{"product_id":"thompshoot_2604_6x__","title":"Thompson, Richard and Linda  - Shoot Out The Lights - Super Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a mark that plays 5 times lightly at the start of the last track on side 1, \"Just the Motion.\" There is another mark that plays 3 times at a moderate to loud level at the start of track 3 on side 2, \"Did She Jump or Was She Pushed.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e 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. If you're looking for quiet vinyl, this is probably not the best copy for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithout a doubt, this is the best record Richard and Linda Thompson ever made together, possibly the best record Thompson was ever involved with, but it also holds one other important distinction, one of great interest to us audiophiles: it's the \u003ci\u003ebest sounding\u003c\/i\u003e record he (they) ever made as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTurn it up \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22turn-up-your-volume%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003egood and loud\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e and you will be amazed at how \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22dynamic-guitar-solos%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003edynamic the guitar solos\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e are.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage Hannibal pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records rarely even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to \"see\" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- \u003ci\u003ethis sound\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, 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 maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Shoot Out The Lights 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 even as late as \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221982%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1982\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\u003eUpdate: 2015\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we were playing the finalists for side two (at ear-splitting levels, I might add) a strange thought crossed my mind. Where had I heard this kind of monstrous, punchy bass and these soaring, perfectly distorted guitars, so big and so powerful, before? There was something about the sound -- the awesome energy, the freedom from compression or spatial restraint of any kind -- that was somehow familiar from another shootout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a minute's deliberation, the answer came to me: I was remembering the feeling I got from the White Hot Stamper of Led Zeppelin II we had played not long ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYes, that's the album that it most closely resembles. As outlandish as it may sound, the rock power of Shoot Out The Lights has much more in common with the rock power of Zep II than any other record I've heard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo be sure, the vast majority of people, including the vast majority of audiophiles, have never heard a top quality RL Zep II played at extreme levels on a big speaker system in a dedicated room. Nor will they probably ever have the chance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut I sure have. Heard quite a few in fact. If anyone knows that sound, I do. I've dedicated the past forty years of my efforts in audio to reproducing records with the Big Rock Sound like Zep II. (There's really none bigger in my opinion.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide two of the better copies of Shoot Out The Lights have that sound, the sound of a Hot Zep II. It's positively uncanny, and clearly the best sounding record made in the decade of the 80s. What other record from the 80s would even come close? Back in Black? The Sky Is Crying? Yeah, maybe, close -- but no cigar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Shoot Out The Lights\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\u003eIs It Live?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound is so dynamic, the soundstage so \u003ci\u003ehuge\u003c\/i\u003e, the size and weight are so good it just makes you want to turn your stereo up as loud as it will go. In that sense, it has some of the qualities of \"live\" music, because live music is \u003ci\u003eloud\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith constant improvements to the system, Shoot Out is now so powerful a recording that we had no choice but to add it to our \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/better-records.com\/pages\/top-100\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTop 100\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e list in 2014, but we would go even further than that and say that it would belong on a list of the Top Ten Best Sounding Rock Records of All Time. The guitars are HUGE -- they positively leap out of the speakers on the title cut, freeing themselves from a studio that seems to already be the size of a house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot long ago we played an amazing copy of The Sky Is Crying, one of the biggest -- and by that we mean tallest, widest and deepest -- sounding records we have ever heard. This album is every bit as big. It's nothing less than astounding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is the kind of solid, powerful kick to the drums on every track that only the best of the best rock records ever display, the Back in Blacks and Zep IIs, with deep punchy bass augmenting the drums, just as it does on the Hot Stamper pressings of those two titles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's no exaggeration to say that this record should put to shame 99% of all the rock records you have ever heard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Music\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor those of you who are not familiar with the album, not only is it Richard and Linda Thompson's Masterpiece, something the critics recognized at the time I'm happy to report, but it was, in fact, the \u003cstrong\u003eRolling Stone Album of the Year for 1982\u003c\/strong\u003e (tied with Nebraska). It ranked #333 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest of all time, and it belongs in your collection.\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 British Folk Rock Record\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this album Richard and Linda Thompson's \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22rock-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a recording that belongs in an serious rock music 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":"Thompson, Richard and Linda","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51739638006056,"sku":"thompshoot","price":179.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/shootoutthelight.jpg?v=1775583909","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/thompshoot_2604_6x__","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}