The first that come to mind are:
- "Driving Wheel" by T Bone Burnett, on his Truth Decay album (Takoma Records). Get the version of the LP when it was distributed by Chrysalis Records (look for that info at the bottom of the back cover). The other version (distributed by Allegiance Records) was mastered by an engineer who didn’t realize the song has a "false" ending, and cut off the song before the band comes back in!
- "Mercury Blues" by David Lindley, on his El Rayo-X album. Intense, man!
- "Me And Bobby McGee" by Gordon Lightfoot, on his Sit Down Young Stranger album (soon reissued as If You Could Read My Mind).
- "I’m An Old Cowhand" by Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks, on their Striking It Rich album. Produced by Tommy LiPuma, engineered by Bruce Botnick. A fantastic album, and if the vocals of Maryann Price (later a member of Asleep At The Wheel) don’t get you, um, excited, check your pulse.
- The entire Tea For The Tillerman album by Cat Stevens. Get the version on Analogue Productions, 33-1/3 or 45RPM.
- The Planets by Gustav Holst, Sir Adrian Boult conducting The New Philharmonia Orchestra with Chorus (EMI ASD2301). The orchestra is laid out before you, the percussionists clearly audible on a riser at the back of the stage, way, way beyond the wall behind your loudspeakers (if your system does depth).
- Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas For Harpsichord, by Trevor Pinnock (CRD 1068). Trevor’s harpsichord sounds amazingly immediate, with startling presence. Very percussive transients, and lots of room sound in the recording. A "you are there" recording.
- Just about any direct-to-disk LP, my first heard being The Missing Linc on Sheffield Records (S-10), by Lincoln Mayorga And Distinguished Colleagues. Consumer warning! After hearing a direct-to-disk LP, almost all other records will sound rather lifeless.
- "Superstitious" by Stevie Wonder. Great drum and clavichord sound, and an amazing one-man band performance!
- "Donovan’s Colours" by Van Dyke Parks, on his astounding debut album Song Cycle. Produced by Lenny Waronker, engineered by Lee Herschberg. A voice that is an acquired taste to be sure, but a rare, rare talent. The recorded sound quality is so good JBL included the song on their speaker demonstration disc of the late-60s/early-70’s.