{"product_id":"creamgoodb_2604","title":"Cream - Goodbye - Super Hot Stamper (Quiet Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp\u003eVintage covers for this album are hard to find in exceptionally clean shape. Most of the will have at least some amount of ringwear, seam wear and edge wear. We guarantee that the cover we supply with this Hot Stamper is at least VG.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you get a good copy of this album, you're sure to hear what we heard: that this is truly one of the great live rock albums (with a bit of studio material on side two as well). This copy has the Big Rock Sound that we go crazy for at Better Records. The better pressings, the ones that are full-bodied and smooth, let you crank the levels and reproduce the album good and loud the way it was meant to be heard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen it's all working, you're front and center for a fiery Cream concert with these guys delivering one heckuva performance. And where else are you gonna get that these days?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage Polydor pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely even 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 and\/or live 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 Goodbye 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:%221969%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1969\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\u003cp\u003eWe've heard scores of the Cream albums over the years that we've been doing our Hot Stamper thing, and it's clear to us now that their two best recordings are bookends: the first album (self-titled) and the last album, Goodbye. Don't get us wrong, there are certainly excellent pressings of Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire, but neither of those two albums \u003ci\u003eat their best\u003c\/i\u003e can compete with Fresh Cream and Goodbye at \u003ci\u003etheir\u003c\/i\u003e best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Goodbye\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\u003eThen: \u003cstrong\u003epresence and immediacy\u003c\/strong\u003e. The vocals aren't \"back there\" somewhere, lost in the mix. They're front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.\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, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTight punchy bass\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, also 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 instruments.\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\u003eMore of What To Listen For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide one has two extended songs, with \"Politician\" being the standout sonically. It's got the Big Live Rock sound, very spacious and transparent. The first track, \"I'm So Glad,\" is always a bit midrangey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Badge\" is a great test for side two. If Clapton's Leslie-speaker-processed-guitar solo is blasting away right in your listening room and approximately the size of your house, then you have a good copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen a copy is cut really clean, as the best ones always are, \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22turn-up-your-volume%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ethe louder you play them\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, the better they sound. They're tonally correct at loud volumes and a bit dull at \"audiophile\" volumes. We wouldn't have it any other way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better 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\u003eHalverson Is The Man\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22bill-halverson%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBill Halverson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e's engineering Masterpieces, right up there with Deja Vu and Steve Stills' first album (now that's a trio).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLive rock music on record just does not get any better than side one of Goodbye on the best copies, and \"Badge\" is every bit as amazing sounding for studio work -- if you are that rare individual fortunate enough to be able to hear it at its best.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cream","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51757378306344,"sku":"creamgoodb","price":199.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/products\/creamgoodb.jpg?v=1753200745","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/creamgoodb_2604","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}