Entertainment For Lively Minds
Best sounding record?
Posted by niallb on 2 July 2010 - 5:26am.
This is over 25 years old but still sounds fresh. Yes, one hit wonder. Yes, hair-cuts. Yes, odd voice. But this still has one of the best drum sounds of the era, an era when producers compressed the chuff out of the drums. The little break at 0.18 fills the mix and makes you pay attention. So, any other records, good or otherwise, that SOUND great?
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Here's a few
Steely Dan - Aja esp the piano on the title track
HJH - Abbey Road
Little Feat - whatever album has "All That You Dream" on it
David Bowie - Station to Station
from the same era
anything by Scritti Politti - produced by Arif Mardin at this time
for a hi-fi buff, the best sounding CD in my collection is probably 'Crossings' by jazz guitarist Steve Khan.
Too many to list but opening of this
was a pleasant surprise recently (hadn't heard it before)-very atmospheric "even" off Spotify.
'First Take' by Roberta Flack...
Pianos have never sounded more piano-like
Drums have never sounded more drum-like
Basses have never sounded more bass-like
A masterpiece of cool restraint.
Good call
Patrick. Just thought of another one. Sara by Fleetwood Mac, off Tusk. If there is a better recording of brushes in the modern era I've not heard it. Triumphantly touted as the first proper digital recording I remember being very sniffy about it beforehand. Yet,when I played my vinyl copy through my Dad's big speakers I actually turned round to see if Mick Fleetwood had snuck in the back door.
Great cover too...
Who Loves You? by The Four Seasons
Hi-hat as dominant instrument. Weird middle section. Don Ciccone ably filling in for an ailing Franki. Best played loud and often.
Possibly my favourite hi-hats
This production is so bold and bare, but then when you've got a voice like the Reverend's to work with, why cover it up?
An INSANE sounding record
And an utterly beautiful one
Even the tape hiss is beautiful on this (although I don't think it's that bad on the CD)!
Forgotten gem
I dug this out the other day, to demonstrate a point I was trying to make to someone about Janelle Monae,* and was blown away by how tight and fresh and bounce-around-the-kitchen-when-it's-on this record still sounds today.
The lead vocal is perfectly mixed with the backing vocals, and manages to sound bright and cutting without doing so in a strip-the-paint-off-your-walls Duffy-type way.
And, as with the OP, the sound isn't at all what automatically comes to mind when we think "Eighties" - no snare going THWACKAWACKA on two and four! No syn toms going BINGABING! BANGABANG! BOING! And, best of all, all the tooting comes courtesy of a Leslie-whirring B3 and rather than a DX7, with no more than the odd horn stab in just the right place.
Hmm. Why did CMcC's flame flicker so briefly? She was a Rather Good Thing.
(*She needs to have a serious word with her arranger, that was basically the point.)
Forgotten gem
I dug this out the other day, to demonstrate a point I was trying to make to someone about Janelle Monae,* and was blown away by how tight and fresh and bounce-around-the-kitchen-when-it's-on this record still sounds today.
The lead vocal is perfectly mixed with the backing vocals, and manages to sound bright and cutting without doing so in a strip-the-paint-off-your-walls Duffy-type way.
And, as with the OP, the sound isn't at all what automatically comes to mind when we think "Eighties". There's no snare going THWACKAWACKA! on two and four. No syn toms going BINGABING! BANGABANG! BOING! And, best of all, all the tooting comes courtesy of a Leslie-whirring B3 rather than a DX7, while no more than the odd parsimonious horn stab punctuates all the right moments until they finally let rip in the middle-eight, two minutes in.
Hmm. Why did CMcC's flame flicker so briefly? She was a Rather Good Thing.
(*She needs to have a serious word with her arranger, that was basically the point.)
Another couple...
Fever by Peggy Lee.
and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by The Platters.
Patrick, sir. Once again,
the nail is firmly put in its place! How about this, as well. Benny Benjamin at his best.
This was always a great sounding record
I think the best sounding
rock record is 'Who's Next'. It has a fantastic sense of space and dimension.
My vote goes to..,
Louie Louie The Kingsmen
It's the way they recorded the drums, it sounds like it was recorded at a party.
This always sounds pretty special to me
Great sound?
Well, there's
but then again there's
both great records, and both doing exactly what they say on the tin - the one ethereal and sophisticated, the other scratchy and, er, unsophisticated...
Julie London - Cry Me A River
That basic arrangement. THAT voice! The word "plebian" in a song!
What more could you want. Sometimes simple is the best.