Colter Wall
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.
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When I was purchasing vinyl looking for sound I was told names who engineered the record and they always produced top notch sound. Glyn John’s - a few albums he engineer were The Who albums Who’s Next and By The Numbers, Eric Clapton’s Slowhand, Rolling Stones albums Let it Bleed, Exile on Mainstreet and Beggars Banquet; the Bands Stagefright, The Eagles Desperado, On The Border, The Eagles debut album white label Asylum 1972; Hrahm/Nash’s album Song for Beginners; Rod Stewart’s Never A Dull Memory and one of Led Zeppelin’s debut album
Rhett Davies engineered Dire Straits debut album 1977; Roxy Music Avalon, Manifesto, Flesh and Blood, Viva Roxy Music Live
Rudy Van Gelder - Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay, Grover Washington’s All The Kings Men 1973, Wes Montgomery’s California Dreaming
Stephen Barncard - Brewers & Shipley’s Tariko, and Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s Deja Vu, David Crosby’s only album If Only I Could Remember My Name Kenneth Wilkinson’s Citizen Kane Soundtrack Bernard Herrmman - The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmman and his Mysterious Film Woro album Jazz in the Pawnshop for sure. You won’t be disappointed if you can find it. some of my top sonic albums I use to show off my system; Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Lucky Man Led Zeppelin 11 Dire Straits Love Over Gold Joni Mitchel’s Blue America’s America Neil Young’s Harvest Alan Parson’s I Robot Dave Brubeck’s Right Now Pink Floyd’s The Wall Santana’s Abraxas Dave Crusin Discovered Again a direct to disc recording Bob and Ray’s Comedy (super sounding)
any Super Disc recordings Just a few 🙂 |
@slaw I think you mean just going after the not-so-obvious good pressings. What’s obvious or less so is certainly subjective. I know everyone here has good intentions of just passing on the news of great sounding recordings. |
- 114 posts total