Just curious what is your most dissapointing audiophile recording that you have heard, and not from a sonic stand point but a musical one. Mine is at the moment a Kenny Rankin chesky cd recording " because of you" that I picked up at a Goodwill for a buck. I find it vocally and its musical presentation very milk toast and bland at best,almost like listening to bad Kenny G not that I believe there is any good Kenny G.
Proprius: Jazz at the Pawnshop Chesky: New York Reunion
Have to agree on these. I can forgive Pawnshop as they are just some smoes, but New York Reunion is a true bummer as on paper it should absolutely kill. It's still good, but damn chesky needed to have some coffee or booze on hand to get things going.
A friend of mine just purchased an audiophile copy of "Welcome to Boomtown" by david and david and he called me all bummed out cause it didn't sound as good as my original pressings. I told him he might have to adjust the vta for the optimum benifit and he tells me thats a hassle. Then he says it's MY FAULT cause I wouldn't sell him one of my three promo copies and I just started laughing and told him remember 10 years ago when i was scarfing them up at 3.99 a pop and that it was an Absolute Sound AND Stereophile Record To Die For and I told you to look for one and you said? God bless the child thats got his own.
For a while I was furious that Sony was releasing ancient recordings on SACD. I got burned buying a that, I don't recall all the details off the top of my head, was remastered from a 1952 mono recording. I failed to notice that as the time, as I made an impulsive purchase. The SACD "remaster" sounded like it was recorded through two tin cans and a piece of twine.
Contrast that with many of Deutsche Grammophone's new DVD-A recordings in the studio they built a couple of years ago that sound tremendous.
The lesson here, is if you buy your discs new at a store, patronize a record store that lets you listen first.
Schipo , I have the Kenny Rankin cd also and agree its not the best recording but there is one song you might sit down and listen to again .. Its track 9 "This old man" . Its an emotional song that comes from Kenny's heart. Let me know what you think .
Over the years I have fallen prey to many recordings that deliver less than inspiring music with stellar sonics. I agree with others that this happens most frequently with the Jazz and pop offerings from audiophile record companies. This supports the notion that putting together a great recording involves more than mere technical proficiency at either the performance or production levels. It seems to involve a variety of aesthetic decisions during performance and recording that are most effective at presenting the soul of the music. To make an analogy, I would rather behold a tarnished piece of silver than a highly polished buffalo chip. My dirty half dozen would be: 1. Reference Recordings: Blazing Redheads 2. Sheffield Recordings: Growing Up in Hollwood Town 3. Crystal Clear: San Francisco Ltd. 4. Proprius: Jazz at the Pawnshop 5. Chesky: New York Reunion 6. Mapleshade: Sunny None of these recordings is terrible, just way less than the sum of their parts.
Hello, Well, I guess, what the in the world do I know? Johnnyb52 (in the thread "Spelunking for old vinyl in thrift shops") just picked up the Readers Digest of Light classical and loves it! There's hope for Kenny G afterall. No offence JB52. I have a mint copy of it also, if anybody wants it, it is free, just pay shipping! Bob
In classical, the Reference Recordings recording of Respighi's Church Windows is the finest recording of the worst performance I've heard of that piece. Also, the Water Lily Acoustics recordings of the Dvorak overtures with the Philadelphia Orchestra is an excellent recording of fine performances that accurately depicts the driest acoustical venue this side of an anecholic chamber--really not that much fun to listen to it. And some of the early Telarcs featured some lackluster or, to be charitable, "unusual" performances from what you would have hoped would be top-flight orchestras and conductors, as well as the overly-ripe bass drum in their early years.
J. Gordon Holt used to have a rule that the better the recording, the worse the performance. In classical recordings, that was probably true for a while, but the last decadse or so the audiophile labels have been coming up with some fine conductors and orchestras with decent performances (a benefit of the major labels scaling back), so I don't think that holds true anymore, at least as a generalization.
Ana Caram, Rio After Dark on Chesky CD. Great sound, but she couldn't carry a tune with a wheelbarrow. Taught me finally to buy music I like and do the best I can with my system to make it sound good. Buying music because of the sound qualities has often proved disappointing.
Honorable mention: Byrds Greatest Hits on SACD. My 35+ year old vinyl copy from college, with scratches and all, sounds better.
Hi Schipo, Allright lets agree on Montovani and change the Readers Digest "festival of light classical music" to Longines Symphonette Society wonderful recording to the "Family library of beautiful listening". I hate to offend anyone so Kenny G is now audiophile approved!
Seriously, dont recordings have to have to meet a certain criteria? You can not have it both ways Schipo, you started the thread with Kenny G sucks but then go on to defend a lousy recording, pressing and music. Well which is it? I am sure that there are people who love KG just as much as you like light classical recordings, perhaps KG is their stepping stone to Ornette Coleman. Bob
Anyone remember those late 70's direct-to-disc japanese recordings of 10 minutes of drum solo? Had one, played it once, that was that, don't remember what happened to it.
Spent a bundle on Chesky SACD of Christy Baron at the Montreal audio show. Good sound: uninvolving signing. I feel cheated out of my hard-earned cash. C'est la vie!
The only one I have is a Chesky Audiophile Gold cd "New York Reunion." It's well recorded but seems somehow lacking in emotional involvement. I had high hopes for it before purchase. At least it cost little or nothing.
Readers Digest "light classical recordings I would not say that these are bad recordings , first they were not made for the attention of being audiophile recordings at all. Most were made to give many people just the taste of the classics and depending on your taste go out and take a larger bite. Many were conducted by Arthur Fiedler who I consider an exceptional showman and musician. But many of the new musicians that are paned off as new talent is just well like Antonio Salieri said in Amadeus "mediocrity everywhere"
Hello, yes, that is correct Elizabeth. I grade my LPs on four different factors; 1) studio/production, includes engineer and musicians,room, recording technique etc 2) pressing, includes vinyl and the pressing 3 condition, ie groove wear and physical condition 4) music, if you ain't got da groove, you aint got da move. This, though, is the most open for interpetation. Though never any Montovani, Readers Digest "light classical recordings" or Kenny G as these are always out. A seperate category for "anomilies" such as pre echo, good bass, drums, vocal recording, piano etc; whatever that is found on recordings that can make it of interest to hear on other systems or as your system evolves.
Any LP that is seriously lacking in any of these areas, the LP is worthless. Bob
I have to agree with you Elizabeth with many of the so called Jazz recordings on Audiophile lables. Just back to the Kenny Rankin Chesky cd listen to him sing "I could write a book" or "Alway" he has no idea what the words mean or even how to a fraise a sentence, or how to caress a lyric.Then you listen to a singer like Arthur Prysock and now you can hear what a brillent singer can do. I would rather many audiophile record companys looking for new talent on the NYC subway platform during rush hour.
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