The Best Record Ever Made?


“Instead of the cosy confines of the recording studio the band were arranged in the Wylie chapel just down the road. Instead of an array of microphones, each allowing for level adjustment, the whole thing was to be recorded by a single AKG C-24 mike. Levels were adjusted by moving people about, the stereo image would be that of the chapel, the acoustic that of the chapel and so on. No atmosphere mikes, no fake echo or effects. This mike fed direct to a simple portable console which in turn drove 600 feet of cable to the cutting lathe at the Sheffield Labs Mastering Lab. All this system was designed and set up for this recording. Not one transformer was in the music path.”

I have this record, but no longer have a TT 🙂

Harry James & His Big Band - 'The King James Version' - Sheffield Lab-3
128x128phomchick
From your buildup, I thought you were going to say "Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session". My bad...
Doug Sax hits it out of the ballpark with Harry James and band recorded live direct-to-disk! Stunning dynamic range! I have a copy! 

All the Sheffield's are amazing (in fact, all direct-to-disk LP's are!), as are those on Water Lily Records (including A Meeting By The River, one of those meeting being the great Ry Cooder).

Speaking of The Trinity Sessions album (I concur, a good one. I saw The Cowboy Junkies shortly after the album's release, and live they were somewhat lackluster. Cool stage set though, a deco-style living room.), I attended a live show done in a similar style. Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band appeared at The House Of Blues in Hollywood, and on stage stood around a single large diaphragm condenser mic. They were positioned in a semi-circle around the mic, Steve a little closer to it than the others when he was singing. When an instrument took a little solo, Steve backed off the mic and the musician stepped closer. The best non-purely acoustic live sound I've ever heard!