When I got a pretty good theater in a box, I was thinking about watching movies, and expanding my DVD collection. Instead, I find myself listening to more music on CD than I’ve listened to in years.
The last time I had an actual component stereo system at home was back in the 80s. Since then I’ve managed with some variation of Walkman or desktop boombox. I really had forgotten how much better a good system is than a bad one – it’s kind of like my ears are coming alive again. Especially ironic because my backround is in radio and live music sound reinforcement. But in my own home, I rather devalued music to a nice background noise.
So it feels like maybe I’ll get more satisfaction in building a CD rather than a DVD library. Any suggestions for essentials will be appreciated.
Definitely Talk Talk’s fourth album, Spirit of Eden, from 1988. If you haven’t heard it…it’s a great way to check out a system. A lot of dynamic range, as it’s a rock album based on Impressionist classical structure. The whole thing was recorded in a church in about 14 months, with standard rock band rhythm section and stuff like cor anglais and full choir thrown in as seasonings.
Nettwerk America just reissued the album in the U.S., so it shouldn’t be difficult to find at all. (I assume this is true worldwide, probably through EMI.)
Also, the Rolling Stones are remastering their entire pre-1970 catalog on double-layered SACD, which means you should be able to play the discs as if they were regular CDs. Now if only the Beatles would do the same…or Dylan.
The new wave of remasters by The Band were gorgeous. I’d stop after the first four, myself. Those will all have a copyright date of 2000.
Mmmm…let’s see…Van Morrison’s …It’s Too Late To Stop Now…, if you want a good concert recording. That one’s also been reissued in the past couple of years; look for the disc that has something like “The Van Morrison Remasters” in the spine.
And Otis Redding’s Dreams To Remember anthology is probably the best of his collections. This one actually restores a couple of longer fadeouts that were never used on the original albums, and gets most of the best stuff. It also has his entire performance from Monterey in 1967, which is only otherwise available on a huge and ultimately ho-hum box set, IMO.
You may want to give DTS music DVDs a look, such as Hell Freezes Over by The Eagles which is becoming a classic DVD in its own right. DTS is a 5.1 channel surround audio format similar to Dolby Digital, but widely considered to be of superior quality.
If you’re impressed with the way your CDs sound on a Home Theater System, DTS music DVDs will blow you away.
I’ll second on Flecktones, especially Live Art. When a band’s “pit crew” includes engineers that did time with Steely Dan, you know it’s gonna sound good.
Any band that includes banjo in its front line is okay in my book.
