What is a bad recording?

@toddalin My experiences with ELP mostly vinyl, I'll have to check out what's available with streams since this my present listening mode. All my vinyl ELP purchased back in the day so likely first or close to first pressings. Perhaps there is a remastered version of Brain Salad Surgery that has better sound quality. I have over 3k vinyl, virtually all purchased back in the day. What I've found is streams may have an advantage in some cases because of remastering, some vinyl produced from worn out stampers and second, third generation or worse masters.  My streaming setup has actually increased my enjoyment of many more recordings, what I previously thought were bad recordings often turn out to be ok. 

I thought also I read that Dark Side of the Moon had good and bad digital releases, even before surround/DVD.  A good release would have some amazing effects which others would quash. 

To me, an example of a "bad" recording is John Lewis's "The Bridge Game," or his 4 CD interpretation of Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier, " which was released in 1986.  It's a wonderful performance, including bass, guitar and string quartet.  If you ever want to relax and meditate with some truly tasteful and sophisticated jazz/classical crossover music, this is a real winner.  For some strange reason it is not available on any streaming service, but I would urge anyone interested in this type of music to find a CD copy.  The downside is that the instruments are buried in a thick digital fog.  It's not unlistenable--on the right system it's pleasant enough--but it's far from what we would expect from a digital recording today.

When I first started listening to high resolution music one of the brands I came across which I just could not listen to was 2L.no

All sounded too hard and bright to me, and really kind of stand outs in this regards compared to what I was downloading from HD tracks. 

The majority of the music I listen to has many flaws, when speaking about the recording and mastering processes. The worst to me is the use of compression. When this music came out, radio play was a big deal, and the idea was to have it all sound loud, all of the time. The engineers did this on purpose, based on the masses of listeners and their sources, not us few. However classical and jazz recordings are better in this regard vs rock recordings. All recorded music has limitations, compared to live, unamplified music in a nice sounding environment. How do I listen to bad recordings? I have always listened to the "musicianship", and the "composition", first and foremost. These are the elements that move me most. Of course, I appreciate great recording quality, but I "listen" as if it were a "performance", just for me.