Dave Alvin is such an underappreciated guitarist.
@slaw - Agree about Dave Alvin! He was/is fabulous with The Blasters, and has put out two really good CD's with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. |
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I've found tremendous bargains on CDs, SACDs and HDCDs at local thrift stores, usually less than $2 each. Some remastered, some original releases. I don't stream nor do I spin vinyl. My only source is an SACD/CD player that I enjoy very much. I grade each of my 800 or so albums A+, A,B,C or D based on sound quality. Parameters listened for are the usual stuff- clarity, timbres, soundstage, imaging, air, bloom, cohesiveness, dynamics. Remastered almost always sounds significantly better than the original, especially if the engineer was Bob Ludwig. There are a others that are good too. SACDs usually sound better than the standard "red book" versions, but not always. Same thing for HDCDs. Some artists do consistently class A sound, especially when remastered. Dire Straits, Depeche Mode, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Enya, Steely Dan, Wang Chung, INXS, Bob Seger, ABC, Ozzy (yes, Ozzy!)... For me, it's a lot easier to relax and enjoy the music when it's sound quality is classes A or A+. Class B is tolerable to listen to. Classes C and D are mostly used to let a guest hear how bad they sound and then how much better classes B, A and A+ sound. Like hearing a different system, but it's not!
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I realized since starting this thread, I should have worded it differently. Was hoping for favorite silver discs that are of exceptional sound quality that long time vinyl spinners are totally satisfied with. I listened to my three Mapleshade CDs recently and all were wonderful.... Bad Influence "Live at the Bad Habits Cafe" Drink Small "Electric Blues Doctor, Live!" Big Joe Maher/Jeff Sarli "Mojo" |
I remember discovering MapleShade CDs long ago. I was really impressed with the recordings... I bought them all. I told a friend, who bought a few and said that the music was terrible (on the ones he bought), he couldn't understand why I recommended them. Then I realized that I was so impressed with the recordings... I wasn’t listening to the music... he was right (on some of the albums anyway). |
I somehow missed this thread. One CD I have that features great sound AND music is:
- A Meeting By The River (on Water Lily Acoustics), an album of instrumental duets by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Recorded by Kavichandran Alexander on a tube reel-to-reel machine (the electronics of which were custom designed and installed by Tim DeParavicini of EAR-Yoshino fame). Absolutely stunning!
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I have the lp @bdp24 The lp sounds so natural. I forgot about this thread myself. My contribution is Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers "Live at The Fillmore 1997". Wonderful! |
A story I have told before. At the ’96 Stereophile show at the N.Y. Waldorf, Pierre Sprey came into my room (Jadis) and handed me a Mapleshade cd of his, to demo. It was ’’Big Sweet N’ Blue"..."Norris Turney with his Quartet". There are a few tracks that are OUTSTANDING, all engineered by Pierre and digitally mastered by Bob Katz. Inserted between the front of the case and the booklet, was a printed label that read: Norris Turney: Demo Tracks # 1,2,10. Without question, the musical compositions and performances are great! I have a few others as well. |