11 years ago is not exactly the stone age for audio recording, and a high fidelity recording of that time should be indistinguishable from one made today.
As for other labels, many have good sound quality for jazz and classical recordings, and have for many years. Even things as old as the 1950's can sound pretty good. But I think there is little chance for a change for the better for pop music, as the dynamic compression has to do with radio playback and use as background music.
For an interesting example of people complaining about music that isn't horribly compressed, read the reviews of:
http://www.amazon.com/Orff-Carmina-Burana-Jonathan-Summers/dp/B00001ZSXC/
There you will see the reactions of people who do not want a dynamic piece of music recorded with its full dynamic range. It is an excellent performance, with good fidelity for being an analog recording of its era. I highly recommend it, but not for those who only like background music.
It should be played back such that the low volume sections are so low that one barely hears them, and that the loud sections are close to as loud as one can stand. If one goes to hear a live symphony orchestra, this kind of extreme dynamic range is not overly uncommon. But most people live their lives listening to only compressed crap, so they often hate anything else.
Oh, and don't try playing it back in your car, unless you have the world's quietest car. You should expect to simply sit down and listen to it, in an otherwise quiet room.
