Best digital sound production CD's

[renfrow]

We're all (aren't we?) aware of the modern propensity of compressing the sound to death on CD's. At least on popular music CD's. I started buying CD's in 1985 and was seriously impressed with the sound quality vs. vinyl, and switched entirely over to CD's. When I gave away my vinyl in the mid '90's there were still some albums in their shrink wrap, never opened. I've never looked back, and have more CD's now, than I had vinyl, then. Amongst them are those that are sublime, and those that are pure schlock. What THIS thread is about is, is listing the albums that you consider to have the best, of the Best, of The Best sound quality. I'm at work right now, so I can't really pop out all the ones that I like, but, here's a couple, recently listened to and remembered :

• 
  Tom Waits - 'One from the Heart' Soundtrack
  Dave Brubeck - 'Time Out'
  'Blade Runner' Soundtrack - The New American Orchestra version (never heard the Vangelis one, someday)
  Miles Davis - 'Sketches of Spain'
  Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - 'The Great Summit: The Master Takes'
  Alan Parsons Project - 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' (has inconsistent volume from song to song, though), this is the one with
  Orson Welles narrating portions of the lead song

Well, that's a start, let's see what you guys like!

Tom.

 

[phn]

Of the CDs mentioned I only have the Time Out CD. I only have 30-40 CDs.

My standout CD is the Beastie Boys Ill Communication album. It's mastered with attention to the format. That's a bad way to put it, but it's the best I can do.

 

[mamboni]

Of over 1000 CDs in my collection, these are most of the standouts: guaranteed to sound great.

Arnold Overtures: Backus/Smoke/Sussex etc/Arnold/London Philharmonic Orch (Reference Recordings)
Balalaika Favorites - Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra (Mercury Living Presence)
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Hungarian Sketches (Reiner-CSO) (Mercury Living Presence)
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op.18(6) & Op.59(1) 'Razumovsky" Cleveland Quartet (Telarc)
Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique/Kojia/Utah Symphony (Reference Recordings)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8/Solti/Chicago Symphony Orchestra (London)
David Byrne: Uh-Oh (Luaka Bop)
The Cars Greatest Hits (Elektra/Asylum)
Ray Charles; Genius Loves Company (Concord/EMI)
Clapton: Reptile (Warner Bros)
Copland - Gould - Gershwin: Appalachian Spring/Rhapsody in Blue/Spirituals (Everest Ultra Analog)
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (Columbia)
De Falla: Three Cornered hat/Bartok Dance Suite/Jorda /Ferencsik/LSO (Everest Ultra Analog)
Di Meola: The Best Of Al Di Meola (The Manhattan Years) (Manhattan)
Dorati Conducts Gershwin, Copland, Schuller, Bloch: American in Paris/Rodeo (Mercury Living Presence)
Feeney, Philip Dracula (Ballet in 3 Acts) (Halifax)
Fennell Conducts British and American Band Classics: Jacob/Walton/Holst/Bennett/C. Williams (Mercury Living Presence)
Trittico (Frederick Fennell / Dallas Wind Symphony)/Feast Day/Medieval Tune (Reference Recordings)
Gaite Parisienne & La Boutique Fantasque/Offenbach/Rossini-Respighi/Fiedler/Boston Pops (RCA Living Stereo)
Béla Fleck & The Flecktones: Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo (Warner Brothers)
Symphonic Music of Cesar Franck (Chesky)
The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli/Philadelphia/Chicago/Cleveland Brass Ensembles (Columbia)
Gilbert & Sullivan
The Ultimate Gilbert and Sullivan Collection/D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (London)
Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony (Naxos)
Gould/Barber: Medea & Fall River Legend & Sprituals/Hanson/Eastman Rochester Orch (Mercury Living Presence)
Grusin/The Orchestral Album (GRP)
Three Places In New England, Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting"/Ives/Schumann/Menin/Hanson/Eastman Rochester Orch (Mercury Living Presence)
George Harrison Best Of Dark Horse (Dark Horse)
Bernard Herrmann Music From Great Film Classics (Ultradisc II)
Bruce Hornsby and The Range: The Way It Is (RCA)
Erich Kunzel; Cincinnati Pops Orchestra The Great Fantasy Adventure Album (Telarc)
Liszt: Nojima Plays Liszt/Mephisto Waltz/La Campanella/Feux Follets/Sonata in B (Reference Recordings)
Mendelssohn: Symphonies for Strings Nos 8, 9, 10/Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
Mephisto & Co./Liszt/Franck/Dukas/Arnold/Mussorgsky/Eiji Oue Minnesota Orchestra (Reference Recordings)
Van Morrison: Too Long In Exile
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition-Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy/Jarvi/Chicago Symphony (Chandos)
Wille Nelson: Across The Borderline (Columbia)
Roy Orbison: Mystery Girl (Virgin)
Paray: French Opera Highlights/Gounod/Saint-Saens/Berlioz/Bizet/Massenet (Mercury Living Presence)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Into The Great Wide Open (TomTom)
Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon
Respighi: Dorati Conducts Respighi/Birds/Brazilian Impressions/Fountains/Pines (Mercury Living Presence)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade/Stravinsky: Song Of The Nightingale/Reiner (RCA Living Stereo)
Rush Moving Pictures (Polygram)
Sade: Love Deluxe
Shostakovich; Symphonies No. 1 and No. 7 (CD1 & 2) /Chicago Symphony/Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Opus 43/Barbirolli/Royal Philharmonic (Chesky)
Frank Sinatra Duets
Steely Dan Aja
Steely Dan Gaucho
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra/Till Eulenspiegels/Don Juan/Solti/Chicago Symphony (London)
Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps/Rite of Spring/Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra (Columbia)
Stravinsky: The Firebird, Fireworks, Song of the Nightingale, etc./Dorati/London (Mercury Living Presence)
Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Rite of Spring, Fireworks (Boston Symphony/Chicago Symphony/Ozawa) (High Performance)
Suppe & Auber: Overtures - Paul Paray/Detroit Symphony (Mercury Living Presence)
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture/Beethoven: Wellington's Victory/Dorati/Minneapolis (Mercury Living Presence)
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker/Serenade For Strings(2 discs)/Dorati/London Phil (Mercury Living Presence)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 7, "Sinfonia Antartica" & Symphony No. 8 (Naxos)