Reference Quality Music Thread
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 979 Registered: Dec-03 | Per request, this thread is for listing reference quality recordings, regardless of genre or media. I think the goal here is to create a list that demonstrates what is possible in the world of recorded music production, that is, recordings that have the potential to recreate, as close as possible, that original listening experience. Please don't list music just because you like the songs. Please list the album title, artist, record label and media. I'll start off with a couple. Audiophile Reference IV - Various Artists First Impression Music, SACD Solo - Monty Alexander Jayton, 33 rpm vinyl |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 981 Registered: Dec-03 | Sorry, label for Solo - Monty Alexander should be Jeton. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4267 Registered: Mar-05 | I've heard that Norah Jones' first CD, "Come Away With Me," is a top-notch recording so I imagine the SACD version is even better. In fact I think Tawaun (wonder what in the world happened to him, btw) confirmed that. (Don't remember the record label.) |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 983 Registered: Dec-03 | Come Away With Me - Nora Jones Classic Records - 200 gram vinyl or Blue Note - SACD |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 629 Registered: Nov-05 | Winelight - Grover Washington Jr. DVD-A 96/24 5.1 or 192/24 2.00 Electra/Rhino released through Time/Warner Shangri-La - Mark Knopfler DVD-A 96/24 5.1 & 2.00 + HDCD Warner Bros Records Morph The Cat - Donald Fagen DVD-A 96/24 5.1 & 2.00 + CD Reprise Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone - same SACD Multi/Hybrid Telarc Concrete Jungle - Monty Alexander CD off DSD master Telarc The Blues and Me - Georgie Fame CD Go Jazz label Too Darn Hot - Claire Martin SACD Multi/Hybrid HDCD Linn Records Big Fun - Bill Evans (The living one) CD ESC Records |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 985 Registered: Dec-03 | Hobo - Sara K Chesky Records - 96/24 DVDA |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 986 Registered: Dec-03 | As expected, lots of jazz. Just to show that rock music can be done well, and on standard digital media too.... Unplugged (Live) - Alice In Chains Columbia USA - CD |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 1474 Registered: Sep-04 | Night Train - The Oscar Peterson Trio - Verve on CD remastered 20-bit (or is it 24?). We Get Requests - The Oscar Peterson Trio - Verve on CD remastered 20-bit (or is it 24?). The Classic Records vinyl reissue is also meant to be great. Waltz For Debby - Bill Evans Trio - Riverside CD reissue, 20-bit mastering (I think) Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans Trio - Riverside, CD reissue, 20-bit mastering (I think). The Classic Records reissue on vinyl is meant to be glorious. Relaxin' - Miles Davis Quintet - Prestige Kind of Blue - Miles Davis - Sony SBM (although there are others such as the Columbia reissue which are meant to be better, and there are several vinyl reissues which are meant to be stunning) Songs For Distingue' Lovers - Billie Holiday - Verve, 180gm vinyl reissue is stunning. The CD reissue is meant to be good too. Live! - Antonio Forcione - Naim Meet Me in London - Sabina Sciubba and Antonio Forcione - Naim Greazy - Jim Lampi - Naim Dreamhouse - Fred Simon Trio - Naim In fact, any Naim label jazz album has been mastered and crafted beautifully, but these ones are the ones I rate most highly. The Dolphin - Stan Getz - Concord original vinyl (NOT the half-speed mastered reissue on vinyl which sounds awful) Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba - Verve, 20-bit CD remaster Live! Montreux Alexander - The Monty Alexander Trio - MPS, vinyl reissue or original. The reissue is good. The original is better. No idea about the digital media. Led Zeppelin - All the latest CD reissues from 2004 are absolutely excellent (I think all the albums were reissued) and show that the original masters weren't as bad as you'd think. No Frontiers - Mary Black - Grapevine on vinyl Babes in the Wood - Mary Black - Grapevine on vinyl Folk Singer - Muddy Waters - MoFi 200gm reissue Somethin' Else - Cannonball Adderley - Classic on 200gm vinyl reissue (the original is better but just try finding it) The Healer - John Lee Hooker - Silvertone 120gm vinyl Albeniz - Suite Espanola - Speakers Corner 180gm vinyl reissue. A real system breaker with fantastic ambience, imaging and power Monteux conducts the London Symphony - Debussy/Ravel - Speakers Corner 180gm vinyl reissue. Again, fabulous (my favourite album?) Grieg - Piano Concerto #1 - Speakers Corner 180gm vinyl reissue. Moussorgsky - The Power of the Orchestra - Chesky vinyl Oh heck, that'll do... |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 984 Registered: May-05 | Frank, Tim and MR, Fantastic!!!! I'd throw in Jan's pick, the remastered Elvis with outtakes but it's sitting at home and I'm sitting at work. ALso, same label, old Johnny Cash Sun Record remastered recordings are remarkable. (I'll add the details this weekend when I'm home and get to the CDs.) I'm surprised no one has thrown in DSOTM by Pink Floyd on SACD as well. Let's keep this going as it will give each of us a shopping list to hand the wife, children, significant other at birthdays, Christmas, Father's Day and the like. Not that I'm that mercenary mind ya, LOL. Dave. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 632 Registered: Nov-05 | Which reminds me, thanks Dave: Mercernary & Duke Elegant - Dr John CD's (especially good for CP'd discs) Parlephone another good CP CD: What's Wrong With This Picture - Van Morrison Blue Note |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 987 Registered: Dec-03 | There's been some controversy surrounding the remastered releases of DSOTM, enough that I've failed to pull the trigger more than once purchasing them. Most complaints appear to be toward the MoFi editions. The 30th Anniversary edition SACDs and LPs appear to be getting much higher praise. There's also a Japanese SACD that is said to be the best, and has the relative price tag to go with it ($40). Perhaps it's...dare I say it?... Time. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 986 Registered: May-05 | LOL Tim, Thanks back at ya, MR. Of interest, it appears that the better quality recordings have prices in keeping with the quality. I agree with the comments on the prior thread that the only way you can encourage artists and producers to put out the higher quality is if we recognize it and purchase the CDs. When you realize you paid $15 for a truly BAD recording that sounds even worse with decent equipment, I have no problem paying the additional bucks to hear things as they should be. (If that last comment doesn't get Jan involved, I don't know what will.) |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 3430 Registered: Feb-05 | There are a whole bunch of reference if not demonstration quality CD's from Naxos for very little outlay. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 992 Registered: May-05 | Art, Thanks. Any that you would recommend as better than, or more interesting than, the others? Or, are you not into sharing today? Especially if you're still up at 12:04 a.m. Heck, I didn't get to bed until 12:45 or 1:00 a.m., also. |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1126 Registered: Apr-05 | All right I'll break the trend. Eagles Farewell tour from Melbourne. Not sure who makes it, but the audio quality for a 5.1 live recording is just so impressive. |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1127 Registered: Apr-05 | This is a DVD of course. That's what I meant by breaking the trend. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3215 Registered: Dec-04 | Stof, have you tried that Eagles in 2.1? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 991 Registered: Dec-03 | DVD video I assume. It seems that surround sound for anything other than movies has, unfortunately, not gotten very far. Telarc re-recorded the 1812 Overture with live cannons, this time in surround sound. It's amazing but can really kick the snot out of your system if you have the volume up. |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 994 Registered: May-05 | Stof, Thanks for the recommendation. I've picked that DVD up about six times but haven't pulled the trigger. I think you just pushed me over the edge. |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1129 Registered: Apr-05 | I have not tried it in 2.1, although I have tried it without any video. There is something to be said for the sounds of horns coming from behind you, since they complement the main music and are not part of the original recording of the song. I don't know. It just sounds much richer than the original recordings of the music. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 3432 Registered: Feb-05 | The Eagles DVD sounds good and looks good but the performance falls far short of the "Hell Freezes Over" disc. Dave, Naxos has put out so many great sounding discs I wouldn't even know where to start. I recommend looking up your favorite dynamic pieces in the Penguin Guide and find the best performances often it will tell you if the sound quality is in the demonstration bracket which is just a bonus. The Classics Today website also has a place to read reviews which includes a rating for sound quality. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4355 Registered: Dec-03 | How do we know a recording is "reference quality"...? What is the reference for that...? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 993 Registered: Dec-03 | I was talking to someone about this subject (he's not an "audiophile") and he said he would like a demonstration of the difference in sound quality between what I consider poorly produced recordings and well produced recordings. So, the music I choose to demonstrate well produced material would be "reference quality" to me. Perhaps the terms in the OP could have been chosen better but "writing about music is like dancing about architecture". (Thank you Frank Zappa). |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4365 Registered: Dec-03 | I think the final reference for recording is the original performance, the original sound. Whatever it was. HiFi makers, especially of speakers, use to stage comparisons of their wares with the real thing. It seems to me this does not happen so much these days. There seems to be generally less interest in the goal of high fidelity sound reproduction, as if the sound of some system is an end in itself. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 3436 Registered: Feb-05 | Hey Tim I'm headed to Seattle tomorrow, time for a speaker demo...lol! |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 997 Registered: May-05 | "Hey Tim I'm headed to Seattle tomorrow, time for a speaker demo...lol!" Art, I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!!!!!! LOL You get to play with the Emmas but you better not touch the Myras, I lust after those babies. And, I haven't even heard them, yet. LOL |
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Silver Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 998 Registered: May-05 | John A, I agree with your assessment of "reference quality." However, the problem for me is way too much music and not enough free time to hear it all live. That leaves me with deciding do the instruments sound correct? Does the music sound real? That's about as good as I can get. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4366 Registered: Dec-03 | I agree, Dakulis. As long as we know what "Real" sounds like, at least sometimes, we have a reference beyond any particular recording. Then we can begin to compare recordings. "Does the instrument or voice actually sound like that"? This seems to me to be a good place to start. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 635 Registered: Nov-05 | Guys, hasn't all this been gone over before? I don't want to comment for Tim, but I think this is really beginning to drift off what he intended - which was a list of recordings we deem 'reference' quality - which he explained a few posts back. The comparison to the 'live performance' bit has been done to death and since most of us haven't been in the studio when a particular recording has been laid down, the best we can do in determining our 'reference' music is simply the formats with the best and cleanest resolution that makes us believe we are listening to the 'real' thing - or at least the next best thing. Come and hear the real thing Come and hear the real thing Come and hear we are the real . . . thing do da do da da do da do da da do da do da da But no one outside oz knows that one! |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 996 Registered: Dec-03 | Jazz At The Pawnshop - Various Artists First Impression Music - SACD ($60!) Hailed by many as the greatest jazz recording ever made. "Hey Tim I'm headed to Seattle tomorrow, time for a speaker demo...lol!" Arrgh! More warning next time. The next couple of days are filled up. It's a holiday or something. Thanks MR. We HAVE been down this road before. Japanese DSOTM has been ordered. |
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Silver Member Username: PraetorianCanada Post Number: 233 Registered: Dec-05 | So where do u get this stuff? Is it just that every music store in NB sux? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 998 Registered: Dec-03 | Internet is the best source I know of. The nice thing about a good record store is they may have some hard to find items and can help you find music that suits your particular tastes. Other than that, I buy on-line. http://www.fimpression.com http://www.acousticsounds.com http://www.musicdirect.com http://www.amazon.com |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4367 Registered: Dec-03 | I raised an issue previously discussed because these threads have newcomers and no-one can read the whole forum. For my part I can only name terrible recordings that do not sound at all like any real music. But that would be another topic, too. Please keep up the discussion! All the best. |
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Silver Member Username: PraetorianCanada Post Number: 235 Registered: Dec-05 | Thanks Tim, I don't have a SACD-specific player, but my LG DVD player can, so I am interested in testing this feature out... I know I have enough composite RCA cables lying around that I can find 5 of them... if it is that much better than standard, I will probably invest in a dedicated player. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 636 Registered: Nov-05 | I use Amazon (both the states & UK), Acoustic Sounds and http://cduniverse.com - usually shopping around gets the best price. CDuniverse has lots of track samples as does Amazon.com Acoustic Sounds has much fewer track samples and I find this feature very helpful for either choosing music or discovering new (or unheard)talent. Although I have read of such occassions on forums, I haven't yet had one stuff-up when ordering on-line which I have done many times. For something to take me back in time, this one will most likely be part of my next order: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6751287&style=music&cart=359688866 |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1004 Registered: May-05 | OK, back on track, Elvis Presley, "Such a Night", digitally remastered by BMG from original RCA tapes. Norah Hones, "Come Away With Me" by Blue Note by way of Capitol Records - OK, maybe not reference quality but it just sounds great. |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1001 Registered: Dec-03 | In the alternative and electronic rock arena, there are some talented musicians that produce their own recordings. Two recommendations are: 18 - Moby V-2 Records - CD (All songs produced, engineered and mixed by Moby, all instruments performed by Moby) Too High To Die - Meat Puppets London Records - CD |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1010 Registered: Dec-03 | Two big thumbs up for the Japanese pressing of the 30th Anniversary Dark Side of the Moon SACD! Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd Toshiba/EMI - Japanese SACD http://www.musicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=CCAPSA15001 |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3280 Registered: Dec-04 | Tim, you went gold! What system did you or have you listened to DOSM on Tim? |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1011 Registered: Dec-03 | Thanks for noticing Nuck. After 30 years? Too many to recall, not to mention the actual live performance. Listening to it on headphones is a treat. Hard to beat Sennheisers and a good amp. There were some AMT headphones along the line too. Most recently, my home system. Sony SACD, tube amp and some experimental 3-way towers (no not Myra). |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3295 Registered: Dec-04 | I havn't had cans since DOSM was new, I think. Twist one up and slip on the Rat Shack foam padded pillows and let Gilmore do his thing. Ooooh mama! I ordered it! |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1013 Registered: Dec-03 | I played it on my surround system as well. The live performance was in "quadrophonic" sound. Floyd had the usual stacks on stage but in the rear corners of the venue were some Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers. When they played "On The Run" the sound was swirling around the room. You could hear the whining of a jet airliner then suddenly a huge model of an airliner came out of the back of the room and crashed into the stage! For a 16 year old kid, that was about the coolest thing ever! The 5.1 mix on this SACD does a great job of recreating that experience. Many discreet sounds from all the speakers. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 659 Registered: Nov-05 | Seems one of my recommendations got Stereophile's record of the month. http://stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/606rotm/ Agree about DSOTM 5.1 SACD Tim. Would like to have the Japanese version to compare - but would'nt spend the money to have two copies. |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1012 Registered: May-05 | Tim, Thanks for the bad memory. My friend was the Comptroller for AL in late 70s. He gave me a choice between the Voice of Theatre/pair for $400 (retailed for something like $750/pair) or my Stonehenge IIs for $250/pair, (retailed for $479/pair or so) and I really wanted the V of T and my lovely wife said no way you're bringing those huge beasts home. This still kills me even 30 years later. BOO HOO BOO HOO Nuck, BTW, I went gold also and I got no hoorays out of ya. Thanks, BOO HOO BOO HOO, LOL. Also BTW, I've made a Word file of all the recommendations and I'm going to be printing it out for my lovely wife and kids to use for birthdays and I'll probably place them in some order of preference. Thanks all, keep it up, there's more money to be spent here, I think. ROTFL. Dave |
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Gold Member Username: IlluminatorUSA Post Number: 3391 Registered: Apr-05 | Kudos to Timn8ter for starting this thread, I definitely am going to check out some of the albums mentioned-especially because I've heard a great deal of them on XM and other various places. It's nice to see people that still care about quality of the actual media that holds the music. |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1020 Registered: Dec-03 | I'd also like to mention a re-release of another fine album. Drive - Bela Fleck Mobile Fidelity - SACD This album was recorded in 4 days and mixed in 2 days back in 1987 by a very talented group of bluegrass musicians that consider this music "newgrass". Bela's liner notes confirm that this production is much closer to what they originally intended, sonically speaking. |
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Bronze Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 30 Registered: May-06 | Nuck, "Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd Toshiba/EMI - Japanese SACD" Through the Rogue Audio Magnum 99 Pre-Amp headphone out jack into my Sennheiser HD - 580s. OMG! |
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Bronze Member Username: PointeOttawaCanada Post Number: 16 Registered: Jun-06 | So - Peter Gabriel SACD It's a fantastic disc |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 1515 Registered: Sep-04 | Did I mention: Thomas Tallis Spem In Alium by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips directing on Gimell, CDGIM006 - Absolutely gorgeous recording. I, too, have heard very good things about the CD layer on the Dark Side of the Moon SACD... Regards, Frank. |
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Bronze Member Username: PointeOttawaCanada Post Number: 17 Registered: Jun-06 | Frank, Same goes for SACD version of Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits. A nicely remastered version |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1023 Registered: Dec-03 | re: the "reference" term Last night a local high end recording engineer demonstrated what he and his colleaques consider the "reference" track for rock mixing/mastering. "Shook Me All Night Long" Back In Black - AC/DC Legacy Recordings - CD Remixed and Remastered in 1980 by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, this version eliminated the multiude of level problems in the original release. I have to admit, it sounds great. |
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Gold Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 1662 Registered: Feb-04 | Babatunde Olatunji : Circle of Drums Best drum recording I've ever heard. The kick drum images very well as a bonus. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3226756,00.html?src=search &artist=Babatunde+Olatunji |
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Gold Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 1663 Registered: Feb-04 | Delete the space after "search" in the URL. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4408 Registered: Dec-03 | Frank, I've said several times on this forum "Spem in Alium" is an example of something that really has to be in surround in order to be true to the composer's intention. I heard a live performance of it recently, and once you have heard it done "in the round" then there can be no doubt. There are DVD-A and SACD 4.0 versions by The Sixteen on Coro (their own label) and by The Oxford Camerata on Naxos. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3392 Registered: Dec-04 | A 15(!) lp remastered stereo set of lp's from AC/DC in 180 gm weight for 240$cdn! All imports, 15 ! Epic 279690643 |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1025 Registered: Dec-03 | Thomas Tallis and AC/DC in consecutive posts. I love it! |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1017 Registered: May-05 | My list keeps growing. At this rate, I won't get all these purchased until I'm about 104. Keep up the good work and then I'll have to ask you guys to rank them by preference. OH, will that one be fun!!!! LOL |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1018 Registered: May-05 | My list keeps growing. At this rate, I won't get all these purchased until I'm about 104. Keep up the good work and then I'll have to ask you guys to rank them by preference. OH, will that one be fun!!!! LOL |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1027 Registered: Dec-03 | Now we know how Dave got over 1000 posts. |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1020 Registered: May-05 | Hey, I've only double posted a few hundred times. LOL OK, maybe several hundred BUT WHO'S COUNTING? |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4412 Registered: Dec-03 | Simaudio Recommended Recordings Thanks to Michael Wodek on Thread: Anyone hear the new rega apollo yet ?? |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4415 Registered: Dec-03 | "Thomas Tallis and AC/DC in consecutive posts" I think the word is "eclectic", Tim! I have always thought genre does not matter in the sense that good recording techniques capture all sorts of sound convincingly. And bad ones screw everything up, regardless of the programme material. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 682 Registered: Nov-05 | Stacey Kent "Collection" Jazz Candid Records. 24 bit mastered recording. Talking Heads "Speaking In Tongues" Sire Records/Rhino/Warner Bros Both the DVD-A 5.1 (& 2.0) and the separate remastered CD that comes with it are excellent recordings. "Eclectic" fits here also :-) |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1023 Registered: May-05 | What John said. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 698 Registered: Nov-05 | Well, reference quality - maybe or maybe not - it doesn't matter, I've just finished listening to Karrin Allyson's "In Blue" CD (2002 Concorde Records) and already it is my 'best buy' for 2006 and maybe beyond. This terrific jazz singer teams up with a top class quintet and takes me on one of the cruisiest, bluesiest jazz rides I've had for a long time. I give it a 9.9 - I'd give it a 10 but it loses a tad because it ended. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3643 Registered: Dec-04 | Eric Clapton Unplugged offers some really good recordings, being live makes it even more pleasant to listen to. 9.3 because the applause is too loud after some tracks and everyone in attendace seems to have an incredibly shrill and piercing voice. |
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Bronze Member Username: PointeOttawaCanada Post Number: 34 Registered: Jun-06 | Don't you love the audience guy that made it on the Layla recording when he yelled out a "WHOOP" in the middle of the solo? He got more radio play than most musicians ever do... Jackass. Did he think Clapton needed the encouragement? Like, "wow, I guess they like what I'm doing here. maybe I'll stick at this guitar thing..." |
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Gold Member Username: GavincummNew York USA Post Number: 1259 Registered: Feb-05 | Ottmar Liebert produces quality recordings. His works have been mastered using Anthony Gallo monitors (model escapes me, but they were the round ones with the tweeter on top) the sound quality is exquisite, being a close second benind Elaine Elias's "Dreamer" for my favorite "reference" recording. |
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Gold Member Username: GavincummNew York USA Post Number: 1260 Registered: Feb-05 | Ottmar Liebert "The Hours Between Night and Day" (excellent) Sony CD release, 1993 "Borrasca" (very bouncy "nouveau flamenco" music) Higher Octave, 1991 "Little Wing" (my first one) Sony, 2001 Elaine Elias "Dreamer" RCA 2004 (amazing jazz album) |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1174 Registered: Apr-05 | If I remember it correctly that Unplugged wasn't supposed to go on a CD initially, it was just an MTV gig. It was met with such great response that they recorded it on CD and released it. So I supposed they couldn't erase the jackass yelling. Speaking of jackass I have a confession to make. Some years ago my cousin and I were in LA and thought it might be cool to see a Jay Leno taping. So we stood in line and actually got in. The taping is done at 3:00 p.m. I got a little peeved when the ushers would go through the line and pick out all the good looking blonds with short skirts and other aspiring actors and stick them in the front of the stage so the camera would catch them as it pans to the audience. Of course they put us on the top near the rafters. Jay was about to make a joke about Ross Perot and I yelled out "Go Ross" knowing that it would make it to the broadcast. Jay said "Ya go Ross" and went about his joke. We watched the show that night with a bunch of friends and everyone laughed when my yelling came out. That's my jerk story. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3650 Registered: Dec-04 | Thanks, Stof. Admitting to really bad ones can be cathartic, and rather fun to have others laugh at a really bad one. If I can think of the stupidest thing I have done, I will post in the most appropriate place. I think it's in the third volume of Stupid Nuck things, let me check as they are referenced in the Dewey Decimal file. |
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Silver Member Username: SemNew York USA Post Number: 608 Registered: Mar-04 | Lots of good suggestions here, keep 'em coming. On a related note check out the "Rate your Hi-res discs here" thread that My_Rantz started so long ago. https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/128686.html https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/68570.html |
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Bronze Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 49 Registered: May-06 | Tool - 10,000 Days The laying down of the tracks is even better than the construction of the CD jacket which is impressive in of itself. Nuck, just try it, you'll like it! |
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Gold Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 1735 Registered: Feb-04 | I've said this before... Diana Krall "Ther girl in the other room" CD/SACD hybrid is incredible. Diana Krall "Love Scenes" track 3 has bass strings that get plucked literally in front of you. I listened to Eric Clapton "Unplugged" last night and thought his voice sounded... like it came through a microphone, not true to life. The guitars comes out very well, but the voice doesn't. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 3667 Registered: Dec-04 | unplugged has made a lot of money from this series...I think they lost money on Neil Young. Not a big seller, but rather good(If you like Neil). His warbly, off-kilter voice is presented quite well, and excepting the over powered'like a hurricane' the disc works pretty darn good! If you dig Neil,that is. |
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Bronze Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 51 Registered: May-06 | Just used Eric Clapton's unplugged, track 5 to try out the refurbished Carver. I have to agree, the guitars and piano are very distinctive in their spaces, which is why I liked it. Reading your post made me realize that I hardly paid attention to the vocals. |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 1561 Registered: Sep-04 | Eric Clapton Unplugged on standard vinyl is pretty good. On reissued heavy vinyl it's meant to be very good. The recording of Thomas Tallis that I quote is absolutely brilliant, 2-channel or no. If you don't get the sense of ambience, size of hall allied with the pacing of the piece and sheer passion then your system sucks. Also, didn't mention: Joni Mitchell - Hejira - Arista on CD. Typically 70's poor recording in terms of resolution, but this is one of the best albums for testing timing and rhythm, especially 'Coyote'. If your system doesn't time well, this album sounds like a mess of jangling instruments. If it times well, you simply hear through the production issues. To a certain extent this is true of one or two of the other titles I chose. Dak, the day your list stops growing is the day you die. That's the beauty of music... Regards, Frank. |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 737 Registered: Nov-05 | Picked up a 2006 CD by Eric Burdon - "Soul of a Man". This old leader of the Animals is a mature version of what we heard in the sixties. After recently purchasing a remastered 'best of' CD of E.B. and the Animals and thoroughly enjoyed its nostalgia value, I bought this new one without reading any review or sample listening - and well - very impressive to say the least! Our music tastes lately have been mostly jazz, and blues with a little easy rock thrown in here and there (Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan/Fagan, 10CC, etc, so I was a little concerned about how Mrs Rantz would take to this new E.B. CD, as a couple of you know she can do without any distress in her life for a while. I gave the volume knob a decent twist and suddenly Eric's voice just leapt from the B&W's and I was tempted to turn it down a few notches, but what the heck, after a moment or two, my wife was into it, her head was swaying and her toes were tapping and we were both back into the that good old groove. This kinda heavy/easy album of blues and rock (with one countryish track about that popular pres who was shot by Oswald) is simply superb - especially if you are an old sixties rock fan. The resolution is excellent, great heavy bass, and very clean highs, and while Eric's vocals have matured over the decades, it still has that unmistakable raw edge that we grew up with. Also talent such as Joe Sublett and Johnny Lee Schell and others add to the driving force of this album. http://www.ericburdon.com/index.php?id=news |
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Silver Member Username: RavbainsMelbourneAustralia Post Number: 242 Registered: Mar-06 | I normally try to pick my music based on musical content and not based on recording quality. But for me one album, which checks both boxes is Storyville by Robbie Robertson. cheers Rav |
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Silver Member Username: RavbainsMelbourneAustralia Post Number: 243 Registered: Mar-06 | I forgot Tim's original instructions, anyhows it all helps the post count: Robbie Robertson, Storyville, CD (c)1991, Geffen, GEFD 24303 Two other album's which fit the criteria (IMHO) and which are both co-incidentally both recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studio complex at Box in Wiltshire are: James, Laid (Re-mastered version), CD (c)2001, Mercury/Fontana, 548 787-2 K's Choice, Almost Happy, CD (c)2000, Double T Music/EPIC, EPC 499999-9 cheers Rav |
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Gold Member Username: DakulisSpokane, Washington United States Post Number: 1032 Registered: May-05 | Well done guys, I've been absolutely buried in work and only had a spare moment every now and then to check in on the forum. I'd forgotten about this thread so I'm glad MR and Rav resurrected it so that I can add to my collection. WELL DONE!!!! Now, if someone could find a way for the income to keep flowing without working, I'd find the time to buy and listen to some of these. LOL |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 741 Registered: Nov-05 | Amendment from the Eric Burdon post: "(with one countryish track about that popular pres who was shot by Oswald)" It was actually about his brother - shows how much I like country. Dave - "a way for the income to keep flowing without working" I'm working on it! |
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Bronze Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 90 Registered: May-06 | I found some similarities between Gilmore and Burdon, with On an Island and Soul of a Man. I do not mean in the guitar but in their singing styles. Both are enjoyable. Graham Nash and David Crosby also appear with Gilmore on the title track. Eric Burdon, soul of a man - SPV 78412 CD David Gilmore, On An Island - Pink Floyd Music Publishers 2876-80280-2 |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1205 Registered: Apr-05 | I haven't contributed to this thread, but I have been reading it. Last night on the Chicago PBS station they played a live Pink Floyd concert from 1994. The name of the DVD is Pulse. I have to admit that watching and listening to it over analog broadcast was pretty good. I still don't get how regular broadcast audio transmitted via my cable box over RCA cables to my receiver, is still able to trick the receiver into playing all 5 channels. That DVD goes right on top of the wish list. I can't wait to experience it in its true recording. |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1055 Registered: Dec-03 | I received the Pink Floyd Pulse DVD a couple of weeks ago. Although the picture quality isn't always the best the sound quality is very good. It's claimed Gilmore was insistant on high quality sound and this is the reason it took so long to come out. I think it will be appreciated by long time Pink Floyd fans more than the casual observer. The finale of the live concert footage on disk 2 is pretty spectacular. Turn it up! |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1208 Registered: Apr-05 | I read where David Gilmore admitting that they had a lot of technical difficulty in getting this out because it was shot with video rather than film so the quality of the stuff circa 1994 was not that great, thus the bad quality video. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 114 Registered: May-06 | Still exercising my new Linn LP12. Found some great vinyl; I just ran ELP's Brain Salad Surgery - Atlantic SD 19124 and for something completely different; Peer Gyny Suites Nos. 1 and 2. Suite No. 1, Op. 46, Suite No. 2, Op. 55, and Lyric Suite, Op. 54; Shepard Boy, Norwegian Rustic March, Noctrune, and March of the Dwarfs performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra - Arthur Fiedler Conductor with Eileen Farrell Soprano. Cisco Music - Red Seal LSC - 2125 |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4021 Registered: Dec-04 | Mike, Feidler's pops created some of the best lively recordings. James Taylor has opened the concert season for a long time, the concerts were never released before.. This years will be. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4022 Registered: Dec-04 | Hey folks, we are missing out on one of the all time best here. The Wall. DSOTM gets a lot of verbiage here, and rightfully so, but The Wall has so much to offer, it's just a seminal event on a great kit. just ran it today(2nd disc). Caught hell for being too loud, but 'comfortably numb' is fabulous, run it again yourselves, and re-aquaint with this cut. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 119 Registered: May-06 | The Wall I am onto already, James Taylor is on my radar. Thanks |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Lewisville, Tx USA Post Number: 159 Registered: May-06 | Timn8ter started this with Audiophile Reference IV - Various Artists First Impression Music, SACD. I have another First Impression Music Super Analog CD, they use XRCD24 coding. This one is; Super Sound FIM XR24 066 Limited Edition You could use this single CD to find any weaknesses in your system or reciprocally let your system shine. It has tracks with double bass, harp, and drum solo, amongst many other delights. Comes in a nice tan suede jacket. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4526 Registered: Mar-05 | "This Is Your Brain on Music" Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin's wonderful new book explains why music is a critical step in human evolution and why the songs we loved as teens remain stuck on "play" in our heads. By Farhad Manjoo (salon.com) Sep. 05, 2006 | If you happened to have been born between about 1978 and 1981, there's a fair chance you count yourself an obsessive of the Southern California rock band Weezer. The affection would not make sense to those even just a bit older or younger, who might regard Weezer's guitar pop as clever and pleasing but also somewhat too shallow to have much lasting significance. Those of a certain age, though, experienced the group's 1994 eponymous debut release, known to fans as the Blue Album, as a thing of precise and overflowing emotion -- 10 tracks that functioned like keys to secret locks in the teenage brain, opening up all the awkwardness and anxiousness of those melodramatic high school years. We all have music like this, music that burns into the soul when we're young and remains essential for the rest of time. For me it was the Blue Album and anything the Smashing Pumpkins did up until about 1998. For you it's something else, but it's surely something -- there's a tape or record or CD that once knocked you out with a force that, cheesy as it is to remember, felt like true love. Put on one of those songs now and, if it's been a long time, the effect is like an old movie; the scenes play back for you in entire exhilarating reels. What's happening when music captures you in this way deserves some scrutiny. You may feel like the songs are grabbing your heart, but what's actually going on is in your head. There, says Daniel J. Levitin in his new book "This Is Your Brain on Music," an "exquisite orchestration of brain regions" are engaged in a "precision choreography of neurochemical uptake and release." Why human beings make and enjoy music is, in Levitin's telling, a delicious story of evolution, anatomy, perception and computation -- a story that's all the more thrilling when you consider its result, the joy of living in a world filled with music. Levitin is a neuroscientist and a former record producer. He is one of those people -- think of a Nick Hornby character -- for whom music has always been a source of infinite aesthetic and emotional pleasure. He is also one of those people lucky enough to have turned his abiding interest into worthwhile work. Levitin's primary scientific pursuit concerns how music operates on the human brain, though it might be more fitting to say that he uses music to study how everything works in the human brain. By looking at how our brains process music -- at how we turn collections of sounds into patterns that we think of as songs, how we remember and categorize those patterns, and how we feel them as intense emotion -- Levitin and other scientists have uncovered important neural processes that had previously eluded researchers. The brain systems they discovered explain why music -- whether in high school or in life beyond -- can touch you so deeply: Our brains seem to have evolved to maximize musical ability. Indeed, Levitin argues, music has been essential to our very success as a species. Levitin's book has an unfortunate PSA- related title, but otherwise "This Is Your Brain on Music" is delightful. Levitin explains the intricacies of two difficult subjects -- neuroscience and music theory -- without ever losing the reader; it helps that he's got what Stevie Wonder refers to in a blurb as "an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music," which allows him to reference a wide range of traditions, from classical to the blues to jazz, rock, country and modern pop, in order to convey certain complex ideas. Levitin also has a knack for the choice analogy. Here is how, for example, he describes why it's remarkable that our brains can extract audio information from the chaotic collection of air molecules bouncing against our eardrums: "Imagine that you stretch a pillowcase tightly across the opening of a bucket, and different people throw ping-pong balls at it from different distances," Levitin writes. "Each person can throw as many ping-pong balls as he likes, and as often as he likes. Your job is to figure out -- just by looking at how the pillowcase moves up and down -- how many people there are, who they are, and whether they are walking toward you, walking away from you, or are standing still. This is analogous to what the auditory system has to contend with in making identifications of auditory objects in the world, using only the movement of the eardrum as a guide." Levitin's point is that when we're listening to music, our brains are engaged in an enormously complex computational task -- so complex that no man-made computers have yet been able to do anything nearly as sophisticated with sound. Another insight is that much of what we think of as the sounds of the world actually occur inside our heads, not outside. The air molecules that strike our eardrums, for instance, carry no inherent "pitch." Instead, the molecules oscillate at a specific rate, and our brains measure the rate, and then construct an internal representation -- a high or low pitch -- based on that frequency. (In the same way, light waves carry no color -- our eyes and brains construct color by measuring the frequency of the waves.) In other words, sound is essentially a psychological phenomenon. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? "Simply no," Levitin points out. "A suitable measuring device can register the frequency made by the tree falling, but truly it is not pitch unless and until it is heard." Your brain doesn't just come up with an internal representation of sound, it also derives meaning -- in particular, pleasure -- from sound. But how it does so surprises even neuroscientists. In his lab, Levitin has found that when people listen to a song they like -- as opposed to something that they don't like, or simply noise -- one area of the brain that's activated is the cerebellum. This seemed odd: The cerebellum is, evolutionarily, one of the oldest parts of the brain, what some people call the reptilian brain; its main purpose is to coordinate the movement and timing of our bodies, and not, scientists believed, anything more sophisticated, such as the experience of emotions. But if the cerebellum wasn't involved in emotion, why was it being activated only when people listened to something that they liked -- an emotional choice -- rather than just anything at all? To answer the question, Levitin and his colleagues used an advanced technique known as "functional and effective connectivity analysis" to follow how music moves through the brain. What they discovered was startling. Contrary to long-held assumptions, the cerebellum did turn out to play a role in some emotions -- particularly the way we derive pleasure from the rhythm, or groove, of a piece of music. When we listen to a song, our ears send signals not only to the auditory cortex, the region of the brain that processes the sound, but also straight to the cerebellum. When a song begins, Levitin says, the cerebellum, which keeps time in the brain, "synchronizes" itself to the beat. Part of the pleasure we find in music is the result of something like a guessing game that the brain then plays with itself as the beat continues. The cerebellum attempts to predict where beats will occur. Music sounds exciting when our brains guess the right beat, but a song becomes really interesting when it violates the expectation in some surprising way -- what Levitin calls "a sort of musical joke that we're all in on." Music, Levitin writes, "breathes, speeds up, and slows down just as the real world does, and our cerebellum finds pleasure in adjusting itself to stay synchronized." But it's not just the cerebellum that perks up to songs. What's interesting about how our brains respond to music -- rather than, say, language -- is the large number of systems that are activated by the experience. In addition to the cerebellum, music taps into the frontal lobes (a "higher-order" region that processes musical structure), and it also activates the mesolimbic system, which Levitin explains is "involved in arousal, pleasure, the transmission of opiods and the production of dopamine." This is why certain music can feel so pleasurable, producing such deep emotions -- it's simultaneously operating on various parts of our brains, and the response is something on the order of taking a hit of heroin. Clearly, though, we don't all find pleasure in the same music -- and what determines whether we end up loving Billy Corgan, Billy Idol, Billie Holiday or Billy Shatner is mostly a matter of what we listen to when when we're young. Studies suggest that we start listening to and remembering music in the womb (but playing Mozart to your baby, and indeed playing Mozart to yourself, will not make you smarter -- studies showing that famous effect have largely been debunked). Humans prefer music of their own culture when they're toddlers, but it's in our teens that we choose the specific sort of music that we'll love forever. These years, Levitin explains, are emotional times, "and we tend to remember things that have an emotional component because our amygdala and neurotransmitters act in concert to 'tag' the memories as something important." In addition, our brains are undergoing massive changes up until the teen years -- after that, the brain structure becomes more fixed, and it begins to prune, rather than grow, neural connections. Consequently it's in our teens that we're most receptive to new kinds of music (in much the same way it's easier to learn a new language when you're young than when you're old). After that, you can of course find new stuff to love -- but there is a reason that there's such a thing as "your parent's music," and why, even though I can't get enough Paul Simon, I'm far more emotionally attached to my generation's music. One more thing on the connection between memory and music bears mentioning, if only for the name: the "earworm." This word, from the German "ohrwurm," describes the annoying feeling of having a song stuck in your head. Alas, Levitin says relatively little research has been done on the phenomenon -- all we really know is that musicians and people with obsessive compulsive disorder are more prone to getting earworms, and that for most people it's small bits of songs, rather than entire songs, that we keep repeating. And if it seems more common that terrible songs get stuck in your head, that might be because bad songs -- and commercial jingles -- are the ones with the simplest phrases. (If you do not want to be infected with an earworm named KFed, do not click here.) There is compelling support, Levitin says, for the idea that our brains evolved to respond to music in this way; in other words, it is no accident -- and rather it's by evolutionary design -- that we are so good at processing music. One bit of evidence is the ubiquity of music across cultures, and across history. "No known human culture now or anytime in the recorded past lacked music," Levitin notes. More than that, we are amazingly good -- nearly magical, when you consider how much better we are than even supercomputers -- at processing sounds. For instance, your brain can instantly spot a transformation -- that is, another version -- of a song, even if the two are radically different. John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" varies in tempo, pitch, instrumentation and countless other ways from the Rodgers and Hammerstein, "Sound of Music" version, but you know the two as the same song; the same is true for OutKast's funked-out, hip-hop "My Favorite Things." Computers simply cannot do this; our brains are uniquely efficient at such complex pattern-matching tasks. But why would humans have evolved to become musical creatures? Among evolutionary biologists, there is great controversy over this question -- and, indeed, over whether musical ability was "selected for," or whether it occurred as an accident of other advances during evolution. But Levitin proposes several reasons why music might have been important to humans over the long sweep of history. Making and listening to music is a social activity, and could thus have improved cohesion among members of the species. "Music may have historically served to promote feelings of group togetherness and synchrony" in ancient societies, Levitin writes. Singing around the campfire, way back in the day, "might have been a way to stay awake, to ward off predators, and to develop social coordination and social cooperation within the group." Music might also serve as a precursor to more advanced cognitive tasks, especially speech. We know that when kids learn to speak, they don't do so by memorization of every word and phrase -- rather they learn the rules of a language, and then try to apply those rules to new contexts. One way we might learn how to use such rules is through music. "Music for the developing brain is a form of play," Levitin writes, "preparing the child to eventually explore generative language development through babbling, and ultimately more complex linguistic and paralinguistic productions." Finally there is that most important thing about music: its connection to love, or, more specifically, to arousal and mating. Unlike birds and whales, humans don't produce musical mating calls. But as social animals, humans need strategies to attract potential mates, and music might have been an important part of the process. "As a tool for activation of specific thoughts, music is not as good as language," Levitin writes. But "as a tool for arousing feelings and emotions, music is better than language." If you want your potential mate to remember you, you serenade her, or at least get Peter Gabriel to do it. This is obvious -- that music elicits emotion better than speech is something we all understand. It's why movies have soundtracks, and it's why couples have favorite songs. "You gotta hear this," Natalie Portman tells Zach Braff in "Garden State," playing him the fine Shins' song "New Slang." "It'll change your life." The scene is more touching than gushy because, of course, it's true: it's not always the Shins, but music does change your life. At the end, they fall in love. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4527 Registered: Mar-05 | The only thing I disagree with in this article is the idea that "it's in our teens that we choose the specific sort of music that we'll love forever." If someone had told me as a teenager that 20 years later I'd mainly listen to jazz and classical instead of the headbanger music I liked back then, I would've told them they were crazy! |
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Silver Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 866 Registered: Nov-05 | Make a note of this one: http://www.j-notes.com/archives/2006/07/18/randy_crawford_joe_sample_feel_1.php Vocals, musicianship and recording all first rate. Great jazz with a touch of blues, rock and soul. After one listen - outstanding! [also posted on Old Dogs] |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4235 Registered: Dec-04 | Thanks, Rantz. Seems to be available only as an import here, 35$. What the heck, I'm in an ordering mood! It's on the list. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomSilver Spring, MD United States Post Number: 184 Registered: Apr-06 | I would have to second Nuck on The Wall being one of the better recordings by Pink Floyd in terms of quality of the sound (music is great stuff too). Jethro Tull also puts out some decent recording quality. Got their greatest hits album a while back and was certainly impressed by it. |
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New member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 1 Registered: Oct-06 | Hi, newbie here. Just thought I'd add my two and a half cents worth. I'm an older geezer, compared to many of you, so maybe my tastes are "dated". Two recordings I particularly like: Blow by Blow (Jeff Beck -- SACD -- Epic?) Abraxas (Santana -- newly-remastered CD -- Columbia?) On my wish list (but will never happen): A remastering of Santana's "Caravanserai" and "Borboletta" albums. A remastering of Jeff Beck's "Truth" album, the first one he recorded as a "leader", featuring Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, and Nicky Hopkins. (Sign..) A CD version of Gerry Mulligan's Liberty LP from the 1950s, something called "Band Days" or something like that. Quintessential "cool jazz" most definitely. And before I forget, the John Dentz band with Chick Corea had excellent sound, as well. Love this board, even though I'm no audiophile. By the way, are the Ascent Audio CP170s about the best bookshelf speakers to be had under $400? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4291 Registered: Dec-04 | Hi Gary, thanks for adding to Tim's thread here. Chick would never lend his name to any crap, to be sure. Your speaker Q is in the range of a lotta speakers out there. Care to share your other gear info? Your room? I think we have a good idea of your (excellent) listening. I have an idea, but wait your reply. Nuck |
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New member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 2 Registered: Oct-06 | Hey, Nuck, I've seen many of your posts in the 12 hours I've paid attention to this board. Thank you for your reply. As for my gear, here it is (I'm sorry if I don't have specific model numbers in some cases): 1. Vintage Onkyo 90 w/ch int amp (used with the TV) 2. Almost-vintage Boston Acoustics floor speakers (I know there are two 8" drivers in them, plus a tweeter); I love them, but they may need some maintenance -- the left channel definitely is crackling at times. These are hooked up to the Onkyo above. 3. Vintage Sansui 8900DBZ receiver (125 w/ch), for my music system. 4. A really vintage set of EPI 300s(?). THey fit on my low shelving unit, since the location did not allow me to use the BAs. I had these sitting in the basement for 15 years until earlier this year. They don't appeal to me anymore. 5. Sony CD jukebox (400 capacity, only 90 so far). Musically, I'm all over the board, like most people. I have a strong feeling for late 60s/early 70s blues/rock type bands (Santana, Jeff Beck, early Zeppelin, etc.), plus some Beatles. This is because this was much of the music I heard way back in my collegiate days. I also have listened to jazz ever since I was a kid, and used to listen to WHAM radio in Rochester, even though I lived near Milwaukee. My early tastes were softer jazz, but since then, I like a more vigorous style. Saxophone and guitar are the instrucments I like the most. I also have listened to some classical music since I was very young, as well. Speaker-wise, I don't require big bass, thougn I'd like it to make its presence known (i.e., not weak). Otherwise, a smooth sound is good for me. Room-wise, it's a very bright environment. Maybe 12x20, hardwood floors, 8' celing, bookcase and entertainment units which provide a lot of excessive reflection. So I probably don't want a particularly bright-sounding speaker. Sorry for this autobiography!!! |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4292 Registered: Dec-04 | I will be taken to task for this one, I am sure, but .. John Mellencamp's 'uh huh'. Original pressing, the thing is sounding just right for my kit tonight. If anyone else has this in mothballs, I suggest running it again. 'Play guitar' hit my kit right on the button, and the volume went up. Solid recording, considering that the mixer was looking for a bit of Stones lving room sound. Dig this one up! |
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Bronze Member Username: MusicroverRosville, Ca Post Number: 32 Registered: Aug-06 | Porcupine Tree / Coma Divine. Ahhhh yes divine indeed! |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1483 Registered: May-05 | Allow me to class up the joint a little bit... The Doors -- LA Woman Warner Elektra Atlantic - 180 gm Import Vinyl re-release Black Sabbath -- Paranoid Rhino Records -- 180 gm Re-Release Black Sabbath -- Black Sabbath, and Vol. 4 Earmark -- 180 gm Re-Release *I haven't heard the rest of the Black Sabbath re-release catalog yet, but they're all on re-mastered and re-released by Earmark (except for Paranoid, which was a joint venture), so I'm assuming that they'll all have the same sound quality. Led Zeppelin -- I and IV Classic Records -- 200 gm Re-Release *I haven't heard the rest of the catalog yet, but I'm assuming that they'll be just as good. Pink Floyd -- DSOTM -- 30th Anniversary Edition 180 gm Import Vinyl -- I can't recall the label right now. I've never heard a good SQ version of The Doors or Black Sabbath until I came across these. Paranoid on CD (un-remastered) is horrible. The Symptom of the Universe 2 cd set is decent, but the vinyl re-releases are phenomenal. LA Woman is equally bad on un-remastered cd, and equally great of re-issue vinyl. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 604 Registered: Oct-04 | Would anyone consider any "classic" Rolling Stones recording to be "reference quality"? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4423 Registered: Dec-04 | Abolutely, Christopher. A reference to a simpler time when quality only mattered to people who were straight. The rest of us just groooooved. Should be re-mastered soon into a MONSTER set. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4424 Registered: Dec-04 | Sidebar... John Mellencamp's 'uh huh' gives kudo's to the stones for never taking the 'living room' out of the music. That cd is my current fav original recording. Pink houses.Authority song.Good recording. opener"tumbling down" is weak. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 605 Registered: Oct-04 | It's a shame whith The Stones, their last few albums are very well recorded, but void of much substance. Try, "Down Home Girl" by The Old Crow Medicine Show, or "Wild Horses" by The Sundays, as examples of Stones songs that shine on their own. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4425 Registered: Dec-04 | 'yer favorites' by the Tragically Hip is highly recommened. The volume is upped a bit, 'scared' is cleaned up, 'poets' is much more clear and 'New Orleans is sinking' is so solid as to rock the place. High rec. |
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Gold Member Username: T_bomb25Dayton, Ohio United States Post Number: 1433 Registered: Jun-05 | Bob James "Urban Flamingo-Very good recording on Koch Records track 2,4,10,but not as good as his Warner recording CD 2006 Bob James "Playin'Hooky"-Very good recording one of best jazz recordings of all the time Warner Bros track3,7,8,10. CD- HDCD DDD 1997 Fourplay "Heartfelt"-Bob James,Larry Carlton,Harvey Mason,Nathan East,what more needs to be said 4 of the best musicians of our time,but what really makes this recording great it had HDCD or DDD,and it has the blackest backdrops I've heard next to Nora Jones "Come Away With Me" 2002 Larry Carlton "Fingerprints"-increadable display of the electric guitar with some nice balines track # 10 is a must listen, the man has 23 solo albums and countless other than Fourplay colabs. Warner Bros. CD 2000 David Benoit "Fuzzy Logic"-I think this man is the best pianolist in the world,and jazz is not his only work,track 3,4,7,8,9 Universal 2002 CD Jennifer Warnes "The Hunter"- Why she isnt more popular I dont know,but its a audio store masterpeice track 1,8,10 these are demoed in nearly every audio store Private Music 1992 CD-DDD David Sanborn "Backstreet" A true classic,knowone plays the Alto Sax like this legend track The whole cd,what does that tell you Warner Bros 1983 you can get it LP if you can find it CD,LP Ramsey Lewis "Ivory Pyriamid"-This legondary pianolist is known all over the world,People Make The World Go'Round is a classic track 2 GPR Records 1992 CD Joss Stone "the Soul Sesions"-The best young female voice around her and Mrs.Aguilera tracks 1,4,5,7,9,10 the remake of the Isley Bros. may be better than theirs and to top it all off its the best I've ever heard on LP and very good in CD S-curve Records 2003 The RIPPINGTONS FEATURING RUSS FREEMAN "LIVE ACROSSAMERICA"-Almost all their albums are live these guys have been together for over 20 years,Russ Freeman is one of the best guitarist around,and their band is awsome,increadable piano work,and drum work,and Paul Taylor is also on this album to the whole cd is great but you have to Freeman do the Star Spangled Banner track 13 fi you have a ragody topend it will smack you in the face and also track 9,one of my great thinking songs,this one of the best jobs on the Grand Piano I've heard a real sonic treat with explosive dynamics all equipment will be revealed for the bad and the good Peak Records 2002 Joann Rosario "more,more,more"-Agreat contemparay gospel album,and its a Fred Hammond productions,but even better than him is this beutiful beutiful puertarican goddess,her voice is so relaxing that its really hard to beleive she sing like this,but she hipmatizes you slowly and softly tracks 3,5,7,11,12,13 Verity Records/Zomba Recording Corporation CD 2002 Steve Cole "Spin"-Brian Culbertson's protege a good saxiphonist,thats doing his own thing now,production on this album is top notch tracks 1,3,5,6,9,10 NARADA CD 2005 Kenny G "Live"-He's a legend but he has never been my cup of tea,but to hear what he can do live,its actually astonishing to hear what he can do live,and his band is utilized very well he has bass player,tracks 3,5,8,10,11 Arista CD 1989 Herbie Hancock "POSIBILITIES"-We all know he helped shape the modern era of music,quite simply the man is a genius,he and Christina Aguilera lit up,this song was actually performed at the Grammies,she is awsome,now she needs to make interresting music and quit wasting her talent,Joss Stone and Johnny Lang lit up,its a whole host legondary special guest on this CD its all good,but track with Aguilera,is stunning and easily the best song on this CD,its actually may be the most stunning tracks for many different aspects,her vocals with Herbies Piano work and his prolific band,i cant describe it flawless track,its track #3 Hear Music CD 2005 |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 43 Registered: Oct-06 | I'm waiting for a couple Herbie Mann albums to get remastered, if ever: "Live at the Village Gate" (Atlantic, late 50s) "Memphis UnderGround" (ATCO?, early 70s) Both of these were great sounding albums to me back in my college days (and beyond). Didn't see either one at Music Direct, but then their search engine leave a bit to be desired. |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 51 Registered: Oct-06 | Also, let me add: Jim Hall -- Concierto (was CTI, now also available on SACD); also features Paul Desmond and Chet Baker. Sounded great on LP, especially with a good beer or glass of whiskey and the lights are low. May have to get a SACD player... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4548 Registered: Dec-04 | Once again(after listening this am), I would like to forward John(C) Mellencamp's Uh Huh, a masterpiece of an offering, Rolling Stones influance and all, a great time to be had. Recorded in 16 days at the Sugar Shack, a 2 week party, resulting in one of Lang's best recordings ever. Ohh Mama. Little Pink Houses for you and me... |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa3Post Number: 15 Registered: Nov-06 | 1. Sigur-ros ( artist) Takk ( CD) 2. Claudia Acuna ( River of Life) 3. Flora Purim ( Speak No Evil) 4. Janis Ian ( Breaking Silence) 5. Mercan Dede ( SU) 6. Liz Wright ( SALT) 7. Mitsuko Uchida (Perspectives) IMMV |
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Bronze Member Username: MusicroverRosville, Ca Post Number: 43 Registered: Aug-06 | Early Robin Trower with James Dewar on vocals and bass, SWEET MUSIC!Thank you James RIP. Thank you, thank you, thank you.... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4569 Registered: Dec-04 | I must say that I cannot name one song from Robin Trower. What am I missing? |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa3Post Number: 21 Registered: Nov-06 | " Twice Removed from yesterday." |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4573 Registered: Dec-04 | Sampling now, thank-you. |
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Bronze Member Username: SerniterPiscataway, New Jersey USA Post Number: 82 Registered: Mar-06 | Uh-Huh is terrific. Thanks, Nuck. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 4583 Registered: Dec-04 | Glad you like it, Srinivas. It out 'stones' the rolling stones at times... |
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Gold Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 1113 Registered: Dec-03 | Marc mentioned Liz Wright. s/b Lizz  Dreaming Wide Awake - Lizz Wright Verve Forecast - CD The opening guitar on A Taste of Honey is so clean I thought the guitar was in the room. Nicely done. |
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Bronze Member Username: Rysa3Houston, Texas Post Number: 33 Registered: Nov-06 | But I got Mitsuko Uchida right! |
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Silver Member Username: TommyvRowlett, Texas Post Number: 132 Registered: Aug-06 | I just wanted to add a couple I have been enjoying recently to the list. Grateful Dead "Workingman's Dead" remastered HDCD A Perfect Circle "Thirteenth Step" Dave Matthew's Band "Under the Table and Dreaming" |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_rossPost Number: 691 Registered: May-06 | yo |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 80 Registered: Oct-06 | Three of my favorite classical CDs: Franz von Suppe "Overtures", Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, London label (now in Decca catalog). A rousing, spirited performance, extremely crisp recording. Vivaldi, "Four Seasons", Viktoria Mullova. Label unknown (it's in my CD jukebox). I don't believe the CD is available any more, but pick it up if you see it in a used CD shop. A truly engaging, involving performance in my mind. Shostakovich & Prokoviev Violin Concertos, Viktoria Mullova (Philips CD). Modern classical isn't usually my sphere of interest, but this CD is terrific, and Mullova just superb. |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 85 Registered: Oct-06 | Just one more (I've forgotten how good LPs can sound): Keith Jarrett, "The Koln [Cologne] Concert", recorded live Jan 24, 1975. Polydor Records |
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Bronze Member Username: Jingka99Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 49 Registered: Aug-06 | There's another Jennifer Warnes' CD "The Well" |
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