throughout. The next album Miles recorded was a little number called \u003cstrong\u003eKind Of Blue\u003c\/strong\u003e that I imagine some of you might be familiar with...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a record we could play every week and never tire of. I just don't think jazz music gets any better than this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus and maybe a bit worse is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Must Own Jazz Record\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this Cannonball Adderley\/Miles Davis album a \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22jazz-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a recording that should be part of any serious jazz collection.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\u003cp\u003eOthers that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22core-jazz-collection%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Adderley, Cannonball","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51616974176552,"sku":"addersomet","price":599.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/addersomet_838d057c-fe8d-4904-bbd6-79744242fae2.jpg?v=1707759030","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/addersomet_2604xx","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}