Thought I would start this thread for all you vinyl lovers out there.
The rules are simple: 1. Only post one album, the absolute best you have heard. 2. It must be something you have heard on VINYL. 3. Both the recording AND musical content must be impeccable and I do mean BOTH! 4. Try to be as specific as possible i.e/ version, year, re-issue, original, 45RM,direct to disc, half speed mastered etc...
Here is mine.
Artist: John Frusciante Album: Curtains Release: Record COllection Date: 2005 Recording: It was done in his living room, fully acoustic album. Mastered by Bernie Grundman Hollywood CA.
RE: 11-07-11: Viridian, you Know your stuff. What are you using for tape playback? I have been thinking about taking the plunge and signing on with tape project...once I have a budget for it.
Bernie Grundman is serious. Look for the BG on the record and chances are that you will not be dissapointed. This is a little off topic, but check out the video tour of Bernie below. There is also a discussion with a mastering engineer.
Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6F3HPgtFk Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ2_3ocsMbM&feature=relmfu Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-YsNRM6Yj4&feature=relmfu Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8RucAapi6o&feature=relmfu Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlt59hPBxW8&feature=relmfu Bernie Grundman Mastering Studio Tour - Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpDWyMwAA0s&feature=relmfu
The Ray Brown Trio "Soular Energy" release from Pure Audiophile puts 99% of audiophile records to shame. Recorded sound doesn't get any better than that. If all recorded music sounded like that, live performances would go the way of the dinosaurs. Simply unbelievable.
Its hard to pick a single best recording from the many (but still not enough!) out there ... so I will just pick the most recent one I have heard. It is Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade played by Chicago Symphony and conducted by Fritz Reiner. Was recorded in 1956 and issued as an LP under the Living Stereo brand. I have the DSD SACD version. It is amazing to hear the quality of this recording made more than 50 years ago ... recorded in three channel (left, center and right) and then mixed down to two channels for stereo. Makes one wonder why recording engineers spent so many years lost in the wilderness ...
So many great ones BUT if i had to pick i could easily say:
ALICE IN CHAINS - MTV UNPLUGGED
Extremely quiet record w/ oodles and oodles of all the stuff i like: dynamics, tight bass, a warm/organic quality. "No Excuses" and "Got Me Wrong" are particularly nice!
11-07-11: Jeffga Supertramp: Crime of the Century (MFSL LP).
When I got back into vinyl 4 yrs ago I bought one of these off eBay for $5. I was so excited until I played it--it was all noisy and crackly. Today I tried a different way of cleaning it (just a bunch of dish detergent, scrubbed with microfiber terry towel, rinsed thoroughly, and dried with another terry towel) and played it again for the first time in 4 years, this time clean and quiet.
Anyway, you're right. This album has *stunning* dynamics. I'm very familiar with this recording, but I was unprepared for where the volume went when "School" got underway after the relatively quiet introduction.
I gotta go with Randy Travis, Storms of Life. I have an original pressing. It's my wife's kind of music but it has grown on me because the record is so well recorded and so nicely balanced top to bottom. Sparkly top end, silky smooth mids and punchy lively bass.
"Out To Lunch" by Eric Dolphy on Blue Note. More for the music than it is for sonic. It is Rudy Van Gelder at his best, pristine, full of horn presence and snappy dynamics. RVG is the worst engineer on piano so thank goodness this has no piano and Bobby Hutcherson's vibe is perfect this type of recording. Musically, one of the greatest albums of avant-garde jazz. Eric's bass clarinet is so awesome that I had a car accident listening to the opening track inspired by Monk. If I was to get killed, at least it was for great music! Essential.
Title: Money Makes The World Go Round Artist: The Distributors Release: 2011 Recording: Live at RMAF Mastering: Good Night Recordings Microphone: Give.me.more Mk33 1/3 Label: Empty Pockets Chief Engineer: Broken Bearing jun.
Doc Severinsen with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of London London Sessions 1980 Firstline FDLP 5001 Firstline Audiophile Edition Digitally Recorded Mine is Special Limited Edition #08993 I have two other LP's not Ltd. Ed. Got my first copy in '82 & have enjoyed the hell out of it a few thousand times. Doc plays to the bitter end & then some! May still be available @ Amazon Side One: This Masquerade Do You Think I'm Sexy? Sometimes when We Touch Peg Side Two: I'll Never love This way Again Song For Our Friends Slow burn How did We Get This Far?
My most recent acquisition is Analogue Productions' 2x45 rpm rendition of the 1962 Living Stereo classic, "The Power of the Orchestra," which features Joseph Leibowitz conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Moussorgsky's "Night on Bare Mountain" and "Pictures at an Exhibition."
This "Pictures at an Exhibition" performance ranks with the very finest and the "Night on Bare Mountain" is so visceral it will make you curl up in fear. The clarity of the percussion and bite of the brass must be experienced to be believed, and the 45 rpm version imparts a clarity and dynamics the like of which I've never heard for a bombastic orchestral piece on LP before, let alone a 3-track. For sonics+musical value it's my #1.
From 1978 on M&K Realtime Records,RT-107 Live Direct-To-Disc recording 33 1/3 rpm Performed by Felipe De La Rosa & his Famenco Group,recorded live at the Club El Matador in Los Angeles
The recording and dynamics are both equally impressive.
'I've Got the Music in Me' Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker, Sheffield Labs/Doug Sax, Direct to Disc, 1975. If you don't own it, or haven't heard it(on a good system); you simply don't know what you are missing!
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