You can pretty much tell what decade something was recording by the quality of the recording.Nonsense. Like many things in life, recording quality is a bell curve.
a flat transfer of the original analogue master tapes is best, nothing added and nothing taken awaya flat transfer does not exist. Tape machines have EQ curves aligned at 3 points: 100Hz, 1KHz and 10KHz. If the original was recorded on an ATR-102 and the copy is made on a pair of Otari / Studer / MCI, the sound will change - sometimes drastically.
When I was a recording engineer, if I wanted a ’faithful copy’, I schlepped my 2T to the studio and made a ’master’ off the 2T buss.
There can be differences between CDs that are not remasters, but just later pressings. Someone decides the recording needs a little ’help’ and messes about. See an example from Fagan’s Nightfly track I.G.Y. see http://ielogical.com/Audio/#ReIssues
The recent remastering of The Beatles album Abbey Road is a good example of a clear improvement in sound
Crime of the Century is killer on vinyl.That probably depends on what ’original’ you had. see http://ielogical.com/Audio/#Origins