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Well recorded records ... what are your picks?

I just finished listening to some records. No surprises, just some usuals. But, I was thinking the whole time about how well some of these records were engineered and recorded. I thought I would write about them and ask for your favorites.

I finished with Thomas Dolby -- Aliens Ate My Buick. It is so well recorded! I am drawn in and must listen to the whole album. I lose myself in this one! Rickie Lee Jones -- Pop Pop. Spin her version of "Up From the Skies" and you will know what I am talking about. Pure recorded bliss. It is magical. I had to listen to the rest of the album and was not disappointed! Dire Straits -- Love Over Gold. Title track -- unbelievable. This album is so well recorded; no wonder I have known more than a few audiophiles who have recommended it. I listened to the whole damned wonderful album! Rickie Lee Jones -- Rickie Lee Jones. How can you miss with this one. If you need to test your set-up, go with this one. It is perfect. Oh, also, I listened to "Sunday in the Park with George" tonight. It is so well recorded with depth and width. I also enjoy the music. I also spun Dire Straits -- Communique. It is not as well recorded as Love Over Gold, but that is only by a "smidgen." It is truly a gem. I love the music, and it is very well recorded.

These are my picks for tonight. More to come, of course. I am wondering what are your favorites and why? This could be a nice exchange of information on well engineered and recorded records for all of us. And, we could all discover albums and their characteristics through each other's information.

Cheers!
bicycle_man
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 

03-21-09: Tricon_dave
Les Brown goes Direct to Disc...this sounds so natural and dynamic. I've got to get more direct to disc recordings!
Yeah, baby! Commercially impractical though D2D LPs may be, they are the best-sounding home audio format.

I'm a big band nut, and have two Sheffield Harry James D2Ds and two American Grammophon Buddy Rich D2Ds. Harry James' "The King James Version" may be the best-sounding album in my whole collection. Of my two Buddy Rich D2Ds, one features Mel Torme on vocals. I also have the Sheffield D2D, "Tower of Power: Direct." Not a big band per se, but a great horn band doing the best funk evah!
sit
315 posts
 
Objective1

Toots recorded on April 10, 1975 in Laren, Holland.

Here's a surprize. I revisited my old Grand Funk Railroad "On Time" lp and found perhaps the best recorded performance of a rock'n roll drum solo I ever heard in the selection titled "T.N.U.C.". Don Brewer on drums.

Crank it up. Be prepared for hearing how wonderfully Brewer's incredible performance was captured. What's more amazing, it's the LAST TRACK on side one and still sounds heart-poundingly live.
almandog
141 posts
 
Bicycle Man:

I do agree with you about the quality of the recording of some records. Not all records sound good. And that is why I am always separating the good from the bad recorded records in my growing collection, as soon as I return from the Goodwill Store or the used record shop. I have listened to the Dire Straits LP that you mentioned and its great. Another good Dire Straits LP is "Brother in Arms" one of my favorite. To prevent me from wasting time cleaning up the the bad sounding albums, I usually do a pre-listening of the tracks to separate the records quickly, then I clean the good ones on my Nitty Gritty with my home brewed cleaners. Its really amazing to listen to some good sounding recordings in your preferred genre.
sonofjim
557 posts
 
T.Rex-Electric Warrior and Traffic-Low Spark of High Heeled Boys are two recent surprising finds for me. His Band and Street Choir and The Kinks-Misfits are also standouts. I also really enjoy many of Harry Nilsson's albums. Nilsson Schmilson on the orange dynaflex label has yet to disappoint. Pretty much anything with Sterling, Masterdisc, or TML in the deadwax are worth checking out(Esp. with the initials RL included-Robert Ludwig worked at both Sterling and Masterdisc).
bicycle_man OP
100 posts
 
Hi Almandog, right on! Actually, I kick myself for not picking up a copy of Brothers in Arms when lp's were cheap and plentiful! The title track alone is excellent and I think must sound great on lp. I only have the cd, unfortunately.

Thanks for the pre-clean, then clean-the-good-ones suggestion; makes sense. What is your cleaner formula? Did you get it from an MSDS, or from audio folk lore?

I listened to a couple of Pat Metheny albums tonight, as well as Jackson Brown -- The Pretender, and Jimmy Buffet -- Son of a Son of a Sailor. They were all worthy of cleaning, and collecting. The Jackson Brown was somewhat disappointing in the first track. I love the song so much, but the recording was a bit flat (although, I must say it was satisfying). But then the rest of the album kicked into gear and the recording was very good. This Jimmy Buffet album is very well recorded. It is three-dimensional, and has a reasonably wide soundstage. The separation is very good on it! And, of course, I really enjoy the music on it.
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