Great music but poor recording recommendations.


It hit me that, when I visit most of my audiophile friends, that they are always playing Holly Cole, Pat Barber, Diana Krall, Kraftwerk, Dead Can Dance and other things that are well recorded but not very consonant with my musical sensibility. Most of the music I really enjoy is pretty badly recorded. So I thought that, in the interest of widening musical exposure, we could start a thread with great music that is not particularly well recorded but deserves a hearing from our audiophile friends. Doesn't have to be the worst recording ever or anything like that, just mediocre will do. I'll throw three out. "Introducing Roland Kirk", originally released on Argo and subsequently on Chess. This is Kirk's first record as a leader, before he became Rashaan, a real winner. Recording quality suffers in comparison to his later work on Mercury/Limelight and Atlantic. Robert Earl Keen, "Number 2 Live Dinner". OK, I said that I wouldn't pick the very worst recording, but this may be right up there, hey, it's my thread so I can cheat. Unbelieveable songwriting from this unsung Texas troubadour. Townes (who made a few terrible sounding recordings as well) would be proud. The Strokes "Room On Fire", their latest effort sounds like a direct-to-disc compared to this sophomore outing. More sludge than a Mississippi River flood. One can easily argue that, in this case, we are dealing with artisitic intent. For a brief moment, the only new band that mattered. Next.
128x128viridian
I like a couple of the Midnight Oil Cds but they could have been recorded better.
IMO the Coltrane VV recordings, esp from 1961, are very 'alive' and sound great. I wouldn't trust anyone else to have recorded them. That aside, his European tour pablo set has lousy sound and great music.
In comparison to Zep's PG, and Yes works like Fragile and CTTE, which I would suggest are not bad, here's one I cannot get to sound "right" no matter what I do or how I tilt my head:

Runt's "A Wizard, A True Star"
How dare you listen to music that isn't recorded well. What is music more important than audio? shame on you all ;)

Mine would be Al Dimeola and Paco de Lucia Friday Night in San Francisco? Very mediocre recording, but one of my favorites. And many others. I usually listen to them in the car but on my hifi system as well.