Top 3 Recordings

[Don Grossinger]

'Tis the season for "Best Of" lists!

Let's try one here:
What are your favorite 3 recordings of all time (the ones that just make you melt with happiness). Combine artistic factors with recording quality if you like, but the recording must convey the emotion of the artistry well. What makes these recordings work for you? Individual tracks are OK.

What version or format of these recordings do you prefer, ie: original vinyl, first CD issue, remastered CD, SACD/DVD Audio, etc....Why?

Let's have some fun with this.
I still have to think about my entries. This will be tough.
Here we go!!

 

[Alécio Costa - Brazil]

rock, pop, soul?
if it is rock/instrumental, I would choose
1) Passion and Warfare - Steve Vai
2) The Extremist - Joe Satriani
3) Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

If it is Pop:
1) Sowing the seeds of Love - Tears for Fears
2) First Album - Roxette
3) Thriller - Michael Jackson

 

[Sebatron]

1/Revolver-The Beatles

3/Bitches Brew-Miles Davies

Sorry they're all albums!
ALL on CD...i hate irrelevant noise
Not necessarily great recordings,but good vibrations

 

[Kurt Foster]

"Penny Lane" by The Beatles, "I'll Probably Feel A Whole Lot Better" by Tom Petty and "Shangri- La" by ELO ... in no particular order. 3's not enough!!! Also of great interest and maybe the best would be "Once Bitten Twice Shy" by Ian Hunter ... killer guitar solo by Mick Ronson.

 

[Midlandmorgan]

In no particular order...

"Boston" (Boston..vinyl)- rock
"Brandenburg Concertos" (CD) classical
-"Will the Circle Be Unbroken - III" (CD) - bluegrass (should be required listening on how to record and master acoustic instruments)

 

[Don Grossinger]

Cedar Flat Fats: Your'e right, 3 is not enough,I'm not sure if 10 would have been enough either....but here goes anyway.

"Until I Die"; Beach Boys; Holland; the latest Joe Gastwirt remastered CD; texture so thick you could float on it, with glorious vocals

"Aja"; Steely Dan; Aja; Mobile Fidelity Half-Speed Mastered vinyl; much more relaxed feel than either the original LP or ANY of the CD reissues, drums & percussion sound especially terrific

"Jumping Jack Flash"; The Rolling Stones; Through The Past Darkly; The SACD; one of the premier "Rock" songs newly brought to life (actually, the entire series of SACD's that I have heard all sound GREAT)

Honourable mentions:
Steve Earle "Train A Comin'" CD

Beatles "Sgt Pepper" Mobile Fidelity UHQR 200 Gram limited edition vinyl

Joe Jackson "Live In NYC" CD recorded at the Bottom Line

Charlie Parker "A Night In Tunesia" from the complete Verve Reissues CD set + the "famous alto break"

Little Feat "Waiting For Columbus" the newly remastered double CD

David Grisman "Duets" Acoustic Disc CD

Grateful Dead "Workingman's Dead" the new DVD Audio disk with a GOOD surround system

Joni Mitchell "Hejira" original vinyl LP

And so many more....

 

[mukshoe]

Here are my choices and ultimately influences (no particular order)

Rain Dogs-Tom Waits with Mark Ribot doing crazy guitar...you can hear the sound floor ...love the thing

Bring The Family-john Hiatt with Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, Nick Lowe....live off the floor, finished in four days....great songs, great groove, great players...the way it should be!

Live at the Village Vangaurd-Bill Evans, what can i say

Tomatito-Tomatito, gypsy guitar with a visit from george benson for a tune, crazy clapping, great groove and the recording is awesome....

Case of you-Joni Mitchell, because it says canada and she sings great

Los Lobos-Colossal Head...oh my god it is so cool, mitchell froome creates some cool atmosphere here.

Kind of Blue-Miles Davis....can you hear that brush and stuff creaking...microphones and the sound floor, turn it up i want to hear it all!

No particular order and you can include Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Elvis Costello and pretty much everyone else

Cheers Mark

 

[joe lambert]

I have a lot of favorites! Here are a few that I love as far as songs and sound.

Tool: Undertow
Great songs great performance's and great recording and Mixes.. and of course well mastered.

Peter Gabriel: So
Close to perfect. I would like to hear a remastered vers for high res. Does anyone know if it's available? The only comment I would make is it doesn't have the real big low end like his more recent stuff.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side...Moon
remastered gold disc.
I have this cool remastered vers. that my wife got while she was working at Capital Records. It's got a special book with it. The sound is noticably better than the original CD release.

 

[cjenrick]

A Day in a Life , as heard over the car stereo on a dark mountain road with herbal essence

Waitin for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago , ZZ Top,
First pressing
Best 2 song transition ever

Lovely To See You , The Moody Blues , On the Threshold of a Dream
First pressing , black light, radio shack stereo


That intro background noise really gets me

 

[raindog]

anything by Tom Waits.
special mention to ..
swordfish trombones, bonemachine, mule variations. If your in the audio/music game you really must listen to these albums to see how it SHOULD be done.

 

[route909]

My picks:

Yesterday, as performed by the Beatles. Best song ever. I´ve heard it a thousand times and still love it.

A Day in a Life by the Beatles. Awesome song. I get chills every time I hear it.

I´ve got you under my skin, sung by Diana Krall (from the records 'Live in Paris' and 'when I look in your eyes'). A smile from ear to ear graces my face whenever I listen to this on a kickass system.


Mats

 

[nyaben]

The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" as remixed in true stereo for the first time (see "Pet Sounds" boxed set). Awesome.

 

[Gary Gidak]

Wow! There are so many great recordings. It's hard to pick just three. I'll have to pick a few from my most recent listening experiences. The three that come to mind are:

1. "Poor Old Lazarus" - from the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack. It's very raw, and very soulful. Supposedly recorded on-site with a prison chain gang as the talent. Very cool.

2. "Cousin DuPree" - from Steely Dan "Two Against Nature." Very cool groove, and great mix.

3. "Needs" - from Collective Soul's "Dosage" album. The arrangement is simple, but really nice, and I love the way the strings transition at the end.

My two cents worth.

 

[WayneG]

Here are my choices and definitely influences (no particular order)

1/Lou Reed - Rock N Roll Animal . Must be played loud.

2/Rory Gallagher - Tatoo Lady. Rory was and will be the true definition of rock and had a feeling that nobody could ever duplicate.

3/Led Zeppelin 3 - Astounding stuff. John Bonham at his best, Page/ Plant/ Jones angelic. In my opinion Led Zeppelin's best album. Don't waste your money buying greatest hits albums because this one has it all.

4/Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon. It's all been said before!

I included 4 cause I can <s> & in no particular order.

I always thought vinyl on a good system sounded better than CD. However, my 5.1 DTS DVD's sound great (Eagles, Queen, AC/DC etc).

I would also include:

Michael Jackson: Thriller
Billy Joel: Greatest Hits Volume I & II
AC/DC: Back in Black
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Boston: Boston
Alanis Morissette : Jagged Little Pill
Bruce Springsteen: Born in the U.S.A.
Elton John: Greatest Hits
The Bee Gees : Greatest Hits Volume 1

Ricky Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Bowie, The Eagles, Robin Trower, The Police, The Pixies, early Rush, Black Sabbath, Kings X, PJ Harvey, Uriah Heap, Joni Mitchell, Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dylan (particularly Love & Theft, Blood On The Tracks, Blonde On Blonde, Time Out Of Mind & Live 1975 Bootleg 5), Van Halen, Pearl Jam, Lynard Skynard, The Beach Boys, The Yardbirds, Cold Chisel ... (somebody stop me)

--------------------
Regards,
Wayne Gardner
Producer/ Engineer
Forestville Sydney Australia
Email: waynegardner@optushome.com.au
Internet: http://www.gtamusic.com

 

[BobO]

Mats...

Re: "Yesterday" - the thing I love about that tune is how McCartney absolutely nails both the vocal and the guitar part on only the second take! Even take one, which was released on the "Anthology" compilation, is first-rate, save for a minor slip-up with the lyrics. I always loved Macca's guitar playing on that song.

How old was Paul at the time? 21? Amazing.

My top favorite cds, musically and sonically -

Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Graceland - Paul Simon
Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Love and Theft - Bob Dylan

...and a few dozen others!

 

[guineapigmusic]

1. ELP - Tarkus
2. Yes - Relayer (especially Gates Of Delerium)
3. ELO - Eldorado

 

[Kurt Foster]

May I have some more please (in a childish English waif like voice)?

Crazy by Patsy Cline. Owen Bradley produced ..... How old is it? It still stands right up sonically! Number 1 jukebox play of all time. Willie Nelson wrote it and got 50 bucks for it!

Under the Boardwalk / On Broadway / Rose in Spanish Harlem by The Drifters ...
Tom Dowd I think.... same thing

Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding... what's to say?

"thank you very much sir!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoys, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's ,Genelec, Hafler, KRK.
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[audiowkstation]

As far as mainstream goes, I always from 67 to 83 was most interested in the production quality and the overall sound quality before I really paid attention to the message. This being said, I used music as a study for the audio arts first and then artistic expression was secondary between 67 and 83.

To also interject this vibe, it was emotion that first attracted me to the tunes and then I would pick them apart for the production capabilities. Yes, I started doing this at age 8. When I was 2 1/2, I was actively playing an upright piano and making workes that were around bass lines and choral works that I heard from my familys' extensive collection of shaded dog RCA, Deutsch grammophome and other living stereo and victors works. I as a very early lad (3 to 5 years old) did not have the memory lapse that others tell me of. It is all solid as a rock. I clearly remember the assasination of JFK LIVE when they shot him and I was born in 59. The cuban missle fiasco of 61 was discussed openly amongst my family (I am the youngest) during the time and I took great solice in knowing we had equal or better arms in case the big one hit. I remember the CD (cival defense) coming to our home and teaching us one on one what to do in the event of the great flash...as we would have about 1 min before the shock wave to prepare ourselves for the BOMB that would reek havok to lifestyle and man kind.

Since this has been said, the music that I loved and got off on spans many generations.

I will seperate this into personal experiences, and High fidelity.

Personal experiences was Herb Alpert (taste of honey) album. I loved it. Still today, a masterpiece.

Billy Vaughn (wheels)

Boots Randolph (Yacketty sax.)

Iron Horse.

Al hurt (cotton candy)

Michael Parks (long lonesome highway) and (Closing back) "mountain high"

Beatles. "get back"

Paul Revere and the raiders "Let me" and "I want to thank you" and "Cherokee nation"

Early Chicago transit authority. (killer) (likker for THE SOUNDMAN (moderator) on Live sound forum))

Emerson Lake Palmer, Brain Salad. Badd ass.

Trilogy, and titale ambum. I heard "Just take a pebble" 2 days after it release and it is a must hear for ALL engineers. Awesome in every way.

Get Just take a pebble and hear the way the stuff should sound. 1971. absolute sound quality.

Do it, do it now.

Serious.

The Grass Roots. Bella Linda, Midnight Confessions, hot bright lights, Live for today....etc...
I loved the grassroots and still do and was honored to do FOH for the 2 times and we made it come alive...where the hell is that cassette tape (someone stole it) of the live show...but killer.

Neil Young, CSN, CCR, it is all there and Edgar Winter...I did house front for the little albino 5 times. He is kick ass (he is an old cat now)...not derogitory, we had fun, he is stand offish, but we got along damn fine. He thanked me countless times for my sound..He is cool and his brother Johnny is as well. What a blast.

Now, high quality to the last end.

"Jazz at the Pawn shop" is the best recording of all time period.

DSOM on White vinyl, 6th pressing after dehorning the master presser, I got it and on a 30K turntable/arm/cart/phono pre, it is to die for. The sacd will sound like ASS compared to it, I gurantee, since they did not invite Alan.

Number 3 goes to Band on the Run. Paul and wings. If you ever get to hear a first pressed vinyl of this, do so. A major work of art. No CD, no SACD no other can compare but the original 1/4 inch at 15ips. Their are 4 of them I heard and I will want to get one one day to have as a safety.

(I have classicals too and all the genres but this is what I say is it)

The list gos on and on. I have over 13000 albums in my invernory. Multi formats from elcassette to wax.

 

[Don Grossinger]

Great responses; just as I expected from this group..... keep 'em coming.

This topic might seem lightweight, but any of these choices can be used as audition discs, sonic benchmarks to evaluate equipment, music to help set up rooms & monitors, something to listen to to chill out after a tough session, a reality check for your ears, etc.

Mastering is a continuing search to get the best quality from each master that you work on. These selections each exhibit great recording & mastering quality that allows the emotion of the track (or album) to shine through & strike a positive, passionate emotion in the listener. This is music that moves people.

This is what we all should be aiming at.
This gets us past the question of "what plug-in" to the question of "what sounds good"!

 

[aloomens]

This really made me think. In trying to sort out the artistry from the recording. I finally cam up with three recordings that I like the best, that I think are great recordings. Of course I wouldn't listen if I didn't like the music, but in these cases the recording makes listening to the music even more enjoyable. I also realized that there is a common aspect to these recordings. They're all live recordings. In each case you can HEAR the space where the recording (and performance) took place.
1. Clifford Jordan - Live at Ethyl's (two mic's, straight to two track, beautifull!)
2. Knut Reiersrud - Footwork (some beautifull acoustic guitar and slide along with pipe organ)
3. Oscar Peterson - A Summer Night in Munich (great performance, great sound)