Truly Stunning Vinyl Album

Threshold / Jet Airliner by the Steve Miller Band from the Book of Dreams album - this was the go-to demo for the stereo stores in the mid / late 70s - really, really well recorded...

Beautiful recordings:Janis Ian "Breaking Silence", Mary Stallings"Fine and Mellow", Dave Brubeck "Time Out'. 

I don’t listen that much to classical on lp because the wide dynamic range of the music is poorly served in this medium—average recording levels have to be set quite low which makes noise, like ticks and pops quite intrusive.  Still, there are many very good sounding recordings on vinyl.  Every record I have heard on the British label Lyrita was terrific sounding.  Among my favorites for sound and content iis Elizabeth Machonchy’s Symphony for Double String Orchestra.  I have the EMI recordings mentioned above and they too are good.

Jazz is particularly well served on vinyl, with many of the great recordings sounding better than digital reissues, and many originals sound better than vinyl reissues.  If you want to show people how spectacular mono records sound, get a vinyl copy of Sonny Rollins “Saxophone Colossus.”   Many original issues are very expensive, but, big labels like Columbia pressed a lot of copies so otiginal issues are not super rare and they are very well recorded.  I like, for example, Brubeck’s “Take Five” and Ellington’s “Blues in Orbit” as examples of spectacular stereo recordings from the late 1950’s (it is sad to see how little recordings have improved since then).  
 

For audiophile recordings of every genre, get almost every direct-to-disc recording for vivid and ‘alive” sound.  M&K records (e.g. “For Duke” (Ellington numbers), “Fatha” (Earl Hines)), Sheffield Records (e.g. Wagner Ring excerpts, Amanda McBroom “Growing Up in Hollywood Town”) and East Wind (Japanese jazz label, e.g., Great American Jazz Trio “Direct From L.A. “) have amazing sound.  Another great Japanese label is Three Blind Mice (e.g., Yamamoto Trio “Midnight Sugar”).  The Swedish label Proprius does very good sounding records, although I did not like their famous “Jazz at the Pawnshop” for the performance (not the sound) and played it only once.

I love ‘Worrisome Heart’ by Melody Gardot and ‘Wood’ by Brian Bromberg. The imaging and engineering on both are excellent. Melody’s voice is silk. With your sub, Brian’s bass will knock your socks off. 

Absolutely stunning is what I understand is the first digital recording made available to the general public, the LP Fredrick Fennell conducting the Cleveland Symphonic Winds on Telarc Stereo 5038. Infectious music by Holst, Handel and Bach with the introduction of the infamous Telarc bass drum that will make your sub stand up and salute. Avoid the CD release, however, it’s horrendous.

Gotta hear Erich Leinsdorf and the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing Wagner on a Sheffield direct disc Sheffield Lab 7.  Reference level dynamics and instrumental textures.

Mel Torme and the Buddy Rich Big Band at their absolute peak in “Together Again for the First Time” a 1978 direct to disc album from Century records (CRDD1100), a Grammy winner in 1979.  I was lucky to see them live in 1979. Unique in my experience, this album was also released in a “normal” release on Gryphon G-784.  Exactly the same performance but the D2D was recorded with 2 mics on the band and a solo mic for Mel while the Gryphon was recorded and with the more typical multi-mic arrangement to tape.  Interesting comparison…

Finally, a Harry Pearson favorite on Lyrita, Malcolm Arnold: English, Irish, Scottish, & Cornish Dances.  This is music you can play for your friends who hate classical music.  The original LP is rare and expensive if you can find one, but the CD, Lyrita SRCD.201, is excellent and still available for like $15 on Amazon. 

I just noticed that of all the releases I mentioned, 3 were from 1978, and the Lyrita from 1979.  Hmmm…