What is a bad recording?

I listen primarily to vinyl and some CDs. Vinyl from the 50s sound different than more modern vinyl especially around the highs / symbols. But I love the warmth. Oddly I found that if an album has what my ears are calling flaws i can adjust the volume to find that albums sweet spot for my ears. Some albums sound better loud others sound better more soft. 

I'm guessing that this is due to the room as well as the recording, especially where bass is concerned. I have modded Bell Klipsch speakers pushed with McIntosh and a tube phono pre. 

When I hear what I term a "Bad Recording" it has to do with no highs or lows, just transiter radio mids.

I think it is the old Yardbird albums and definitely a bunch of the Russian symphony orchestra from the late 1900. If I remember I have a couple recordings made in Vladivostok? with choir. They sound somewhat like they were wax phonographic cylinder recordings, Tinny, no bass, tiny dynamic range. Unplayable regardless of the system. My memory is not good enough to remember the details... and I’m attending the puppy so, not going to spend the hour it would take to find them. 

There are lots of intermediary bad produced by Deutsch gramophone  in the 1980 when they went digital.. just horribly brittle, trebly screechy. 

There are lots of "bad" recordings around. Lots from the wall of sound era. Talented groups like Red Hot Chili Peppers suffer from this on recordings from that era. I also find some of my old favorites-some of the CSNY stuff, Procul Harum, etc., is not always great, depending on the version. Fortunately, a lot of this music has been remastered to good effect and there is a wealth of good stuff available. As to my speakers- Zellaton Plural Evo

Most of the Cream albums are great but sound at best ok & often terrible in every system I’ve had in the past 50 years from entry mid fi level to some very good systems I’ve had & have. Beatles albums from a similar time generally sounded much better. 

EC’s voice is distorted and to me this sounds like a classic case of under-padding a microphone that is too hot for the input module.  I can’t imagine that anyone would do this intentionally, and if it was done later in the chain, I think someone would have taken steps to mitigate it.

Under-padding of the microphone is a real bug-a-boo and you will hear it crop up in many recordings if you really listen.  I have this disk and hear it in several of the tunes, though not to the extent of the EC cut.