{"product_id":"manzadiamo_2605","title":"Manzanera, Phil - Diamond Head - Nearly White Hot Stamper (With Issues)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is mark that plays 17 times at a moderate level at the start of track 3 on side 2, \"Lagrima.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/nearly-white-hot\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNearly White Hot Stamper\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e pressings have top-quality sound that's often surprisingly close to our White Hots, but they sell at substantial discounts to our Shootout Winners, making them a relative bargain in the world of Hot Stampers (\"relative\" meaning relative considering the prices we charge). We feel you get what you pay for here at Better Records, and if ever you don't agree, please feel free to return the record for a full \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/money-back-guarantee\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003erefund\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, no questions asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wind is at your back here because this is one seriously well-recorded album. If this copy doesn't wake up your stereo, nothing will.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike its brother, 801 Live, this album is an amazing sonic blockbuster, with sound that positively leaps out of the speakers. Why shouldn't it? It was engineered by the superbly talented Rhett Davies at Island, the genius behind Taking Tiger Mountain, the aforementioned 801 Live, Avalon, Dire Straits' first album, and many many more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf we could regularly find copies of this audiophile blockbuster (and frankly, if more people appreciated the album) it would definitely go on our \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.better-records.com\/pages\/top-100\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTop 100 Rock and Pop List\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. In fact, it would easily make the Top Twenty from that list, it's that good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooking for Tubey Magic? Rhett Davies is your man. Just think about the sound of the first Dire Straits album or Avalon. The better pressings of those albums -- those with truly Hot Stampers -- are \u003ci\u003eswimming\u003c\/i\u003e in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Diamond Head 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:%221975%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1975\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\u003eBig Speakers Wanted\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis isn't known as an audiophile album but it should be -- the sound is \u003ci\u003eglorious\u003c\/i\u003e -- wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and as rich and dynamic as it gets. It's also a \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22big-speaker%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ebig speaker album\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. Play this one as loud as you can. (801 Live is exactly the same way and needs high volumes to come to life.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Personal Favorite\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis album basically became the set list for 801 Live, the concert collaboration between Eno, Manzanera and their fellow travelers. That album is one of my all-time favorites too, and a Must Own for anyone who likes British Art Rock from the 70s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat both of these albums share is amazing guitar work. Manzanera was the guitarist for Roxy Music, and this album can be enjoyed simply as an exercise in hearing every possible kind of sound the guitar can make. It also helps to have \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22brian-eno%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEno\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e doing electronic treatments for the instrument and coming up with a whole new sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne listen to a song like Diamond Head is all it should take to make you a fan. If that song doesn't do it for you, the rest of the album won't either, but I can't imagine how that could be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Diamond Head\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\u003eCheck 'Em All Off\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooking at our Hot Stamper checklist, it occurs to me that the better copies of this album excel in every area. It's energetic, dynamic, the sound just jumps out of the speakers, there's tons of bass, it's smooth -- in short, it's doing it all!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOne Final Note\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDomestic pressings suck. German pressings too. Don't waste your money. We've never heard a good one. (And most of the British pressings you can find won't hold a candle to this one.)\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 Art Rock Record (If That's Your Thing)\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this album Phil Manzanera's Masterpiece. Others that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22rock-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Manzanera, Phil","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51802454098216,"sku":"manzadiamo","price":299.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/manzadiamo.jpg?v=1777395798","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/manzadiamo_2605","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}