{"product_id":"pinkfwall_2606","title":"Pink Floyd - The Wall - Super Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a mark that plays 4 times lightly at the start of track 1 on side 2, \"Goodbye Blue Sky.\" There is also a mark that plays 4 times lightly at the start of track 2 on side 3, \"Is There Anybody Out There?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning, playing, and comparing copies of this classic double album for our shootouts and let me tell you, there are a lot of weak copies out there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat do these kinds of top grades give you for The Wall? Top-notch clarity and transparency, mind-blowing immediacy, weight to the bottom, extension up top, \u003ci\u003ehuge\u003c\/i\u003e open soundfields, real texture to all the instruments, \u003ci\u003etons\u003c\/i\u003e of energy with serious dynamics, \u003ci\u003ebig\u003c\/i\u003e punchy drums and loads of natural ambience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePink Floyd tends to be an amazingly well-recorded band, and this album is certainly no exception. If you've taken home one of our Hot Stampers for Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle, or Wish You Were Here, then you certainly know what we're talking about.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe've been telling people for years that The Wall is one of the best-sounding rock records ever, and this is the copy to show you exactly why. When sound effects are introduced into the mix -- buzzing helicopters, ringing telephones, clicking typewriters, and so on -- they happen \u003cu\u003eright\u003c\/u\u003e \u003cu\u003ethere\u003c\/u\u003e in the room with you. If you've got a front end with serious resolving power and the watts to really pump up the volume, you're going to be right there behind the wall with Pink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of The Wall 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:%221979%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1979\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 these records 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 pressings that sound as good as these two do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eChoruses Are Key\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe richness, sweetness, and freedom from artificiality are most apparent on The Wall where you most always hear those qualities on a pop record: in the biggest, loudest, densest, most climactic \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22choruses%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003echoruses\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe set the playback volume so that the loudest parts of the record are as huge and powerful as they can possibly grow to be without crossing the line into distortion or congestion. On some records, Dark Side of the Moon comes instantly to mind, the guitar solos on Money are the loudest thing on the record. On Breakfast in America, the sax toward the end of \"The Logical Song\" is the biggest and loudest sounding instrument on the record, louder even than Roger Hodgson's near-hysterical multi-tracked screaming \u003ci\u003eWho I am\u003c\/i\u003e about three-quarters of the way through. Those, however, are clearly exceptions to the rule. Most of the time it's the final chorus that gets bigger and louder than anything else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA pop song is usually structured so as to build more and more strength as it works its way through its verses and choruses, past the bridge, coming back around to make one final push, releasing all its energy in the final chorus, the climax of the song. On a good recording -- one with real dynamics -- that part should be very loud and very powerful.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's almost always the toughest test for a pop record, and it's the main reason we play our records loud. The copies that hold up through the final choruses of their album's largest scaled productions are the ones that provide the biggest thrills and the most emotionally powerful musical experiences we have around here. Our \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.better-records.com\/pages\/top-100\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTop 100\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e is full of the kinds of records that reward listening at loud levels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe live for that sound here at Better Records. It's what vintage analog pressings do so brilliantly. They do it so much better than any other medium that there is really no comparison and certainly no substitute. If you're on this site you probably already know that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On The Wall\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\u003eTAS List\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHarry Pearson put this record on his \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22tas-list%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTAS list of Super Discs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, and with good reason: it’s incredible!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeing on the TAS list doesn’t guarantee great sound, but Better Records does. If you don’t think a record sounds as good as we’ve described, we’ll always happily take it back and refund your money. Good luck getting ol’ Harry to send you a check when the TAS-approved pressings you pick up don’t deliver.\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 Rock Masterpiece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this Pink Floyd album their \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22rock-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a Demo Disc quality recording that belongs in any serious rock collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOthers that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22core-rock-collection%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pink Floyd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51949074612520,"sku":"pinkfwall","price":399.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/products\/pinkfwall.jpg?v=1744731634","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/pinkfwall_2606","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}