I've been listening to some of my favorite recordings this weekend and was wondering what others on Audiogon felt were there favorites. We have all seen the Stereophile "Records to Die For", The Absolute Sounds recommended list, Music Directs' list, The Golden Ear, etc. now I'm hoping to assemble the Audiogon "Recordings To Die For". Please list your five favorite recordings, the ones you listen to over and over or play for friends. I would assume the sonic quality is excellent in that this is an audiophile site. The performance and enjoy ability should also be excellent. Please leave your top five, even if they are already chosen so we can discover the very top for the Audiogon listeners. ALSO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM CRITICIZING OTHERS OPINIONS AND JUST LEAVE YOUR FAVORITES!
August 2002: I have compiled a summary and a full printer-friendly list of all of the recommendations below. click here to view summary
EVERY TIME I play this at a high end store, I get questions - Tony Levin's From the Caves of the Iron Mountain. It was recorded in the cave of an abandoned iron mine in New York state. On an excellent system, it is simply astonishing. I had the pleasure of hearing it through Audio Research tube monos with Watt/Puppies! STUNNING! VERY deep bass at times, and a HUGE soundstage. Oh yeah, the music is great too! Available from Papabearrecords.com. ENJOY!
Here's a link to what was described for Tony Levin, there a few 30 second sound bites on site, I just ordered a copy, because it is VERY different.
Since I upgraded my amp to the Theta Dreadnaught II, the GREAT recordings now stand out, and this should be pretty cool.
To get a well recorded disc, IMHO I would purchase a CD for that reason, even if it wasn't a "favorite" recording for its content. My selection of ULVER Perdition City would fall under that heading. I'll have to rethink my collection and come back with a few more that might fit this category of UNIQUE sounding discs.....Recent Mathew Shipp would fall into that, even though Jazz.....nebula like in some of its sounds...
Chris Whitley's Living with the law (his debut) and Terra Incognita (3rd cd)are IMHO both recordings to die for, Whitley is one of the best singer/songwriter/guitarist's to come out of the last decade and these two offerings indeed place him up there with the greatest musical poets of all time. The first is a ballardy national wood/steel guitar cd and the second is a little more electric rock with both having a country feel (not in the comercial way). Whitley is prolific is his use of alternate guitar tunings for both acoustic and electric. Please give this musician a chance, some of the most infectious music I have come across.
Also for stunning performance and startling imaging i recommend: King singers, Good vibrations. Play it in pitch black darkness, as my non-audiphile daughter said, "it will creep you out"
Great fun reading over your choices. Here are a few I enjoy
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme - 180g Harry Belafonte - At Carnegie Hall - shaded dog Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde - 180g - mono Ito Ema - Goldberg Variations - 180g Elgar Violin Concerto - conducted by Daniel Barenboim with the London Philharmonic
My sonically superior selections are........................
Pop/Rock
Nils Lofgren - Acoustic Live (CD) Supertramp – Crime of the Century (MFSL-CD) Jennifer Warnes – The Well (CD) Eric Clapton – Reptile (CD) Steely Dan – Two Against Nature (CD or DVDa)
Jazz
Bob Thompson – The Magic in Your Heart (CD) Herbie Hancock – Gershwins World (SACD or CD) Ramsey Lewis – Ivory Pyramid (CD) Pancho Sanchez – Out of Sight (SACD) Louie Bellson – The Art of the Chart (CD)
Contemporary Jazz
Joyce Cooling – Keeping Cool (HDCD) Liz Wright – Salt (CD) Goerge Duke – After Hours (CD) Dan Siegel – Inside Out (CD) Bobby Lyle – Straight and Smooth (CD)
Classical
Fredrick Fennell – Marches I’ve Missed (HDCD) Brahms Haydn Variations – 4 Symphonies on Deutsche Grammophon (3-CD) Vaughn Williams – Orchestral Works on Decca (2-CD) John Williams Boston Pops – Summon the Heroes (CD) Oscars Motettkor - Cantate Domino (SACD)
Artist: Ahmad Jamal Album: Ahmad's Blues Original Release date: September 6, 1958 Label: Verve The whole album is great, but Track 4 (Autumn Leaves) is exceptional.
Speaking of Brian Auger he has a new CD out called "Voices of Other Times" and it is exceptional. Brian's daughter Savannah sings on the CD and his son Karma plays drums; both are very talented musicians. Brian as usual does a superb job playing all keyboards including his Hammond B-3. I highly recommend this CD; every cut is very good.
So far the ones that have passed the test of time are: King Crimson - Discipline, Emmylou Harris - Spyboy, Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Greener Grass, Holst - The Planets, and either Joe Jackson - Live or Martin Sexton - Live Wide Open. When the list is allowed to be expanded to 10 discs,I'll include Marcus Johnson -Live at Blues Alley, Dianne Reeves - In the Moment, Mahler #8, and Rush - Hemispheres.
My favorite five are, Alan Parson Project ~ Pyrimid Patty Smyth ~ Patty Smyth Be Good Tayna's ~ Blue Horse Eva Cassidy ~ Songbird (Superb Performance) Willie Nelson ~ Greatest Hits (HDCD version) Excellent.
Three that come to mind, one a recent favourite, one slightly older, and finally a gendre-defining classic.
Camille, _Le Fil_
Femme vocal stuff, but not your typical jazz trio "audiophile music". Sung all in French, and the vocals are everywhere -- a lot of the background instruments are vocals too -- the "raspberry" as percussive element is an example of the fun in this album. Nice bass (electric and acoustic), nice dynamics, great voice, highly recommended.
Einstürzende Neubauten, _Silence is Sexy_
Those of you familiar with the artist's name probably remember them as a proto-industrial band (think punks gone "Stomp" and setting fire to things), but really they've gone and done something remarkable: this is an album of actual songs, and they are very good. Sung in a variety of languages (mostly German, some English), and yes it does get slightly raucous at times, but in a rock'n'roll kind of way. But every metal scraping, compressor blast, and rubber mallet thwack is done in the context of making music, and it is surprisingly well-recorded. Again -- nice use of dynamics in a contemporary "pop" context (as opposed to jazz or classical).
Talk Talk, _Spirit of Eden_
Probably the first "post-rock" album, this album has enough atmosphere for an entire career, but alas, they only did two albums like this (the other being [b][i]Laughing Stock[/i][/b]). You wouldn't think a band whose breakaway hit was the synthpop standard "Talk Talk" could do an album with such an unorthodox disregard for rhythm, and yet, here it is. Songs don't have the standard structure of verse/chorus so much as they ebb and flow to the tides of whimsy. Lots of cleanly recorded trumpet and highly distorted harmonica and a bunch of other instruments in between as well as scratchings and scrapings of who knows what and quite possibly the burbling of a nearby brook (alright, it's probably a rainstick, whatever).
And yet, not a single sound is out of place -- every single one is purposeful.
Name - Artist (Format; Label) Waiting for Columbus - Little feat (LP; Warner Bros) Shootout at the Fantasy Factory - Traffic (LP - Island) Sunday at the Vanguard - Bill Evans (CD; Riverside - a little 'bright' - LP is probably much better) Explorations - Bill Evans (SACD; Riverside) Sound of Sonny - Sonny Rollins (SACD; Riverside) Silver's Blue - Horace Silver Quintet (LP; Epic) Meeting by the River - Cooder & Bhatt (CD, Water Lily Acoustic) Tabula Rasa - Fleck, Bhatt, and Chen (CD, Water Lily Acoustic)
Red-King Crimson Pawn Hearts-Van Der Graaf Generator Egyptology- World Party Two Doors- Michael Shrieve, Jonas Hellborg & Shawn Lane Spin- Stewart&Gaskin
1. Rodney Crowell "The Outsider" 2. Rosanne Cash "Rules of Travel" 3. Bobby Hutcherson "Happenings" (RVG remaster 2006) 4. Elgar "Violin Concerto" with Ralph Vaughn Williams "The Lark Ascending" (Hilary Hahn, DG 2004) 5. Tomas Stanko "Suspended Night"
Listen to these five back to back and you will either love your system or sell everything and start over.
For vinyl selections it usually something like this: Nirvana - Unplugged in NY Die Rohre (THE TUBE) - TACET music sampler Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman Leo Kottke - My Father's face Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
For CD's: Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue Tutti! - Reference Recordings Diana Krall - Live in Paris Jazz at the pawnshop Norah Jones - Come away with me
Yes, Nimbus does have a few Indian classical recordings that are "warm" (i.e., capture ambience and hall acoustical charateristics - most of you know but in the rare instance that you don't). Water Lily Acoustics label also has some cool Indian classical & fusion recordings.
Believe it or not, there are some older unreal (or is it too real?), warm Amjad Ali Khan sarod recordings as well. This is not necessarily true for the other old Indian recordings - hence the specific example. Since Indian classical recordings NEED to be directional to "feel" the tabla on the left (right of the performer) and main performer in the center or right - the separated mics and old-world-classic Stereo affect without mixing works really well.
Gordon Goodman's latest-recoding The Phat Pack-comes as a cd and dvd.The dvd played through my system using the direct mode-straight from my modwright denon 2900 to the amps-is like nothing you have ever heard-the most incredible big band sound ever.The songs are excellent and surround mix is the best I have ever experienced.
My recommendation would be "Autumn Thunder, 40 years of NFL Music". If you are a fan of NFL Films music, this is for you! It has a collection of 10 CDs with some of the greatest music written for football (maybe ever!).
Some of the best selections were written by the great Sam Spence. Familiar songs like " Big Game America","Roundup", "Ramblin' Man from Gramblin'", "The Over the Hill Gang" and many more that are too numerous to mention. Many fans have asked about these recordings through the years and also include other musicians such as Tom Hedden and Dave Robidoux. Highly recommended for your tailgate or on a quiet evening! One word of caution: the packaging is not up to snuff and leaves much to be desired but the music more than makes up for it. If I am not mistaken it was released as well on LP for the vinyl people as well.
Hey Brainwater...if u liked manu katche, I highly recommend
1. Christian Scott: Anthem. the 24 yrd old trumpeter wunderkid 2nd album out this yr...kinda like Miles Davies meets Radiohead.
2. Brian Blade Fellowship: Season of Changes.. drummer like Manu...played w/ Joshua Redman, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny among others...great compositions and features another young cat Kurt Rosenwinkel (gtr) , his best playing IMO, better than his own solo records
3. Nick Bartch's Ronin: Holon: Swiss pianist, zen like a bit but funky too. Very well recorded...ECM.
4 McCoy Tyner: Guitars....the old man teams up with Marc Ribot, John Scofield, Derek Tucks, Bela Fleck...some it works, some doesn't but always interesting...bonus DVD shows about 1/2 of the recording session which is very illuminating.
Hey guys, I just got a stunner. I know we audiophiles don't think of christmas music as audiophile quality but..............!!!!
Check this one out. Chris Botti: "December" Stunning in many ways.. Its light jazz but it has almost everything that we want and you will her it on every cut.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
