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Your Not-So-Obvious Best Fidelity LPs

I’ve spent over three years building up to the system I have now.  I’m really happy with it and my wife and I love sitting in our listening room spinning various vinyl most evenings.  Rather than researching and testing gear, I want to spend this year adding great recordings to our collection.

So what are the albums you have that every time you play it you're continually amazed at its fidelity?  You might have spent $80 on it or just $1 or maybe it was a hand-me-down decades ago.  Any genre really.

And if we can please avoid the most obvious choices (which are truly wonderful) such as Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Diana Krall, etc.  I’m looking for albums, (vinyl only please) that probably fly under the radar for most folks.

I'll start….

James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work - this was just given to me by a friend a couple of weeks ago as he had an extra copy.  I have plenty of JT albums but I didn’t have this one yet.  As soon as I put it on I could tell it was special.

Edie Brickell - Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars - My wife requested this one so I found a NM copy on Discogs for a reasonable price.  This kind of blew my socks off.  Sounds really wonderful and present and the music still holds up.

Counting Crows - August and Everything After - I surprised my wife with this one as it’s one of her favorite albums.  They really nailed the recording and pressing on this one.  It’s quite impressive. 

Ben Folds - What Matters Most - He’s one of our favorite songwriters but trying to find a copy of anything of his or Ben Folds Five for under $80 is nearly impossible.  This album was released just last year and they obviously paid special attention to the recording quality.  Sounds just phenomenal. 

Steely Dan - Northeast Corridor - Obviously everyone knows how amazing their studio recordings are but this album might be unknown to some as it came out just a few years ago.  I bought it on a whim knowing nothing about it.  It’s amazing.  As if they would release an album with less than stellar fidelity.  If you’re a Dan fan, this album is a no-brainer.

REM - Automatic for the People - Completely hypnotic.  Stunning recording.

OK, that’s enough from me.  

paulietunes
gowanus
40 posts
 

Curtis Mayfield 'Live'.

Most Jeff Beck.

Most Frank Zappa.

For classical, just about anything on the Proprius and Arkiv labels. 

 

 

larryi
4,033 posts
 

For classical music, consistently very good sounding records were produced by the label Lyrita (exclusively British composers); I have never heard even a so-so Lyrita.  For 1950-60’s, RCA and Mercury recordings are also mostly good.  Some of the best chamber music recordings I’ve heard came from a very obscure East German label called NOVA.

When I want to show that stereo recordings have not really improved since the late 1950’s, and early 1960’s, I play some original “six eye” Columbia records, such as, Duke Ellington’s “Blues in Orbit” or Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”  Both of these have been reissued a number of times but sound best in the original version.

When I want to show how good mono recordings sound, I play Sonny Rollins’ “Saxophone Colossus”.

yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
764 posts
 

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things

Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties

In classical

Haendel Duetti et Cantate Da Camera on Harmonia Mundi is one I keep coming back to along with...

The Film Music of Ingmar Bergman (Mozart, Chopin, Handel, Scarlatti) by Kabi Lareti on Proprius - difficult to find now and unfortunately Proprius's vinyl was never very good even when new. But the recording is outstanding.
burtlake
43 posts
 

Buddy Guy - A Man and The Blues on Vanguard - from the 60’s when he was playing a grittier, more sparse style. 
 

bgross's avatar
bgross
397 posts
 

+1 Curtis Mayfield Live - love it. John Hyatt, Crossing Muddy Waters is a good one and I like David Bowie, Hunky Dory too

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