Early digital recordings on vinyl vs. CD?

What exactly was Neil Young comparing? Source tapes? MP3s? CDs? Without knowing what he was talking about his remark was cute but meaningless. If he thought he was describing *all* digital, he was just wrong.

With regard to Dire Straits, I agree that their digitally recorded LP's sound like ice cubes vs. water, but that's not true of classical recordings from the late 70's and early 80's. Whatever mistakes Dire Staits and their studio made were not made in those studios. Every such LP I own sounds better than the same recording on CD.

Note to Toronto416:
The complex harmonics of early/Baroque instrument recordings present a fierce challenge for a vinyl setup. In fact, they're one of my acid tests and most components fail.

It took my partner and me years of work and not a little cash to get a rig and phono stage that could reproduce baroque instruments decently. Beware, if those instruments sound strident or squawky on vinyl compared to the CD it's not the fault of the vinyl. It's the fault of the vinyl playback system. Be prepared for some hard work, but once you get there it's worth it.

At Easter I played Hogwood's rendition of Handel's 'Messiah', a digital recording on six LP sides. The tears were streaming down my face, but not from any problem with the sonics! ;)

+1 to Phasecorrect's and Arh's posts. Outstanding stuff and often available for peanuts.

You will find a Fangroup for everything :-)

... reading Neil Youngs Authorized Biography written by Jimmy McDonough (it's 738 pages)...

At one point Neil talks to JM about Digital versus Analog .... here is the exerpt:

JM: How did digital get over if it sucks so bad?
NY: Promotion. Nobody realized digital wasn't as good-because it wasn't an obvious problem. It was more obvious after you listended a while. The first time, "Hey - no hiss, wow great!" You didn't realize there was no sound until a little while later.

JM: I notice I can't listen to as much music on CD.
NY: Right. It hurts. Did you ever go in a shower and turn it on and have it come out tiny little ice cubes? Thats the difference between CD's and the real thing - water and ice. It's like gettin' hit with somethin' instead of havin' it flow over ya. It's almost taking music and making a weapon out of it - do physical damage to people without touching them. If you wanted to make a weapon that would destroy people, digital can do it OK?

I found a digitally recorded jazz LP on my shelf from 1988 on the Canadian Sackville label. Jim Galloway, Ralph Sutton, Milt Hinton & Gus Johnson playing 'A Tribute to Louis Armstrong'. It is a real gem musically, and sounds wonderful. I am encouraged by this!

I look forward to delving into baroque recordings from the early 80's. This is going to be fun!

I have put together what I think is an excellent system: Nottingham Space 294 TT, Transfiguration Phoenix cart, Luxman 509u integrated amp, and Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation speakers. Many thanks to John at My Kind of Music in Toronto, and to excellent advice from Audiogon as well.

I also have a Luxman D-06 cdp, but I have not used it much since my TT arrived in March. CDs have their place as so much became available on them in the post vinyl era, but it is wonderful to delve into that which did originally come out on vinyl.

And almost as important as a TT is my Keith Monks RCM. It makes 40 or 50 year old lps in decaying paper sleeves sound better than new, and removes the deep seated gunk - the effort is worth it, even with new vinyl.

We must all be crazy to put ourselves through all this fuss - but how does it differ from obsessing over gourmet food and fine wines? Well, good food and wine taste even better when vinyl is spinning...

Fangroups everywhere, true enough. Believe it or not, some people are even fans of Neil Young! :-D

As I suspected, he was talking about CDs, which doesn't address the OP's question. I wonder... did Neil what'shisname ever hear a Telarc or l'Oiseau Lyre LP record?

+1 on the Keith Monks. I use a "cheap" knockoff, the Loricraft, and yes... we're all crazy.