{"product_id":"basiefarme_2606","title":"Basie, Count - Farmers Market Barbecue - Super Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e On side 2, track 1 (\"Blues for the Barbecue\") and track 2 (\"I Don't Know Yet\") play a little noisier than Mint Minus Minus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusically, FMB is a top Basie big band title in every way. This should not be surprising: many of his recordings for Pablo in the mid- to late-70s all the way through the early 80s display the talents of The Count and his band of veterans at their best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSonically, it's another story. Based on our recent shootout for this title, in comparison to the other Basie titles we've done lately, we would have to say that \u003cstrong\u003eFMB is the best Basie big band title we've ever played.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(I never noticed until recently that the album cover picture for I Told You So and this album are exactly the same. Wow, Pablo, that takes balls.)\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 Farmers Market Barbecue 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 even as late as \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221982%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1982\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 space of the studio\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\u003eTransparency\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat typically separates the outstanding copies from the merely good ones are two qualities that we often look for in the records we play: transparency and lack of smear. Transparency allows you to hear \u003ci\u003einto\u003c\/i\u003e the recording, reproducing the ambiance and subtle musical cues and details that high-resolution analog is known for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Note that most Heavy Vinyl pressings being produced these days seem to be inordinately \"transparency-challenged.\" Lots of important musical information -- the kind we hear on even second-rate regular pressings -- is simply nowhere to be found. That audiophiles as a whole -- including those that pass themselves off as the champions of analog in the audio press -- do not notice these failings does not speak well for either their equipment or their critical listening skills.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLack of Smear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLack of smear is also important, especially on a recording with this many horns, where the leading edge transients are so critical to their proper reproduction. If the sharply differing characteristics of the various brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, and three kinds of saxes) smear together into an amorphous blob, as if the sound were being fed through 50s vintage tube amps (for those of you who know that sound), half the fun goes right out of the music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichness is important -- horns need to be full-bodied if they are to sound like the real thing -- but so are speed and clarity, two qualities that insure that all the horns have the proper bite and timbre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Farmers Market Barbecue\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnergy\u003c\/strong\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/strong\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cstrong\u003etransient information\u003c\/strong\u003e -- fast, clear, sharp attacks for the guitars, horns and drums, not the smear and thickness common to most LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTight, note-like bass with clear fingering\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, as well as the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cstrong\u003etransparency\u003c\/strong\u003e -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the players.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003ci\u003evoila\u003c\/i\u003e, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTight Bass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA problem we noted on many copies in addition to smear and opacity was blurry bass. Most copies are rich and full-bodied, with plenty of bottom end. So far so good. However, when the bottom is not well-defined, you can't hear Freddie Green strumming along nearly as well as you can on the copies where the bass is tight and note-like.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe same is true for the \u003cstrong\u003ebaritone sax\u003c\/strong\u003e; it got lost in the murky depths of some of the copies we played. And of course the way we know that is when we drop the needle on a randomly chosen copy and -- suddenly -- there it is! Now we're hearing the instrument clearly and correctly. Who knew it could sound like that? Only on these very special copies are we given the opportunity to \u003ci\u003eappreciate\u003c\/i\u003e the baritone's contribution to the music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHi-Fidelity\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat do we love about these vintage pressings? The timbre of every instrument is Hi-Fi in the best sense of the word. The unique sound of every instrument is reproduced with remarkable fidelity. That's what we at Better Records mean by \"Hi-Fi,\" not the kind of audiophile phony BS sound that passes for Hi-Fidelity these days. There's no boosted top, there's no bloated bottom, there's no sucked-out midrange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Hi-Fidelity for those who recognize the real thing when they hear it. I'm pretty sure our customers do, and whoever picks this record up is guaranteed to get a real kick out of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus 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 Farmers Market Barbecue a  \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22jazz-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a recordings that belong in any serious jazz music 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\n","brand":"Basie, Count","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51894539256104,"sku":"basiefarme","price":149.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/basiefarmers.jpg?v=1718723301","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/basiefarme_2606","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}