What CD has the best production/sound?


I'm looking for CDs to show off my system. What is the best CD (non-24/96) for sound/production? My vote is Steely Dan's 2 against nature. Yours?
neilro

Showing 2 responses by 1439bhr

Here's another vote for "Songs of a Circling Spirit". Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark" sounds fantastic, and is regarded by recording engineers as an examplar of the art, or so I'm told. Every re-mastered release I've heard is very good, on the other hand. All of the remastered Steely Dan works are quite enjoyable. If you remember Cat Stevens the first time around, the recently released disk of remastered hits will melt your soul. Or try the remastered releases of the first half-dozen or so of Elton John. I agree with a previous poster who commented that jazz and blues are often well-recorded (thanks to care taken by engineers and producers who know and love music). Here's a rule of thumb: if it's aimed at the popular mass market and in current release, it's probably not very good.The reason: excessive use of compression to make it sound good on a boombox or car radio. Go play "Supernatural" on your computer's CD-ROM drive and with crappy little plastic box speakers, and then go play it on a high-end system, and see if it doesn't sound better on the computer. On a high end system, the "wall of sound" of near-constant amplitude lacks dynamics and is relentlessly in your face.