{"product_id":"taylojt_2607-1","title":"Taylor, James - JT - White Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe good copies really rock on songs like \"Honey Don't Leave L.A.\" or \"I Was Only Telling A Lie,\" yet have lovely, sweetly delicate vocals on ballads such as \"Another Grey Morning\" or \"There We Are\" (two of our favorite songs on the album).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust turn up the volume and play the opening to \"Honey Don't Leave L.A.\" -- this is James Taylor and his super tight studio band at the peak of their powers. Russ Kunkel hits the drum twice, then clicks his sticks together so quickly you can hardly notice it, then goes back to the drums for the rest of the intro. On the better copies, the subtleties of his performance are clearly on display. (Until copies like this one came along, we had never even noticed that stick trick. Now it's the high point of the whole intro!)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of JT 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:%221977%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1977\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\u003eThe strings on \"Handy Man\" are a key test for us when evaluating the copies in the shootout. Most of the time they are smeary and hard, lacking the rosiny texture of the real thing. When you chance upon a good one it's pretty obvious, and sure enough everything else -- vocals, guitars, drums -- sounds better as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On JT\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 guitars, sax and tuba, 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 -- Val Garay in this case -- 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\u003eVal Garay Is The Man\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKudos once again must go to Val Garay, the co-engineer here with \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22dave-hassinger%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDave Hassinger\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (who owns The Sound Factory where the album was recorded). \n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGaray is the man behind so many of our favorite recordings: James Taylor's \u003cstrong\u003eFlag\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eSimple Dreams\u003c\/strong\u003e (a \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.better-records.com\/pages\/top-100\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTop 100 title\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e), \u003cstrong\u003eAndrew Gold\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ePrisoner In Disguise\u003c\/strong\u003e, etc. They all share his trademark super-punchy, jump-out-the-speakers, rich and smooth \u003ci\u003eanalog\u003c\/i\u003e sound. With \u003cu\u003ebig\u003c\/u\u003e drums -- can't forget those. (To be clear, only the better copies share it. Most copies only hint at it.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don't think Mr. Garay gets anything like his due with audiophiles and the reviewers who write for them. This is a shame; the guy makes Demo Disc quality pop records about as good as those kinds of records can be made. If you have a big system that really rocks you owe it to yourself to get to know his work. This is truly a knockout disc if you have the equipment for it. We do, and records like this make the effort and expense of building a full-range dynamic system over the course of many decades worth all the trouble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Best Later James Taylor Music\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs audiophiles, we all know that sound and music are inseparable. After dropping the needle on a dozen or so copies, all originals by the way, you \u003cu\u003eknow\u003c\/u\u003e when the music is working its magic and when it's not. As with any pop album, there are always some songs that sound better than others, but when you find yourself marveling at how well-written and well-produced a song is, you know that the sound is doing what it needs to do. It's communicating the Musical Values of the material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most important of all these Musical Values is energy, and boy does this copy have it!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusically this is one of Taylor's best. Every track is good and many are wonderful. There are five or six James Taylor records that are \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22desert-island-disc%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDesert Island Discs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e for me. I know they probably wouldn't let me take six of the same artists' records to my island, but I would hope they would make an exception for James Taylor because his albums really do set a standard that those of few other singer\/songwriters can meet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStart with Sweet Baby James, the first album (which we may never have in stock again, they're just too hard to find) and JT. The next group to pursue would contain Mud Slide Slim, One Man Dog and Dad Loves His Work, and maybe Flag.\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 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. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTrack Commentary\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eTracklist\u003c\/strong\u003e tab above will take you to a select song breakdown for each side, with plenty of What to Listen For advice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOther records with track breakdowns can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22track-commentary%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Must Own Pop Record\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this James Taylor album a \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22pop-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a recording that should be part of any serious popular music collection.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\u003cp\u003eOthers that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22core-pop-collection%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor, James","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52141782597928,"sku":"taylojt","price":399.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/taylojt.jpg?v=1784567777","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/taylojt_2607-1","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}