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Great Recordings, Sonically Speaking - and Why.

I think many of us would accept that artists such as Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, and Dire Straits have consistently put out music that was at least originally recorded to a high technical standard. [I'm not too sure what the loudness wars may have done to subsequent reissues, but even so, the tone and timbre thankfully tends to remain intact.]

However there must be plenty of lesser known recordings out there that could be said to be of a high sonic standard.

One such recording that I like to put on in the background whilst I'm doing other things is a piano recording that features wonderfully lush timbre and some delightful tunes.

This one is The Disney Piano Collection by Hirohashi Makiko and to me it makes a lot of other piano recordings sound a little washed out.
cd318
daledeee1's avatar
daledeee1
555 posts
 
I do like Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac "Rumours", Donald Fagan.  I feel these are very well produced and good sounding, however, they can sound a little too "dead";  not enough hall ambience.  The first Dire Straits album is well done, i.e Six Blade Knife.  Now that is dynamic rock and roll.  Brothers in Arms sounds a little bright to me.  Best song is "Ride Across the River" sonically  Pink Floyd is very well done.  I like Buddy Miller, Ronda Vincent recordings a lot.  Lately, early Joni Mitchell seems very intimate sounding.    Peter Gabriel "So" is quite good.  If you like electronic music Kraftwerk 3D Catalogue is exceptional.  would say that the best recording I have is Dallas Wind Symphony "Trittico"  The tympanies will test your system.  I also like several of the RCA Living Stereo recordings.  I like Stokowski Rhapsodies a lot.  Also Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony are hard to beat. 

I have other music that is well recorded but I have to like the music to recommend.   And one has to listen to music because you like it vs good recordings, or there wouldn't be much to listen to. 
sgreg1
612 posts
 
Anything Doors are fantastic.
rdk777's avatar
rdk777
570 posts
 
The Eagles Unplugged 1994 (The Second Night) Vol 1 is an excellent recording (vinyl)., I prefer this to Hell Freezes Over as it has the Don Henley singing Heart of the Matter which the vinyl/cd version doesn't have (video has it) as well as an awesome opening version of Peaceful Easy Feeling (God Bless Glen Frey).
dougthebiker
203 posts
 
The suggestion above on Dallas Wind Symphony Trittico is excellent.  Just listened to it and the recording engineer knew what he was doing!
shooter41
72 posts
 
Several mentions of Dire Straits but solo Mark Knopfler is a better bet for recording quality. "Sailing To Philadelphia", "Shangri-La", and "Get Lucky" are all really good. I'm sure others are as well but those are the ones I'm most familiar with. To me, Mark is like further distilled Dire Straits. His voice is just one of the best ever with amazing presence and gravitas. He's a pretty decent guitar picker, too. (That's a joke, he's incredible)
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