For those of you who either are, or have been audiophiles (or just music nuts):
Looking for technical or tonal perfection more than musical style. The ones that make you lean back and say, “damn, I can’t believe those little boxes are making those sounds”
Most of Ry Cooder’s many albums are very well recorded. I like the sound of Into the Purple Valley;
Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Asian Indian flute music is outstanding. His album with Fazal Qureshi (tabla) on Nimbus records is a great audio experience.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, one of the great classical violinists, her Carmen-Fantasie album is what I take to stereo shops to evaluate new toys. Just incredible.
Classical pieces recorded by Tafelmusik, an old-style (‘on-period’) instrument orchestra are elegant and clean.
Michala Petri is a famed classical recorder player. Moonchild’s Dream is recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra and is a modern work. The sound envelopes the room.
Almost anything recorded on the classical Delos label. I have a Copland set recorded by the Seattle Symphony that was recorded in Dolby Surround. Properly played back through 4 speakers it is quite a task.
Many of the Flaming Lips albums are technical wonders.
Gee, most of my music collection is rock but for pure audio quality classical rules.
In a popular vein, I nominate Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker stuff from 1976-7 to the present. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are a couple of fiends when it comes to aural perfection.
Mod note:
This seems like Cafe Society material.
Off it goes!
TVeblen,
SDMB mod
Like I need more coffee…:rolleyes:
Apparently Thelma Houston and the “Power Factory” (I think that was her backing band’s name)… well… do you remember the classic hit “I got the music in me! I Got.The.Music.In.Meeeeeeeeee!”???
I’m pretty certain that that particular album was a true “genuine” cut to laquer live recording in the studio. And it was killer. If memory serves me right, they did weeks and weeks of rehearsal - to the point of ad nauseum - and got all their mic levels just right, and then on the night that counted, they setup all the cutter heads on the lp lathe and cut the master laquer live while the band was playing.
No master tapes, no session tapes… straight to the cutting heads. If you think about it, the song in question was a killer tune.
They made a mother disk from the laquer, and from the mother they made a male master stamp. From the male master stamp they made 800 odd production females which were sent to pressing plants around the world. Those females created another male master which then pressed about 800 copies each.
And that was it… the album never got pressed ever again.
However! Apparently the original Male Master Stamp still exists at Atlantic Records and the Classic Records people are negotiating to make a limited edition Female Master which will produce one more 800 limited edition run on their fantastic 200 gram Quiet SVX vinyl.
I know it’s all a little bit whack job to go about it that way, but you know something… Thelma Houston really had a killer band on that night. Something like 30 odd musos doing various bits and pieces. Even the space between songs was timed to a clock on the wall I’ve read. It’s just so rare to think of a recorded performance which never went to a playback recording media of some sort - like a reel to reel or a Digital Audio Ware system.
To think those guys went straight from the mixing desk with no tape in between is really breathtaking. I’ve heard the album twice in my lifetime now, and amongst musos in the know, it’s regarded as the ultimate test of guts and talent.
I do think the band was/is called “Pressure Cooker”…somewhat appropriate. 
That’s simply amazing. I must seek it and give it a listen.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s pretty much how they recorded in the 1920’s – the band played absolutely live, and the sound was directly transferred to the lathe, which carved the track into a wax master.
Unfortunately, this method was obviously ahead of its time due to the fledgeling sound-reproduction methods utilized back then. Plus, they simply didn’t have the time (as is true today) to rehearse and rehearse so they could lay it down just right the first time.
On a good system, Diana Krall’s All For You or Love Scenes are incredible, if you want something natural and acoustic from the modern era. Hearing those come through a vintage tube amp was about as close to heaven as it gets for me.
The recent Retrospective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega is good if you want something more rock-based. That’s a 24/96 remaster; sonically, the best cuts are anything from about 1992 forward…specifically “99.9F” and “In Liverpool.”
For density in a rock environment, I’d go with the reissue of Uncle Tupelo’s Still Feel Gone. A great set of speakers should be able to lift out the hidden layers of acoustic instrumentation on the punk cuts…the leadoff cut “Gun” is what I’m thinking of here.
I really like two songs from the Police’s Ghost In The Machine as well: “Too Much Information” for the guitar layering (there’s a really good funk riff hiding in the left channel for most of the song) and “Hungry For You” for the harmony vocals and the hidden “country” stringbending."
The Classic Records 45 rpm pressing of Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue is pretty solid too, if you can find one. I go with this because I’m familiar with the album, and it’s kinda hard to screw up something recorded in such a basic fashion (meaning that it really can’t be remixed, since it was recorded on three-track, whereas some reissues can be easily doctored).