Do you remember your first cd?


There was a thread concerning Bose 901s the other night and it started me thinking about how early cds sounded on those speakers. The first cd I purchased was Scarecrow by John Mellancamp way back in 86 I think. That cd sounded ok back then but if I were to put it on now the sound would drive me out of the room. I haven't been able to listen to it since the 901s left. Another early cd is U2s The Joshua Tree which also sounds horrible now.
Just wondering now how many can recall their first cd purchase and whether they are listenable still?
timrhu
Duran duran's decade. In the late 80's.

That album was a good collection of the radio single hits, however, Strange Behaviour is the one to go for with the glorious club extended mixes with extreme dynamics. Duran Duran roots was as a night club dance band more than anything else and that was their primary focus rather than radio hits. The dance extended versions were not just remixes like what everyone else put out - they actually went back to the studio to record extended versions.
"Atavachron" by Alan Holdsworth. I think it was his first venture into the guitar synthesizer. It was released in 1986. The CD sounded great then, and and sounds fine on my current rig. That guy can tear up a guitar; then AND now.
Yes indeed, I remember it well. Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing 1987 right after I just purchased my first CD player, a Sony CDP620ES. I quickly found out that there was something about digital playback that just didn't connect me to the music but for the life of me I didn't know what it was.
I bought Ry Cooder's Bop till You Drop at Her Majesty's Voice record store on Oxford street in London in the early '80s before any were released in the US. I later bought a Dual cd player which was awful. Later I got the Meridian player which was okay.
Claire Marlo, Let It Go on Sheffield Lab, 1989. I see that it is being reissued, it is interesting because she played all the synthesizer music and arranged and produced everything.
She has a very nice voice and sings nice songs...
Joni Mitchell Court and Spark and ELP-Pictures at an Exhibition. Both cd's were purchased late 1983 and played on a $150 Magnavox player-Toshiba SA-750 receiver and Ohm Walsh 2 speakers with the cheapest Kimber Kable.
When I got back from the Army in '87, I bought Pink Floyds The wall, The Black Crowes, and Rush's first one. Still have them today, although I don't listen to them much. I also have the very first lp I ever bought. All the Worlds a stage by Rush. I can see it from were I'm sitting. I think I paid $7 for it with some birthday money I saved.
When I bought my first CD player ( Sony CDP-101 ?), the dealer gave me a copy of "Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, Op. 47, Lorin Maazel The Cleveland Orchestra. Telarc CD-80067". 30 yrs. Old and still sounds good.
Sigh...sure do but it was nothing compared to the first time I took the grills off and admired a pair of woofers.
Steve Windwood .. Back In The High Life. A friend invited me over to check out this amazing new technology and he played this cd for me. I went out the next day and bought a cd player and the cd.
First CDs were Metallica's Black album and Led Zeppeling Remasters box set, around '91. Bought them the day after Christmas after my parents bought me a Sony Discman.
I remember the first LP I bought, but can't recall the first CD. I guess it wasn't such a big deal. Kind of like my first kiss. I remember it well. The second I can't recall.
First cd Hell Freeazes Over- (the store used it as a demo disc when auditioning my old Sony cd player in the midlate 80's).
First lp Zep IV- I had to do some work for my Dad to earn the 6 bucks needed for the purchase. I remember thinking I must really love music to do all this work for a record!

Regards,
Metallica "And justice for all" I used to ride bus to work and would play it on my $300.00 Sony portable CD, now its worth about $20.00 and still turns a profit!
First CD was Abby Road by The Beatles. Played it on my first CD player - a Sony 5 disk unit. Recently pulled it out of a closet to use when the CD player in my office system went down.

First LP was Iron Butterfly's In-A-Godda-De-Vida, bought in 1969 when I was 12. Still have the album.
The first CD I bought was:
The Police-Zenyatta Mondatta in the Summer of 1984.
Stop Making Sense by the Talking Heads. It was around 1984. I was living in Boston, working for minimum wage at a left-wing printshop. I had seen the movie with a girlfriend, and was blown away. About that time my roommate bought a stereo with a separate CD player. I didn't even know what a CD was. "Dynamic range" he said. Sure enough, it could play *loud* and clean. Actually I think it was his CD, but I made it mine, pogoing all over the apartment to "Burning down the House" when he wasn't home. Great CD, I'm going to have to buy a copy and relive the old days.

I travelled light for many years, just a little tape player and a lot of LPs (no turntable of my own, though), and finally couldn't stand tapes anymore, bought a CD boombox and what was probably the first CD I actually owned -- U-2s Achtung Baby. It's all intentionally distorted at the beginning -- and I panicekd and almost returned the CD player as defective! Now I listen to much more jazz and vocals (partly because that's what sounds good on my system!), but I still have and like that CD, and actually use it to audition new gear (sounds weird because it's so distorted in places, but one of the early songs starts with the drummer (Larry Mullen) clacking his drumsticks together, and I swear I can tell a lot about a system by how well it reproduces that "clack".

Recently got an LP player and starting playing my old LPs. Man, that resonates in every sense of the word.

- Eric
Liquid Liquid because the dealer couldn't get it on tape. Now it's worth $100. First and last time I made money in hi-fi.
That's kinda funny. I remember the first LP I bought and that was ten years before CDs came out, but I have no idea what was the name of my first CD.
Yes, I remember it. But - must I admit what it was? In my defense, I didn't "choose" it. :)

I worked all summer at the golf course (about age 15 I think) to make enough money to get a Pioneer "rack" system from Sears (LoL) that was $800. I had to earn $1,600 that summer as I made an agreement with my father, I could buy that stereo for $800, if I made $800 to put toward my college tuition. The wise man started making me realize if you work hard enough for it, you appreciate it more. (or I think so) Looking back, unfortunately I could have done much better for the money, but this was before I discovered the "high end"...

Anyhow, I worked all summer to make the dough and thought if I was paying retail for the system I asked the sales guy to throw in a cd, so he went over to the rack and came back with a cd and said, "Here is the #1 cd on the charts. It will sound great on your stereo." It happened to be *cough* Debbie Gibson's debut album. Being the first and only cd I had for a few days, it got much more play time than it deserved.

Well that system travelled with me to Ohio State and after discovering Progressive Audio across from campus and the better gear to be acquired, the Pioneer Rack system served well for spinning tunes at fraternity keg parties... :)

Now if that isn't embarrasing... both the cd & the system!
Hey Rosstaman

In the Digital Mood I still have that cd what a great cd. I still listen to it from time to time. My dad also loved that cd as he was a fan of the big band era. He served in WWII God rest his soul.

Chuck
Van Halen - 1984
Tears for Fears - forget name
The Time - Ice Cream Castles
Led Zeppelin - IV

Played on an early JVC CD player
My fist lp was American Woman by The Guess Who. Not sure of the year (68 maybe) but it was a new release. Shortly after that I joined Columbia Record Club and ordered Big Brother and the Holding Company, Doors 1st, Blood Sweat and Tears to name a few. What do ya think I was doing while enjoying that music? Wow the memories.
Cd-Peter Gabriel "So" in 86 or 87 and first lps were The Guess Who (America Woman) and Steppenwolf (Born to be Wild) in 71 I think. Not sure of the titles as they were all stolen while at uni. Had some great blues albums back then also. My first 8 track was the Easy rider soundtrack! I believe my first cassete was Iron Butterfly. Piezo the seed reference brings back old memories. Ever open an old album and found a 30 year old "j" inside. LOL
Larry
Hey Kelly, I was thinking of putting in my first 45, but in my haste I forgot.

96 Tears- by ? and the Mysterians, ca. 1966

I don't still have that one, I wore that sucker out several decades ago.
Pink Floyd - the final cut.
I remeber - each truck starts at very low volume, so I kept increasing it. And than on track 7, after very low volume, the explosion came. I thought I blew all the windows in the house. I haven't listened to it for a very long time.
cd- flim & the bb's, "neon," ca. 1986
lp- van cliburn, tchaikovskyÂ’s 1st piano concerto, ca. 1959
45- the platters, "great pretender," ca. 1956

I bought the first Peter Gabriel CD and Tchaikovsky's 1812 (Telarc). Believe it or not they were the only two CD's available when I bought my first CDP (I'm guessing this was in 1983). I bought the "perfect sound forever" early on, I apologize to my turntable daily.
i dont recall my first CD but i remember my reaction,,(this sounds hard and edgy,,i want my turntable back)
Don Henley's "Building the Perfect Beast." Played on a portable CD player bought in Japan in '84 through my roomate's stereo. Sounded amazing at the time without pops and clicks etc. Played through a lower end hi-fi it was a dramatic improvement. Still sounds good in my current system.
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. It's in my cd player now. I have tickets to see Mark Knopfler in June.
In anticipation of buying my first CD player (circa 1985), I bought about a dozen CDs, including:
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
- Remain In Light
King Crimson - Discipline
Brian Eno - Desert Island Collection (the individual
albums had not yet been transferred)
Laurie Anderson - Mr Heartbreak

yeah, I guess that was in my Adrian Belew phase ;-)

Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms was certainly a very early purchase.

I still remember how cool my dozen or so CDs looked, standing up in a compact, heh, row, on their own accord, waiting patiently for me to install a player.
MOVIE GREATS from 1986, a CD filled with music from movie soundtracks like Jaws, Out of Africa, Back To The Future, etc...
First CD: Aerosmith's Greatest Hits
First LP: Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies
can't rememeber my first CD but my first album was the Beatles Hey Jude. Probably says something about the cool factor of CD's..or lack of there of. Can't even clean seeds on 'em
I borrowed a CD player (CAL I believe) from my local dealer, so I stopped at Tower on the way home. Picked up Joni Mitchell's Hejira, which was a favorite LP and sonic reference. Boy was that disappointing! It was a while before I finally bought a CD player.
1) Rush - "Moving Pictures"
2) Mark Knopfler - "Local Hero"
3) Yes - "The Yes Album"

Eventually upgraded the Rush/MP to MoFi ultradisc and the Yes/YA to Atlantic remaster.

Still have Knopfler disc. So sublime that one.
Glenn Miller Orchestra - In the Digital Mood
Don Henley - Building The Perfect Beast

Still have both of them. The Glenn Miller was used to demo the speakers I purchased in 1984 which were Polk Audio SDA-1.
I still have it, Wynton Marsalis, "Standard Time Vol. 3", I bought it from the store I worked at, it had been dropped from the rotation to play in the store and I picked it up for $2. Sadly, being 20 at the time, 1991, I didn't even have a cd player, but I figured for $2 I just couldn't pass it up. I didn't even know I would like jazz at the time, but now I very much do.
Yes - Close to the Edge, 1990, high school graduation present. Sadly it has oxidized and no longer is playable. So much for perfect sound forever. Thankfully, it is the only CD in my possession to have met that fate.
... purchased at Wall to Wall sound the same day I purchased my first disc player - A Sony 5 disc. What I remember most was how unimpressed I was with CD after all the hype. Thought my Technics SLB-10 w/ pmount AudioTechnica cartridge sounded just as good or better (albeit with more "noise").