"CASINO ROYALE" - Colgems / RCA 1967 COSO 5005 - TAS 10 Best Popular Recordings

This is it. The "Grandaddy" of Audiophile "Wish-Lists".On the top of Harry Pearson's "Best of The Bunch" Popular list. "As vinyl verges on extinction, one album has emerged as the prime specimen of the species. Of all the millions of recordings released in the 114 years since Thomas Edison asked, "What hath God wrought?" this album has come closest to achieving the potential of a vanishing medium. It represents "the paradigm," says one audiophile, "the paramount, if you will." It is . . . the original soundtrack of the 1967 movie "Casino Royale." The soundtrack, like everything else about the movie, was over the top. "The legend is that the original master tape had 'mad' levels on it," says Harry Pearson, editor and publisher of the audiophile bible Absolute Sound and, by general consensus, the person most responsible for creating the "Casino Royale" cult. Mr. Pearson explains that a sound engineer usually adjusts recording levels so that when musicians are playing their loudest, the meters on the console reach zero. "Once the meters pass zero, it means that you're saturating the tape and running the risk of distortion," he says. "On 'Casino,' they used a supposedly very fancy grade of tape, and the engineers really pushed it, so the meters were typically running deep into the red -- plus one, plus two, plus three, plus four." As a result, he says, the record has an "extremely wide dynamic range" -- higher highs and lower lows. "They weren't afraid to push the medium to the limits of the recording process," Mr. Pearson adds. "It can lead to disaster, but in the case of 'Casino,' it doesn't. There's no saturation, no distortion. The record is as clean as a whistle." For this reason, ever since the album's release, audiophiles have valued "Casino Royale" as a test for stereo equipment. "The better your system gets," says Mr. Pearson, "the more you get out of that album." - NY Times.

The record is NM.
The jacket is Exc. (still in shrink)
The LP plays/sounds Mint.

This LP is a 3S/3S pressing which has a very deep, tight bottom end, a full, warm mid-range and tube-like high's. The soundstage is WIDE (beyond the speakers) and deep. Imaging and detail are amazing, very realistic sounding, and vocals and instruments are surrounded by "air" and presence, adding to the effect. Tons of micro detail. This is one of those recordings that you must hear to appreciate fully the characteristics attributed to this 'classic' and why it has become an 'Audiophile Cult' recording.
Almost NO surface noise! Just some extremely faint 'ticks' (just a few) that you really have to listen hard to hear.

Each record is washed on a VPI cleaning machine using a proprietary 3-5 agent process which is determined by the needs of the individual record. Each record is then listened to 100% to insure that the posted description is exactly what you can expect to get.

NOTE! Purchase any 3 or more of my LP's together and get 10% off the order as well as savings on shipping! Just click on "More From This Seller" to see a full listing.

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