Echoing @wlutke I am increasingly finding that as I improve the resolving ability of my system (both analog and digital) I am able to hear more in every recording. There is more musical information available in the vast majority of recordings, of whatever vintage, than most of us are able to access. Whether it's the subtle timing cues of the interplay of different players, or the delicate decay of an instrument into the hall, this sort of information is there even on 80 year old mono recordings, or 20 year old DAT tapes.
I will agree with @shadorne that much of what passes for mass market popular music these days is produced with off the shelf software that sounds terrible -- Adele is a great case in point, what was a natural voice in 19 became electronically processed pablum by 25 -- but lets not blame the producers, they can make great stuff (contrast the terrible sound of 25 with the same producer's work with "The Bird and the Bee") but taste/marketing whatever drives them to make the in your face hot stuff we get.
It's interesting that when it comes to classical recordings it's an opposite story -- almost everything produced these days sounds good, whereas in the 70s and 80s the high point of multi-miked recordings, many were hit or miss
Not to worry though as we have 100 years of material to access and many labels both large and small are still doing great work - so to the OP I'd suggest take the recording you hate the most but performance you love and see how as you improve the resolving ability of your system you can hear more of what the artists intended
I will agree with @shadorne that much of what passes for mass market popular music these days is produced with off the shelf software that sounds terrible -- Adele is a great case in point, what was a natural voice in 19 became electronically processed pablum by 25 -- but lets not blame the producers, they can make great stuff (contrast the terrible sound of 25 with the same producer's work with "The Bird and the Bee") but taste/marketing whatever drives them to make the in your face hot stuff we get.
It's interesting that when it comes to classical recordings it's an opposite story -- almost everything produced these days sounds good, whereas in the 70s and 80s the high point of multi-miked recordings, many were hit or miss
Not to worry though as we have 100 years of material to access and many labels both large and small are still doing great work - so to the OP I'd suggest take the recording you hate the most but performance you love and see how as you improve the resolving ability of your system you can hear more of what the artists intended