Best Sounding LPs

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.

My reference for acoustic Jazz and Folk
Ry Cooder's "JAZZ" WB, German pressing.

...for Rock
Marillion "SCRIPT OF A JESTER'S TEAR"
10cc "ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK"
Don't remember the labels of these but both pressed in Holand...

I have a number of the CD-4 records and, while some are good, most of the SQ records beat them by comparison - at least the ones I have. The grooves on the CD-4 records were very thin and some cartridges do not do well with them.

Some stated correctly that there are too many good ones (if that is possible) and there are also so many variations, even within labels, that it is somewhat hard to generalize. I would always take the "audiophile" label on an LP with a grain of salt. Some are truly audiophile, while others, a good example of which are many MFSL's, just aren't and you are much better off with the original first pressing.

Getting away from specialist and legendary pressings, try Chris Rea's "The Road to Hell"; Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat"; Tracy Chapman's first album; Robbie Robertson's "Showdown at Big Sky" solo LP; Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing"; Steely Dan's "Gaucho"; Dire Straits "Love Over Gold", and anything by Kraftwerk or The Art of Noise for those cool-o special bass effects!

Jean, if you like "Raincoat" try "Shot Through the Heart". IMHO, a better album if just SLIGHTLY less "audiophile" than Raincoat. Or, "The Hunter"! :-) A couple more well recorded female artist LP's are "Between the Lines" (original CBS recording) and "Breaking Silence" by Janis Ian. And, the Bernie Grunman re-mastering of Linda Ronstadt hits on "A Retrospective" - or anything mastered by Grundman, for that matter.

One that might never be mentioned - War - "The World is a Ghetto" on the original UA label. "Cisco Kid" takes on a whole new flavor if the only place you ever heard it was AM radio and "City, Country, City" is just outstanding. Someone was wondering the other day about LP's used to set VTA. There's a good one!