Quality of recording vs Musical tastes

I am guilty of both sins, and I'm damn glad of it. I was, early on, a big rock and roll and progressive music fan, and I still like to blow it out once in a while - when everyone else has left the house. But I do find that I am drawn more and more to live performances of classical and acoustic music simply because I want to hear what the instruments and voices really sound like, not what some engineer cobbled together in the studio.

I heard a most remarkable two-CD live set just the other day, a friend turned me on to it - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Live Art". This is one of the better recordings I have ever heard, and the music was very smooth, pure, and engaging - my wife even remarked how nice it sounds, and she usually doesn't spend more than 5 minutes listening to anything. What is it with women, I've rarely seen one sit still long enough to really "listen" to an entire album? Me, I can (and do) sit there for hours at a time, lights dimmed, eyes closed, head swaying, digging it all. I guess it's a guy thing...

The expansion of my musical tastes, particularly in jazz, usually occurred for one of two reasons:
1. a good friend laid something new on me that I liked;
2. the guy who manages the jazz section at my local Tower Records either suggested or played something that I liked (yes, it makes sense to cultivate a relationship with someone in a retail record store).

Like others, I also subscribe to a number of audio mags, and sometimes try recordings they recommend. Interestingly, some of the best ideas for new recordings to try have come from "The Sensible Sound" magazine.

Most recently, I got hooked on the Naxos label, and have subsequently acquired a number of CD's of 20th Century classical composers that I probably would not have otherwise tried. At $6-7 per CD, it was inexpensive to try some new material. On the whole, I've been quite pleased with the Naxos label -- and did a post about a month ago of about 45 of the CD's that have gotten multiple, positive critical reviews.

I wish that more people who read this forum regularly would take 10-15 minutes every month or two to post an informative review of a recording they think has particular merit -- older recordings as well as new.

Yes, I would not have discovered the MA Recordings label and their exquisite music, both artist and quality.

Sean; an interesting thread, and if I gave you the idea idea for it I don't know how-- but thanks for the "nod" anyway-- been having those "senior moments" more often these days.

I have done what both of your points suggest, but mainly I have tried to build my stereo system so that it would sound good with typical "run of the mill" CDs. But I do have my share of "great recordings" of music that I don't particularly care for, ie P. Barber's "Cafe Blue". But OTOH, I really do like J. Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"-- doesn't everyone have that CD? BTW, Leonard Cohen's new CD "Ten New Songs" is very well recorded and also good music/lyrics.

I think Stbhorn nailed it for me too. I often buy remasters of music I like, and already have, in hope of getting better recordings-- but as he states sometimes they're better and sometimes not.

Stbhorn; I can highly recommend the newly remastered (about year 2000) CCR CDs using the JVC K2 20 bit Super Coding process-- much more natural sounding than the originals and a lot of the glare, excess brightness, and electronic sound is gone.

Also, I have found that the major labels that record C/W music in Nashville are almost always very good to excellent. I like some C/W music, and the good quality recordings are quite a bonus to me. I just picked up "Waylon Jenning's GH", and was pleasantly surprised to hear an excellent recording.

I have found good re-masters of Buddy Holly, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry-- these may not still be great recordings, but they are much better than the original CD recordings. I suppose looking for re-masters is especially important with older music. Cheers. Craig

I don't know if this falls into the same category, but a long time ago I bought Steve Winwood's "Arc of a Diver" LP. Loved the music, but I also found the production to be remarkably good. I bought his previous releases and made sure to pick up a copy of the new records he released. Same thing happened to me with Dire Straits and Blue Rodeo, bought 'em all. I figure even if the songs aren't ideal, the production quality will make the listening session pleasant.