{"product_id":"dylanjohnw_2609","title":"Dylan, Bob - John Wesley Harding - Super Hot Stamper (With Issues)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e On side 1, there is a mark that plays 6 times lightly during the intro to track 3, \"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine.\" There is another mark that plays 7 times (3 very loud, 2 loud, 2 light to moderate) about 1\/4\" from the end of the same track. On side 2, there is also a mark that plays 7 times at a moderate level at the end of track 3, \"I Pity the Poor Immigrant.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e Side 1 of this record was not noisy enough to rate our M-- to EX++ grade, but it's not quite up to our standards for Mint Minus Minus either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\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\u003eWhile Dylan's albums may not be big-production sonic spectacles, hearing these great songs sound so intimate and lifelike on a top quality pressing is surely a sublime experience when played on a modern, high-quality system. We should know; we have one and we enjoyed the hell out of this very copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTesting for Balance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trick to the best sound on John Wesley Harding is to find a copy that achieves the right balance between Dylan's vocal and his harmonica.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis vocal should be rich, smooth and somewhat reserved. In the other area of the midrange, Dylan prefers a lively harmonica sound, which means it will typically be somewhat \"hot\" relative to his voice and the other instruments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf the frequency balance is shifted up even a very small amount on your pressing or in your system, the sound of the harmonica will be, at least to some degree, edgy, bright and unpleasant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we sit down to play a stack of six or eight or ten copies of the album, we fairly quickly find out what the \"right\" mix is. It's the mix where everything is balanced, including the two elements that are the most difficult to balance, the vocals and the harmonica.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe voice should be full-bodied and rich, and it must -- \u003ci\u003emust\u003c\/i\u003e -- sound right for a recording of country-tinged music recorded by Columbia in 1967. It is not Brothers in Arms, and it is definitely not supposed to sound like 1985. In all the shootouts we do, the one thing we know is that the sound must be appropriate for the music and the recording era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(As a rule the reissues from the 70s are too thin and bright, perhaps equalized in an attempt to bring out more presence in Dylan's vocal, but of course this approach will surely ruin everything, which it does, and which also explains why you will never see one for sale on our site.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur top Hot Stamper pressings will have the two main elements properly balanced with each other, along with all the other instruments in the mix of course. If your system is highly resolving and tonally correct, simply keep adjusting your VTA until you hear the the most correct midrange reproduction, both high and low. Everything else should fall into line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis may not be a perfect record or a Demo Disc, but you'll have a very hard time finding a copy that presents the music as well as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of John Wesley Harding 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:%221967%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1967\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\u003eThe Dylan Catalog Is Tough\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBelieve us, John Wesley Harding is one of the tougher nuts to crack in the Dylan canon. Most pressings are a veiled, smeary nightmare. The harmonica sounds noticeably squawky and unpleasant on the bulk of the copies we've played over the years. You really have to work to find a copy with the warmth, smoothness and correct tonality to get Dylan's voice to sound right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHaving done this for so long, we understand and appreciate that rich, full, solid, Tubey Magical sound is key to the presentation of this primarily vocal music. We rate these qualities higher than others we might be listening for (e.g., bass definition, soundstage, depth, etc.). The music is not so much about the details in the recording, but rather in trying to recreate a solid, palpable, real Bob Dylan singing live in your listening room. The best copies have an uncanny way of doing just that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you exclusively play modern repressings of older recordings (this one is now almost 60 years old), 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 less than one out of 100 new records do, if our experience with the hundreds we've played can serve as a guide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On John Wesley Harding\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 guitar, piano 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\u003eThen: \u003cstrong\u003epresence and immediacy\u003c\/strong\u003e. The vocals aren't \"back there\" somewhere, way behind the speakers. They're front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would have put them.\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\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","brand":"Dylan, Bob","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52408334450984,"sku":"dylanjohnw","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/johnwesleyharding_e18b8c27-3420-477a-bbe2-5696229e4312.jpg?v=1694188290","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/dylanjohnw_2609","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}