10 sonically best rock recordings ?

Mutt lange's produced "BACK in BLACK"

Tool Lateralus is HDCD, "Parabol" and the instrumentals are excellent.
Soundgarden discs sound good, checkout "My Wave" on Superunknown. To this day I still get up out of my seat to make sure nothing is coming out of my center channel.

Here's some heavier contributions:

Gorefest: Eindhoven Insanity [Live]
Suffocation: Pierced from Within [Studio]
Judas Priest: 98 Live Meltdown [Live]
Nine Inch Nails: And All That Could Have Been [Live]

The Gorefest album is unfortunately out of print and hard to find. But sonically it's one of the better recordings in the Death Metal / Grindcore Metal genre. It was recorded live at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven, Holland 30-05-1993. The liner notes report that this was a 24 track recording. I have no idea if 24 tracks is good or not. All I know is the music sounds clean on most high end systems.

The Suffocation album is one of the better studio produced death metal albums I have heard. It sounds great on both mid fi and high end systems. It has been my experience that most studio albums in this genre sound disappointing on the more revealing systems. This one is pretty good.

I wouldn't necessarily buy it for the sonics alone. but luckily this has some of the better death metal guitar work I have heard yet. Again, that's a highly subjective call, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, this album is highly recommended. I liked that this album relied on musicanship, rather than shocking lyrics or disturbing artwork to get their point across. It's nice to see that for a change.

I threw the Judas Priest in the mix. I bought it on a whim 4 years ago. It hasn't got much play since my car stereo days, but I pulled it back out about a month ago. I didn't remember this album sounding this good, but as of right now it's still in my heavy rotation. Since I was enjoying it on my ESL/tube system, I took it to Audio Visions in Solon to play on their $80k Martin Logan Statement E2 / Krell biamp setup. I still enjoyed it. Good air. Not overly compressed. Clean. You can easily "see" the PA system, lol. It's like having your own "pet" metal-band-for-a-day.

Trent Reznor also seems to do a good job with each one of his albums. And his latest live disc is no exception. FYI this was the disc that converted my brother to our hobby. I think he "gets it" now, lol. :-) And if you are interested in this disc, the deluxe edition (2 discs) is highly recommended. The regular release only has the first disc. The second disc is a set of cuts of Trent Reznor playing solo piano. The mood on the second disc is quite a stark contrast to the first disc- it paints a melancholy mood. It's one of those albums that you can play anytime, since one disc or the other will suit you mood at any given time. Although the music isn't for everyone, I do suggest you get the deluxe edition if you do purchase it.

$0.02

Of yeah, I do have a 5th recommdatation. Pink Floyd's P.U.L.S.E.. And I just thought of a 6th. The Eagle's XRCD recording. You know the stereophile recommended one with Hotel California.

Have not given this cosiderable thought,but here are a few that come to mind.Not in any particular order.

1.Roxy Music--Avalon
2.Tracey Chapmen--Revolution
3.Stan Ridgway--Anatomy(anything he's done really)
4.Pink Floyds--Darkside(remasterd)
5.Roger Water's--Amused to Death(recorded in Qsound)
6.The Clash--Combat Rock(Remasterd)
7.Steely Dan--The Steely Dan Story(best remasterd songs of 70's)
8.The Who--Who's Next
9.The Clash--Hits CD of Instramental stuff mostly
10.Carpenter's--Hits

Roger Water's "Amused to Death"is probably the best CD of all for testing soundstageing.Whenever I insert a new piece of equiptment or cable it's the one CD I reach for.Ridgway is great for detailing instraments.Tracey Chapman is good for Female vocal's besides the Carpenter's whom I saw when I was young and my ears where much better.

An interesting one I picked up recently is "The Pink Fairies - NeverNeverLand" (Polydor 589 550-2). Digitally remastered last year with the inclusion of four bonus tracks, the most interesting of which is an early version of "Uncle Harry's Last Freakout". Who would have thought that acid rock from 1971 could sound so good now. It's not the greatest in comparison to todays best recordings but good and fun nonetheless. It sounds a lot better than the severely scratched LP I got from my cousin around 1976 and the music stands up well. I have been enjoyin the odd Bowie remaster and Tool's Aenema and Lateralus are excellent. I have the Who's Who's Next (MCAD-37217; DIDX-152) which I bought around 1991 which is great - way to go MCA Canada! Another obscure (outside of Canada) band with a great recording is "Teenage Head - Frantic City & Some Kinda Fun" Attic ACD 24101. This is one of those Double Header CD's where they take two short albums and plunk them down onto one CD great music, very good sound especially considering the 1988 date. I notice that both albums are available seperately from HMV.ca but not this combination disc. If you can find it - highly recommended. Thanks to the rest of you for your interesting recommendations above, now if I had some more money...