What are the treasures in your vinyl library?

Beatles - Abbey Road (Original EMI import pressing from ca 1971)
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (EMI SQ import from 1973)
Pink Floyd - Meddle (EMI import from 1973)

All of the above purchased at the Harvard Coop, Harvard Sq, MA in the early 70s back when they had a tremendous import section. I was a high school kid with limited budget but knew these were important pressings. These records all rock out with some of the best dynamics of any recordings released by Classic, Acoustic Sounds or others.

Hear, hear, when it comes to import pressings.

I have a German pressing of Joni Mitchell's "Blue" and a Japanese pressing of Bowie's "Let's Dance." I remember paying about a buck extra for the Bowie album and it was well worth it. That thing slams!

So does "Blue," for that matter. The dynamics and "in-the-room" sensation are very strong.

OTOH, I just picked up a used Beatles' White album. The store had two: a UK pressing from 1986 and a USA one from 10-15 yrs earlier. It had an embossed title rather than printed, but no serial number on the cover. Anyway, the US pressing I bought really stomped *that* particular UK pressing, which sounded thin and threadbare.

Voyage 34 original (not the reissue!) by Porcupine Tree
'Ear' album by Global Communications
S/T Emerson Lake & Palmer, pink Island original
Vaughan Williams, Symphony #6 w/The Lark Ascending, 'half dog' EMI
Furtwangler, 4 Last Songs w/Kirsten Flagstad (78 rpm transcription) all other versions *SUCK* despite having better sound...

Willie Nelson : Stardust/ Classic records 200g

Peter Gabriel : Passion/ Classic records 200g

Tom Waits : Mule Variations/ Regular pressing

Jack Johnson : In between dreams/ Regular pressing

White Stripes : Elephant/ Regular pressing

All of these are not only good albums but also sound exceptionally good on vinyl.

Well, I've had a few additions since my last post. I now have Japan-EMI pressings of Rubber Soul and Revolver (opened by never played, or played once at most). Damn! It's unbelievable how well even pop/rock music was sometimes recorded over 40 years ago.

I also now have a direct-to-disk recording of Mel Torme accompanied by the Buddy Rich Big Band and a rare (I think it was distributed only in Europe) pressing of Pat Metheny's "Question and Answer" that I got from a UK vendor on eBay.

I recently discovered an antiques pavilion near where I live. A few of the vendors sell LPs, and I picked up the Sheffield D2D of Harry James' band and some Concord Jazz albums of the L.A. Four and the Woody Herman big band (all about $3 ea.). Concord Jazz has some of the most real in-the-room-sounding LPs I've ever heard.

On the same trip, my stepson made what may be the biggest score of all--a Japanese pressing of Pink Floyd's "The Wall," apparently unplayed ($10). Holy shnikes! This has got to be one of the 5 best-sounding LPs in my house, and the best pop/rock studio recording I've ever heard. The dynamic slam on kick drum on this is an order of magnitude better than any other pop studio album I have.