Best Sounding LPs

There are too many. Here are some just off my head.

All 24 Sheffield Lab direct-to-disc recordings, particularly:

The King James Version; Harry James and his big band; (Lab-3)
Dave Grusin: Discovered Again; (Lab-5)
Stravinsky: Firebird Suit, Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun; (Lab-24)

Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony, EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD 7038 (1973)
Itzhak Perlman Encores, EMI ASD 3001 (1974)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3; Philips audio clinic series Japanese pressing FH-12 (1978)
Schubert: Piano Quintet, Op. 114 “Trout”; Philips 9500 442 (1978)
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Philips 9500 563 (1979)

Nojima Plays Liszt; Reference Recordings RR-25 (1987)
Dafos, Reference Recordings RR-12 45rpm (1982)
Anne Murray: Let’s Keep It That Way; EMI Capital ST-511743 (1978)
Kitaro: “Ten Kai” Astral Trip, Zen ZEN-1001 (1978)
Kitaro: Silk Road, Kuckuck 051/052 2LP (1980)

And some newer pressings:

All nine concertos played by Heifetz remastered by Classic Records 200g
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me, Classic Records/Blue Notes 200g
Ray Brown Trio: Soular Energy
Jacintha: Lush Life, Groove Note 180g
L.A. 4: Just Friends, Groove Note 45rpm

For lowest suface noise, choose audiophile pressings or imports.

For recording quality, audiophile pressings are often best, but not always. And they are expensive.

I have found for my wide range of music tastes, and budget, that imports have been the best combination of quiet background and good quality recordings, as they were originally done, and not re-mastered.

If the original master tapes were poorly done, there is nothing you can do about that, but live with it, unless a better re-master was done by an audiophile company later.

Digital re-masters are a mixed bag, and I have found that I didn't like them personally.

#1 For Duke-Bill Berry
#2 Jazz at the Pawnshop
#3 Art Pepper-Smack Up
#4 Holly Cole-Temptation
#5 Dire Straits-Love Over Gold
Your musical tastes vary so much I think you will enjoy these albums for musical content & they are all A+ in sound quality, Have fun

My primary focus is on classical music, so that's what I'll focus on in answering your request. In my experience, you can rarely go wrong with the sound quality and musical aesthetic from the following record labels. It's well worthwhile to explore their catalogues.

..Argo
..Archiv
..Astree
..Audiofon
..BIS
..CRD
..Decca (any of the Speakers Corner reissues)
..EMI (avoid Angel LPs)
..Harmonia Mundi
..Hyperion
..Lyrita
..Mercury (the Speakers Corner reissues are superb)
..Nonesuch (especially Aubort/Nickrenz productions)
..Northeastern
..Opus 3
..Proprius
..Telefunken
..Titanic

Recording engineers who almost always deliver outstanding sound quality, and whose recordings I will buy without hesitation, include:

..Mark Aubort (Nonesuch and others)
..Bob Auger (CRD, ASV, Hyperion and others)
..Tony Faulkner (Decca, Hyperion and others)
..Antony Howell (Hyperion and others)
..Peter McGrath (Audifon, Harmonia Mundi)
..Jean-Francois Pontefract (Harmonia Mundi)
..Kenneth Wilkinson (Decca, Lyrita)

As to some specific recommendations of excellent performances in superb sound, I'll offer the following random recommendations for you to consider:

~ Vivaldi, Flute Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO/J.See, Harmonia Mundi HMC 5193
~ Mozart, Horn Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO/Greer, Harmonia Mundi HMU 7012
~ Stravinsky, Firebird, Dorati/LSO, Mercury SR 90226 (Classic Records reissue)*
~ Sibelius, Sym 2, Barbirolli/RPO, Chesky CR3
~ Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Freccia/RPO, Chesky CR1 (one of the great symphonic recordings, and greatly overlooked)
~ Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto 3, Dorati/B.Janos, Mercury SR 90283 (Speakers Corner reissue)*
~ Respighi, Ancient Airs and Dances, Dorati/PhilHung, Mercury (the Golden Imports pressing sounds just fine)
~ Holst, The Planets, Previn/LSO, EMI ASD 3002
~ Charpentier, Te Deum, Christie/Les Arts Florissants, Harmonia Mundi
~ Prokofiev, Scythian Suite, Dorati/LSO, Mercury Classic Records reissue)*
~ Mendelssohn, Sym 3 (Scottish)/Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave), Maag/LSO, Decca SXL 2246 - 45 (Speakers Corner reissue)*

...* Currently available new; the others you'll have to find used.

Also, for an extended listing of recommended LPs based on sound quality, I agree almost point for point with Aurthur Salvatore's "Supreme Records" list. This list matched my record collection to a very high degree and I think he hits the mark consistently with his recommendations: http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html

For Jazz, look at the reissues coming from Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner and Classic Records.

Sidssp has presented a good list of recordings; I concur with his recommendations as well.

Good luck in your explorations.
.

Oh, I almost forgot these.

If you could find some mint JVC CD-4 records from the 70s’, you might want to get them at once. No, they have nothing to do with CD or digital recording. CD-4 was JVC’s failed multi-channel format (4 channels to be exact), very similar to today’s Dolby Pro Logic. They played beautifully in stereo as well. In fact, I consider the engineering quality of those CD-4 records amount the best of the best. They are so quiet and durable. I bought a few 20 some years ago and I play them regularly. Some of them have been played probably close to a hundred times and still there were at most one or two pops. I don’t know how they did that. They are true engineering marvels, great stuff.