Your Best sounding/very well recorded discs

[Jey Jockey]

Hi all, thought I would start this thread with all the really awfull sounding CD's the record companies are selling these days. Its such a treat when you find one that sounds fantastic. Lets share our finds with each other. CD's, SACD, DVD Audio are all welcome.

Please note, this is intended for Excellent recordings not your fav artists. If possible include a small note as to how and or why it sounds so lucious..

I will start with a few here:

Poncho Sanchez...most of his stuff sounds excellent, perhaps because he owns his record company?

Michael Mcdonald "Motown" on DVD Audio...content pretty good but the sounds is to die for IMO.

Keb Mo...Suitcase and Simple Things....very nice sound on these two.

Herb Alpert "Rise"...as said elsewhere, this CD is stunning for SQ.

Love to hear your jewels of sonic bliss

Chris

 

[j_garcia]

Jazz at the Pawnshop is easily one of the the best recordings I've heard.

Patricia Barber's Companion (live) and Cafe Blue are amazingly well done and good music too. The SACD versions are amazing.

Porcupine Tree's In Absentia DVD-A

Dave Brubeck Quartet Concord on a Midsummer Night SACD

Fiona Apple Tidal

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Almost anything by T-Bone Burnett.
The newly remastered Andreas Vollenweider CDs, especially Book of Roses.

 

[UFObuster]

Good vibes

New CD: Regina Spektor's "Begin to Hope". Very good recording.
Older DVD concert: Pat Matheny "Speaking of Now Live"...with a bit stream rate over 1500 kbps in 5.1.....Wow!!
Older CDs: the "Mad About ________" series is good. I have both Vivaldi and Bach. I usually buy individual artists but these compilations by Deutsche Grammaphone have great selections and are presented in excellent play-back quality....try one out.

Enjoy,
Roger

 

[Seth=L]

Jazz at the Pawnshop is easily one of the the best recordings I've heard.

Patricia Barber's Companion (live) and Cafe Blue are amazingly well done and good music too. The SACD versions are amazing.

Porcupine Tree's In Absentia DVD-A

Dave Brubeck Quartet Concord on a Midsummer Night SACD

Fiona Apple Tidal

I will second the Fiona Apple Tidal CD, and add Alan Parson's Project-I Robot and Heart-Little Queen. Any Alan Parson's recordings are going to excell, he is a perfectionist.

 

[no. 5]

The ones that I can think of right now...

Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty - sounds unmolested or compressed

In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson - the sounds on it are just beautifully recorded

Eye To The Telescope by K T Tunstall - it just sounds creative

Homme Sans Racines by Gerald de Palmas - nicely balanced, if a touch warm

 

[stratman]

Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho as released by MFSL, out of print now. Perfection.

The worst CD I have: Keith Richard's Talk Is Cheap, badly recorded, produced and performed.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

New Releases

Bad: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (clips like a barber)

Good: Erich Kunzel & The Pops - Great Film Fantasies (does no wrong. 'Duel of the Fates' is a demo-worthy John Williams cover)

Good Pop/Rock: Black Heart Procession - The Spell (real dynamic range, a slower moody album for those rainy days at home and 2am drives in the car).

 

[mouettus]

Don't know about albums cuz I mostly have only mp3s on my computer but I can tell you one song that gives me goosebumps when I listend to at high SPL. Everything sounds as it should be. I close my eyes and it seems like the band performs right in front of me

AC/DC - Hell Bells

First you have the bell ringing
Then the soft electric guitar comes on
Then the snare sounds so real
Then the kick drum

And finally the beat sits and you just enjoy the trans!! That's it baby!

Equipment: Energy C-100s on a NAD 320BEE (equalized with software on the computer)

 

[WorldLeader]

Dave Matthews Band: Crash

Counting Crows: August and Everything After

Everest Soundtrack CD

 

[muncybob]

Elton John: Madman Across The Water, DVD-A. Had it shaking the room last night when my wife came home from 2nd shift....didn't even know she was in the room.

The Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour in DTS is pretty good too. I have Mark Knopfler's Shangri-La redbook cd but I see it's on SACD now too...may have to pick that up. It is one of the few recent discs I've picked up that I played over and over again.

 

[jaxvon]

Steely Dan - Aja

A great analog-based recording, one of the best imo.


Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

Fagen's first digital recording. The fidelity is great


Donald Fagen - Kamakiriad

The second album in Fagen's solo trio of albums. Not as musically strong as Nightfly, but the highest recording quality of the three.


Ani DiFranco - Reprieve

Great dynamics, interesting compositions, and just overall a great sounding album.


Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel

Another highly dynamic album that uses lots of clipping and digital noise as instruments (without actually clipping the track). Listen to it on a good stereo and it's like being in a digital world.


Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra - Basement Vibes

Probably my favorite modern big band recording. The arrangements are full of complex harmonies, and the close-mic'd recording has amazing clarity and dynamics.


Album links for purchase:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/sgjo

http://www.amazon.com/Aja-Steely-Dan/dp/B00003002C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1084870-9442401?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175015805&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Nightfly-Donald-Fagen/dp/B000002KXV/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1084870-9442401?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175015828&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Kamakiriad-Donald-Fagen/dp/B000002MIY/ref=pd_bbs_5/002-1084870-9442401?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175015828&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.com/Reprieve-Ani-Difranco/dp/B000G6BLFQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1084870-9442401?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175015852&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Angel-Depeche-Mode/dp/B000B2YQX4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1084870-9442401?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175015882&sr=8-1

 

[Cygnus]

Worst: Rush - Vapor Trails
Best:
Steely Dan - Aja
Steely Dan - Gaucho
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back

 

[skizzerflake]

Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat - Extremely clear with a bottom that will test your equipment

Diana Krall - From This Moment On

 

[jaxvon]

Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat - Extremely clear with a bottom that will test your equipment

Diana Krall - From This Moment On

I find the Fagen album too compressed, especially in the bass and vocals. His two previous solo albums are of much higher fidelity.

 

[Geno]

Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho as released by MFSL, out of print now. Perfection.

The worst CD I have: Keith Richard's Talk Is Cheap, badly recorded, produced and performed.

I second the Steely Dan/Donald Fagan stuff, especially the Gaucho DVD-A.
Anyone who could sit through anything Keith Richards is singing on has my vote for Masochist of the Year!

 

[lowmagnet]

Almost any Béla Fleck and the Flecktones album. Early Tori Amos is really clear. Pat Metheny Group is usually superbly captured.

 

[indcrimdefense]

patricia barber/nightclub- all of her cd's are well recorded, but the ambiance & soundstaging of this disc gets as close to being there as my system will allow.

diana krall/live in paris - great recording, huge dynamic swings, an orchestra behind her, spectacular arrangements, & the best recording of a case of you i have ever heard. the dvd is also very good

diana krall/girl in the other room hybrid sacd - one of the few multichannel mixes that i can listen to, very well recorded, & for those without a center channel like me there is nothing but ambience from the center so you can run it in analog bypass multichannel w/o missing anything.

dvorak/RCO 9th Symphony hybrid sacd - the best sacd i have heard of the
new world symphony, now if i could ever get it back from dad or find it again at borders.

dvorak/andre previn & los angeles philharmonic cd/telarc - fantastic recording w/ the best sound staging i have heard for this symphony on redbook cd, & when the drums kick in on the 1st movement. . . wow. one of the best discs i know to evaluate a cd player's imaging, sound stage & ability to handle large dynamic transients.

sting/all this time - a compilation of artists (chris botti, christan mcbride, etc.) in a small venue performance, generally very well arranged to give old police & sting classics a new flavor. dvd is also interesting but no where near the sound quality of the cd.

hilary hahn/paganini violin concerto - all of her cd's are exceptionally well recorded, but this is my favorite due to the music she is playing. her sacd of mendelssohn is also very good. there is simply something more compelling about how she plays the violin compared to the same muisc being played by another violinist. she is also simply spectacular live.

ray brown/summer wind live at loa hybrid sacd - well recorded live performance, track 3? has a wicked bassline

death cab for cutie/transatlanticism, plans, & the jonathan byrd ep - the john byrd ep is live & has some huge bass lines in several of the songs, & a slightly different arrangement of several songs than the album versions. transatlanticism has some very well recorded tracks as does plans.

lucinda williams/world without tears hdcd - lucinda at her best

nine inch nails/further down the spiral - different arrangements of the classic album, i prefer this version of hurt to the original, more a recomendation of this particular song than the entire cd

metallica/black album dvda - i don't have this on cd anymore, but recording is excellent & just flat rocks, where ever you may roam is a particular favorite

metallica/can't recall the title but the 2 cd set of covers, whiskey in a jar just flat rocks, recomendation is for this song only, rest of cd is well recorded but just not for me

 

[tlqualman]

I second Patricia Barber (Cafe Blue) but I have two discs from AIX records in DVD-A format that are the best sounding recordings. Laurance Juber (guitar Noir) and another disc named (New Old Oprey) you can go the the AIX site and listen to samples of these recordings to see if they are to your liking. I have signed up on the email list and they send out updates on their catalog and once in a while some super sales. I know it might sound like I work for these guys but I don't. I am just blown away with the sound quality and care they put into their product.