Great Recordings, Sonically Speaking - and Why.

@fyn,

Good review, it might be worth checking.
Seems like a lot of care was taken in the recording to maximize fidelity and not commerciality.

Not my favourite genre but I'll give some of the more upbeat numbers a listen later.


"One more word about the drums. Far too many recording engineers pan the drums across the soundstage, giving an unnatural size to the drums. Not here. The drums are focused in the sound field and sound like a drum kit does live. I wish this was the case in more jazz recordings."
 

sumaato,
I am 68 and heard the name porcupine tree but never heard any of the music. The other's you have mentioned, never heard their names before!
ozzy

Ozzy, If you put a foot in the water with any of those artists/labels, it will lead you to other artists/recordings of quality. Have fun!
Here's a few more:
--Cassandra Wilson
--The Future Kings of England
--Moses Sumney
--Agnes Obel
--Reference Recordings label-Classical
--Artemis on the Blue Note label

@sumaato ,

"Audio friends, I’ve got to wonder, reading the posts in this thread, if any listeners have purchased a record since about 1980!"


My record buying (current music) began to seriously tail off by the late 1990s.

Afterwards it’s mostly been reissues and material by previous favourites (Dylan, Springsteen, Morrissey etc).

The main problem is the sheer richness of the back catalogue stretching back some 70+ years. Even now there’s potentially hundreds of great albums I’ve not heard - mostly US artists little heard in the UK.

Therefore recent stuff has a lot to compete with if its going to stick and same goes for cinema, TV etc.

In fact the only recent (post 2000) movies I’ve seen that have left much of a lasting impression were both from 2008 - The Hurt Locker and The Dark Knight (Batman).

It's a moot point as what's actually happening today but there does seem to be a clear discord between recent world events and musical commentary.

Any protest singers still around in 2021?
Anyone about to instigate a cultural revolution like the ones witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s or are we done?

Even now there’s potentially hundreds of great albums I’ve not heard - mostly US artists little heard in the UK.

Great music and great recordings have never stopped being made by great musicians. Sure enough, there is a huge amount of material to wade through even from one week of new releases to the next week , but if you know roughly what genres you tend to stick with, then it's not difficult to look into new stuff day-to-day.

If one is interested in 1970s rock music for example (as most of us seem to be!), there is a whole contemporary community of rock artists evolving and changing with modern influences from other genres, creating new worthwhile music, with great recording and musicianship.

One of my interests is 1950s torch singers, of which i have hundreds of original albums, in mono and early stereo. Though the overall presence of that type of music culture has shrunk dramatically, their high standards of arrangements and singing performance can be found in contemporary recording artists like Stacy Kent, Diana Panton and Celeste.

Jazz At The Pawnshop. It’s an excellent demo disc on vinyl and cd. And it was recorded in the mid 50’s. But the recording will blow you away. Chet Baker begins his career. This is before Chet was a household word. Great recording!