You dont have to like song A or band B as long as you appreciate how well it was laid down. Please share.
Vinyl or cd ? most 80 's cd recordings were awful compared to the vinyl equivalent .
One of my favourites though Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking - Roger Waters ( cd )
One of my favourites though Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking - Roger Waters ( cd )
Working Week - Companeros (1985) on vinyl. In those days I liked to use this as a test record for audio equipment of all kind, especially speakers. Mostly acoustic instruments, a stunning female voice (Julie Roberts), exceptional recording quality - that's what it takes! Sadly, my ears have gone half deaf in the last two decades...
Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair was recorded extremely well. Orzabal was very meticulous about it all. LP and remastered CD are both good.
Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Thriller were both given the first class treatment - top studios, producers, engineers, and musicians. Both are great on LP.
Sade - Stronger than Pride. Her 3rd album and best recorded. It holds up exceptionally well to this day. As this was recorded in '87 & '88, after CDs had been around a few years, the CD mastering is extremely good.
XTC - Skylarking (the original track listing with Mermaid Smiled and without Dear God.)
Neither Andy Partridge nor Colin Moulding liked Todd Rudgren's production, but I think that it's their best album - certainly their best engineered. The album has a great flow to it. The CD is excellent.
And then there was the whole New Age phenomenon - mainly Windham Hill but a few others too. Most were recorded well but some suffer from lack of room acoustics (it was a trend to close mic everything in the 80s.)
Michael Hedges Arial Boundaries is one that sounds better on CD than LP (good remastering.) Some of those string slaps will push your drivers to the breaking point.
Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Thriller were both given the first class treatment - top studios, producers, engineers, and musicians. Both are great on LP.
Sade - Stronger than Pride. Her 3rd album and best recorded. It holds up exceptionally well to this day. As this was recorded in '87 & '88, after CDs had been around a few years, the CD mastering is extremely good.
XTC - Skylarking (the original track listing with Mermaid Smiled and without Dear God.)
Neither Andy Partridge nor Colin Moulding liked Todd Rudgren's production, but I think that it's their best album - certainly their best engineered. The album has a great flow to it. The CD is excellent.
And then there was the whole New Age phenomenon - mainly Windham Hill but a few others too. Most were recorded well but some suffer from lack of room acoustics (it was a trend to close mic everything in the 80s.)
Michael Hedges Arial Boundaries is one that sounds better on CD than LP (good remastering.) Some of those string slaps will push your drivers to the breaking point.
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My votes...
Suzanne Vega, debut album, others pretty good too. I've read (here?) that many audiophiles use it as a listening reference.
Suzanne Vega, debut album, others pretty good too. I've read (here?) that many audiophiles use it as a listening reference.
Get the 12" single of Love Plus One. It is an eye opener!
https://www.discogs.com/Haircut-One-Hundred-Love-Plus-One/release/619158
https://www.discogs.com/Haircut-One-Hundred-Love-Plus-One/release/619158
I have 'Tricycle'. Certainly scores highly on the DR database
Album list - Dynamic Range Database
Must listen to it again.
Album list - Dynamic Range Database
Must listen to it again.
I agree with Flim and the BBs. I have Tricycle and Neon. Both recorded extremely well.
Yea, excellent CD!
Yea, excellent CD!
I'll add two (I have to dig out my Suzanne vega cd as I have not listened to it since I upgraded my system).
Dire Straights "Love Over Gold"
Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"
actually I'll add one more.
Pink Floyd. "A momentary Lapse of Reason"
Tony.
Dire Straights "Love Over Gold"
Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"
actually I'll add one more.
Pink Floyd. "A momentary Lapse of Reason"
Tony.
Paul Simon's Graceland always got a lot of mention for recording quality.
+1 on Flim and the BBs. I have New Pants and Tricycle.
Sting's first two albums were also well recorded. Some (Stereophile) thought that they were too 'digital' sounding but I liked them.
You can also try Allan Holdsworth's Metal Fatigue and Atavachron.
As always; the music should come first 🙂. Some of my favourite albums were not well recorded 🙁.
+1 on Flim and the BBs. I have New Pants and Tricycle.
Sting's first two albums were also well recorded. Some (Stereophile) thought that they were too 'digital' sounding but I liked them.
You can also try Allan Holdsworth's Metal Fatigue and Atavachron.
As always; the music should come first 🙂. Some of my favourite albums were not well recorded 🙁.
Im a regular listener of some of those mentioned by Paul Simon and Sade, I have a copy of Graceland on CD. Also picked up Sade Promise just last week but havent had a chance to play it (of course I forgot it somewhere). XTC dear god is another stand out song.
I dont recall hearing of Flim and the BBs but thats a pretty good example of what motivated me to open this topic. Not to exclude any others for any reason.
The DR data base makes me wonder a little bit. Not that it matters all that much, I can tolerate mediocrity even a few poor jobs when I like a song. I just wont listen to songs I dislike if I find the recording lacks.
I always thought Metallicas One was excellent. And late remastered The Wall pts 1 & 2 CDs. These came to mind right away, and rank high. That mean my ears check out ok?
I will get familiarized or re familiarized with some of those others.
I dont recall hearing of Flim and the BBs but thats a pretty good example of what motivated me to open this topic. Not to exclude any others for any reason.
The DR data base makes me wonder a little bit. Not that it matters all that much, I can tolerate mediocrity even a few poor jobs when I like a song. I just wont listen to songs I dislike if I find the recording lacks.
I always thought Metallicas One was excellent. And late remastered The Wall pts 1 & 2 CDs. These came to mind right away, and rank high. That mean my ears check out ok?
I will get familiarized or re familiarized with some of those others.
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Just remembered; I have always found The China Crisis' recordings to be pretty good. Talk Talk as well.
Talk Talk 'colour of money' was an oft used demo disk in the late 80s round my way.
Ref. Graceland, the BBC did a series some years back called 'classic albums' which they are now repeating. On friday night watched the Graceland episode with my wife. She was horrified by some of the tricks he was exposing by playing individual tracks on the mixing board and though it was cheating! I had never realised that the famous bass riff on 'call me Al' was only one bar, which was then played backwards!
I have to say, nice as digital is, Those big old Suder multirack machines certain looked the business. From the number of VUs guessing it was a 48 track setup, but actually have no idea of the max number of channels they used to put on 2" tape.
Edit, bit of googling suggests that there were a pair of Studer A827 there, but I couldn't see the second tape unit, just the meters.
Ref. Graceland, the BBC did a series some years back called 'classic albums' which they are now repeating. On friday night watched the Graceland episode with my wife. She was horrified by some of the tricks he was exposing by playing individual tracks on the mixing board and though it was cheating! I had never realised that the famous bass riff on 'call me Al' was only one bar, which was then played backwards!
I have to say, nice as digital is, Those big old Suder multirack machines certain looked the business. From the number of VUs guessing it was a 48 track setup, but actually have no idea of the max number of channels they used to put on 2" tape.
Edit, bit of googling suggests that there were a pair of Studer A827 there, but I couldn't see the second tape unit, just the meters.
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I think you might mean "The Colour of Spring"?
It contains "Life's What You Make It" and "I Don't Believe in You" etc.
Demo disk's could also include Peter Gabriel So, Enya Watermark, The Nits In the Dutch Mountains.
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