Just wanted others input … best albums (OK, OK or CD’s. Yes, I’m showing my age) for listening to on headphones? Three of my favorites:
“I Robot” - The Alan Parsons Project
"Dark Side of the Moon: - Pink Floyd
“Stevie Wonder’s Journey through the Secret Lifes of Plants”
Any others out there?
This would be better served in IMHO.
That said, I like listening to Eric Clapton’s blues albums (CDs are albums) on headphones to get the effect of the bass. And some of the ‘tricks’ used on the White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s can be heard best when the speakers are right against your ears.
of course this thread is going to be littered with pink floyd albums. don’t get me wrong, i love pink floyd. but i don’t think it holds a candle to some of today’s stuff, as far as headphones are concerned.
nine inch nails: further down the spiral is a great album to listen to with headphones.
another one of my favourites is hed phone sex by funki porcini.
now, shall we count how many times dark side of the moon is mentioned in this thread?
I gotta go with
the Cocteau Twins, almost anything, but particularly “Heaven or Las Vegas” & “Treasure”.
Tricky “Maxinquae”
also the recent stereo remix of the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” is definitely up there.
Wouldn’t any recording ever how it is recorded…sound better with headphones? No outside noises etcetera…
anything by traffic.
Nahh, some old things recorded in mono can sound pretty weird on headphones when the vocals are only coming on one ear…
::riding wave to IMHO::
Wheee!
Derleth:
As a Beatles fan, I am of course a huge fan of both of those albums (the former more than the latter). Last year, when I was recuperating from ortho surgery, a friend gave me a tape of the mono mix of “Sgt. Pepper,” and I have to say, I actually found it more interesting than the stereo mix. Rather than listening for all the mixing tricks and stereo panning, it allowed the strength of the songwriting to come through a little more. I’ve also heard the mono version of the “White Album,” and it’s also interesting, but for that I think I prefer the stereo.
And if the thread gets highjacked many posts too soon
And if there is no room up in GQ
And if it gets seen by the moderator, too
I’ll move it to IMHO by noon.
Alan Parson Project: Pyramid - also sounds very nice in the cans.
It has been a very long time since I listened to an album on headphones. Seems to me that Dark Side of the Moon was always my choice when the rest of the family wanted my music silenced.
Anything by Pink Floyd (The Wall, Wish You Were Here and Animals are also excellent in addition to Dark Side. Older stuff is kind of cool, too, but recording quality was worse in the Ummagumma, Piper at the Gates of Dawn days)
Anything by Led Zeppelin (particularly debut album, III and Physical Graffiti)
A Decade of Steely Dan (a greatest hits compilation)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Greatest Hits. “Helpless” on headphones gives me the chillies every time.
Garbage 2.0 would be a good choice. Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine”. Led Zeppelin, from the first album up to “Physical Graffiti”. Maybe XTC’s “Skylarking” or “English Settlement”.
“The Bends” and “Ok, Computer” by Radiohead are great headphone records. As is “Dusk” by the The (which by an extraordinary coincidence, I’m listening to as we speak, on headphones, 'natch.)
What else?
“Remain in Light” by Talking Heads
“Sound + Vision” by David Bowie
“Blows Against the Empire” by Jefferson Starship
“Strange Angels” by Laurie Anderson (oh hell, ANYTHING by Laurie Anderson sounds kickass on headphones)
and
“Security” by Peter Gabriel
just to name a few…
8:30 by Weather Report
The Wall
Appetite for Destruction by GnR
Bzzzt! Thanks for playing, but the correct answer is:
Kate Bush, Hounds of Love. Holly Cole’s Temptation is also an acceptable answer.
Well, I haven’t listened to anything on headphones much since I went deaf in my left ear at the age of 12, but when I was 11 or so, I thought Aldo Nova sounded reeeeallly cool on headphones because of the way the helicopter seemed to come from behind you.
Then I decided Aldo Nova and its (his?) ilk fit in too well with my blue collar roots and went New Wave.
I second fat angel’s choice of “the bends” and “ok computer”. apollo 18 by they might be giants is damn good. and kilgore’s pick of “further down the spiral” also get’s seconded.
bjork, “post”.
i second the vote for Appetite for Destruction!
i love hearing the two guitar parts separated cleanly… very cool!
there are a lot of albums that sound better on phones since its much easier to hear the subtleties! its nicer sometimes to hear softer/acoustic music on phones also…
The Cars first album…“Moving In Stereo” is a trip!
The first one to come to mind for me has to be Steppenwolf. The one with Magic Carpet Ride. Don’t know if that is also the name of the album as well. I used to listen to it at my older sisters house, not long after it came out, and haven’t heard it in years.