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Great Recordings, Sonically Speaking - and Why.

I think many of us would accept that artists such as Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, and Dire Straits have consistently put out music that was at least originally recorded to a high technical standard. [I'm not too sure what the loudness wars may have done to subsequent reissues, but even so, the tone and timbre thankfully tends to remain intact.]

However there must be plenty of lesser known recordings out there that could be said to be of a high sonic standard.

One such recording that I like to put on in the background whilst I'm doing other things is a piano recording that features wonderfully lush timbre and some delightful tunes.

This one is The Disney Piano Collection by Hirohashi Makiko and to me it makes a lot of other piano recordings sound a little washed out.
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geof3
1,130 posts
 
@laps- indeed the Roxy Music stuff and Ferry’s solo stuff as well. Avalon and Bête Noire particularly.

Someone mentioned SO, fantastic.

On the Rush front, I think Roll the Bones and Presto are two. Moving Pictures goes without saying. A Farewell to Kings is really good too. Xanadu is amazing…
emrofsemanon's avatar
emrofsemanon
292 posts
 
i've long been impressed by the 1980 LP pressing of The Korgis "Dumbwaiters" which had less than average surface noise, much less distortion esp. on inner grooves than typical vinyl product of the time. the 1960 RCA red seal recording of the CSO/Reiner performing Rimski-Korsakov/Debussy [on CD] has digital-levels of low-level clarity, in terms of being able to hear all the little musical sounds such as musicians' breathing, mouth noises, chairs and music stands creaking, rustling sheet music etc. the FF and FFF parts are clean and golden, no distortion or treble compression which was more common with most recordings of the era. the Stereo Fidelity LP of Robert Hunter [under the pseudonym of "Georges Montalba"] "stereo fantasy in pipe organ and percussion" was also an exceptional sonic specimen for its day, commonly used as a hifi demo record in hifi salons back then. 
feldmen4
131 posts
 
Jason Isbell does a great job with all of his recordings - it’s clear he cares about the sound. I’ve especially been listening to his 2 most recent releases with the 400 Unit - Reunions, and The Nashville Sound and am always blown away by how good the recording quality is. 
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,049 posts
 
Sinatra at the Sands is a great recording on the right pressing. Also believe it or not, his Christmas Album is very well recorded. Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out The Lights, great record, top quality sound. I’m not talking about reissues here, the original pressings. Bob and Ray's Stereo Spectacular is another record that comes to mind.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Boy, you guys are strictly Walt Disney. How's about What Do You Want From Live, The Tubes. NIN Broken and The Downward Spiral.

Actually, there are so many excellent recordings and excellent in different ways. It is impossible to catalog them all. There are more excellent recordings than there are truly horrific ones. I was listening to an old Supremes album last night. It was totally amazing! 
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