Quality of recording vs Musical tastes


How many of you have ended up "expanding your horizons" musically simply because:

A) you were tired of the poor recordings that "popular music" typically has to offer ?

OR

B) you bought something because it was a known good recording even though you don't normally listen to that type of music ?

I have to say that i am "guilty" on both counts and glad of it.

Before you start nodding your head in agreement, how about passing on some of the "gems" that opened your eyes to a "whole nother world" and how you ended up selecting them. Sound like a way to share some good yet "hidden" music ??? I hope so : ) Sean
>

PS... Thanks to Craig aka Garfish for the idea : )
sean
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.
I'm totally into the remaster side of things,I've ended up with multiple versions of certain artists releases because of it.
I think that is a seperate point from Sean's original post though.
I also think regarding remasters it's nearly always stuff we've been familar with for a long time.
I hope my original post didn't infer that the quality of production wasn't important to me, it is and was even before I got into hi-fi on a serious level,even a basic system will reveal differences on production/sound quality.
However it isn't how I approach finding new music.........