Great audiophile recordings/albums

[rbmcginnis]

my three cents. much of audiophile music is too over produced to give a good feel.

My favorites to audition include:


laughing hyenas


killdozer


and of course rikki lee jones



I was almost thrown out of a stereo shoppe for bringing in my own albums.

[dvdwmth]

david slusser - Delight at the end of the tunnel
Tzadik label

This guy is a commercial sound designer/musician/artist. He has worked with Coppola, Lucas,and David Lynch, does his own compositions, and has work in the Museum of Modern Art. This stuff is facinating, fun, approachable, and the sound quality is about as good as it gets. When I bought this cd I happened to wander into a hifi shop that had the b&w nautilus in the back room. I persuaded the guy to let me hear some of this disk, not knowing what was on it. It was absolutely stunning. It sounded like a cosmic event was taken place in the room. There are a few "highbrow"pieces, like one for prepared piano and something for an accordian, but most of the disc is made up of "sculptures" based on the composers very large sound collection. Its really something you just have to hear.

Even if this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, the other reason you should have this disk is that there is nothing else I've ever heard that will put audio gear through its paces like this. You get deep, floor shaking bass, high frequency, spacious effects and complex, but extremely detailed textures. Its very dynamic, it has music instruments, recorded voice, spacial effects, you name it. This will really put your diy creations to the test.

Unless you really dont like artsy stuff or you are only interested in musical perfromances, I strongly recommend you track it down. Unfortunately there is pretty much no chance of finding it without doing a special order but I dont think youll ever find anything else like it.

[cowanrg]

NICE choice. very very obscure stuff, but will really throw a system through the wash. it can point out all problems with a system.

Originally posted by RobWells
My choice, electronic music, pretty heavy, I think well made. This is the album I'd use to demo another system, and one of the only albums I've bought twice incase the vinyl goes out of print.(and I damage my copy).

Squarepusher : Go plastic

Rob

[r0cket-]

I usually listen to Ani DiFranco's up up up up up up (the whole album, that is) after making any changes to my system. If it doesn't sound better than it did before, I change back

[Hybrid fourdoor]

My refs....




Track 10 in particular



Track 3 & 9 in particular

[RobWells]

One of my favorite lp's for vocals and presence (?) /air ?

Rob

[jonclancy]

Hi,

Originally posted by dvdwmth
david slusser - Delight at the end of the tunnel
Tzadik label

{snip}

Unless you really dont like artsy stuff or you are only interested in musical perfromances, I strongly recommend you track it down. Unfortunately there is pretty much no chance of finding it without doing a special order but I dont think youll ever find anything else like it.

This album is available on Amazon.co.uk - And you can listed to the first 5 or so tracks.

Very atmospheric stuff.......

HTH

Jon

[moe29]

just about any of Tori's recordings... but when i'm listening to a
new amp, preamp, or speakers i always seem to put this record
on first

[Da5id4Vz]

Jerry Bruck, Engineer Producer, Posthorn Recording
http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/867/

If you like the Beethoven Cello concertos you should find this a good listen too. Wonderfully recorded, dark and brooding.

I remember when when the Joe Jackson Body and Soul was released (3 sides?) It was one of the first times I had come across an album where the artist had exercised enough creative control to specify that the discs were pressed on high quality vinyl. I remember they were mocha transparent, no reused plastic with shredded paper in it. After that I started examining vinyl with a black light. The god stuff was almost always black. The run-of- the-mill would often have specks and swirls visible where the recycled components had been mixed.

Around that time I had a Windom Hill album called "Elements" It may be my only "new age" recording. It is beautifully recorded piano and oboe duets. When it was released on CD I was very disappointed... A cheapee re-master with all the life sucked out of it, no more dynamics, no sublet nuances, not breathes, sustain pedal thumps, nothing. The vinyl made me feel as if I were in the same room with the performers. The CD did nothing for me at all.

Great topic Peter, sorry if I rambled a bit.

[andy_c]

Originally posted by Da5id4Vz
(...)Around that time I had a Windom Hill album called "Elements" It may be my only "new age" recording. It is beautifully recorded piano and oboe duets. When it was released on CD I was very disappointed... A cheapee re-master with all the life sucked out of it, no more dynamics, no sublet nuances, not breathes, sustain pedal thumps, nothing. The vinyl made me feel as if I were in the same room with the performers. The CD did nothing for me at all.

I've had a similar experience with CD vs vinyl. There is a jazz album that I love very much, John Coltrane's "Selflessness" LP that has a song called "I want to talk about you" on it. This was recorded at the 1963 Newport jazz festival. I consider the tenor playing in this song to be the best jazz tenor saxophone ever played by anyone anywhere ever. Not only does it show off Trane's incredible technical ability, but it is very moving to me emotionally as well. I bought the CD that contains this song, called "Live at Newport" I believe. It sucks. I still am amazed at how such an incredible performance can be completely ruined by... well what it is I don't know. Just call it incompetence I guess. Looking in my local music store, I see this disk is now 18 bucks! What a bunch of clowns in the music business nowadays.