{"product_id":"frankladys_2610","title":"Franklin, Aretha - Lady Soul - Super Hot Stamper","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\u003eWe've been playing a lot of Aretha Franklin records lately, working our way through her catalog, but it's hard to find pressings that separate themselves from the pack to give you audiophile-friendly sound. Too many seem to be optimized more for the radio than for your hi-rez audio rig.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery now and then, however, we luck into a copy that has the real soul magic in its grooves. On this album, that means \"Chain Of Fools\" and Aretha's great version of \"Natural Woman\" will sound just the way you want them to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA little edge on the vocals is baked into Aretha's cake. You can't get rid of it, and when it sounds right, be thankful nobody tried to \"fix\" it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage Atlantic pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing any sign of coming back.\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 Aretha singing live in your listening room. The better 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 sixy 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 The Best Sides Of Lady Soul 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:%221968%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1968\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. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the above.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of the Aretha records we've played tend to be a bit too bright, which brings out a lot of grit, grain and edge. I don't want to be presumptuous, but I can't imagine that's the sound the Queen Of Soul was going for. A copy like this gives you smoother, sweeter sound with a more natural tonal balance. It makes the music work much better -- the sound is easier on the ears and not nearly as fatiguing, plus it lets you turn up the volume good and loud without giving yourself a headache.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Lady Soul\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eEnergy\u003c\/b\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/b\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cb\u003etransient information\u003c\/b\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\u003cb\u003eTight, note-like bass with clear fingering\u003c\/b\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, as well as the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cb\u003etransparency\u003c\/b\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: \u003cb\u003epresence and immediacy\u003c\/b\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\u003cb\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/b\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 later 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":"Franklin, Aretha","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67841796505896,"sku":"frankladys","price":499.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/products\/xxx_41cd142f-f827-403f-992c-fd4f2749bc4c.jpg?v=1649258617","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/frankladys_2610","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}