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
You know it's funny that you bring this up; there is so much good music out there that isn't recorded well. It's unfortunate because from a purely music perspective a lot of the super well recorded "audiophile" stuff just doesn't appeal to me.
I agree with the Iggy & the Stooges recordings...great music, crumby recording. T-rex Slider remaster sounds pretty good. I've seen Electric Warrior remaster available so I'll be picking that up. My Great Music poor recording pick would be Johnny Thunders, both solo & with the Heartbreakers. Some great stuff...recorded poorly. Also the first 2 Damned albums...classics recorded like trash.
Jeff
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Agreement re: Exile On Main Street. It's even poor on 200gram vinyl. A real mess actually. Too bad.