Here are a few good CD's & labels that I can think of: Rebecca Pigeon. The Raven. Patricia Barber. Modern cool. Willie & lobo. Fandango nights. Strunz ande farrah. Heat of the sun. Dead can Dance. Into the labrinth. Sara K. Hobo. Certian labels I prefer: Chesky, Mobile fidelity, Sheiffield lab, American Gramaphone, Premonition Records, Naim, Reference Recordings, Blue Note, & Mesa to name a few. If you need any information regarding these named titles or classifcations feel free to e mail me. hofkamp585@home.com PS Please send me your list of excellent recordings. |
I like Rock, Classical, and Jazz in that order. That said, the best recordings worth owning are the reissues on vinyl from Classic Records and Analogue Productions, pressed by RTI. The Decca, EMI, and Speaker's Corner reissues are very close also. IF YOU DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE, YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME IN AUDIO!!! A few of the JVC XRCD titles are fabulous also. CAN ANYONE UNDERSTAND WHAT THE YOUNG WOMAN IS SAYING AT 5 MINUTES INTO TRACK 4 OF "SUNDAY AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD? My CD player/system has the resolution to resolve most of the conversation in the audience thru this track...NOT THAT THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE MUSICIANS, it's just a good test of low level resolution. REFERENCE RECORDINGS are fine, but string tone is always a little edgy, whether on vinyl or CD, but their dynamics and bass are the best CD has to offer, assuming you can decode HDCD. MOST OF THIS SHOULD BE COMMON KNOWLEDGE TO ALL BUT THE MOST EXTREME NEOPHYTES OUT THERE, ANYWAY...Happy listening! |
Here are a few good CD's & labels that I can think of: Rebecca Pigeon. The Raven. Patricia Barber. Modern cool. Willie & lobo. Fandango nights. Strunz ande farrah. Heat of the sun. Dead can Dance. Into the labrinth. Sara K. Hobo. Certian labels I prefer: Chesky, Mobile fidelity, Sheiffield lab, American Gramaphone, Premonition Records, Naim, Reference Recordings, Blue Note, & Mesa to name a few. If you need any information regarding these named titles or classifcations feel free to e mail me. hofkamp585@home.com PS Please send me your list of excellent recordings. |
dave brubeck time out 180 gram, 33...this is absolutely the finest sound from vinyl I have heard ever, I do not know what the 45's might sound like. there are others but no time to add |
Have you ever heard Mark Eitzel's "60 Watt Silver Lining"? It's a normal CD (although a vinyl pressing is about to be released), but the sound is outstanding. One of the few CD's I can play after Modern Cool. |
There are numerous fine recordings out there, of course.Rather than list several, I'll offer my opinion on the best red book CD I've encountered. It is the Telarc release of the Atlanta Symphony perfoming Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. (Levy conducting). Ser # CD-80266. This disk combines one of the finest conductors leading a top-rank symphony in a near-flawless (IMHO) interpretation of a stunning, perhaps even brilliant,(again IMHO) work. From delicate woodwind solos to thundering kettle drums (and practically everything in between) the dynamic range requirements will reveal any system shortcomings by the end of the second movement. Excellent audition disk for high end shopping, plus a sheer joy in pure listening. |
I agree with Sayas on "Time Out", and plan to get the 45 rpm one as well. |
Anything MFSL, may they "REST IN PEACE". In vinyl any of the UHQR, and in Digital, any of the UDCDs (Gold CDs), especially the samplers. |
45 rpm reissues of the Mercury Living Presence recordings. As a REFERENCE, only classical/acoustic counts. Rock music is ok, but for judging accuracy you're into preference not reference with rock/pop and other heavily miked studio stuff. Nothing beats Mercury. Other Classic Reissues plus RR Mastercuts of Vox recordings of SLSO and Minneapolis are wonderful. Also Decca/Speaker's Corner. EMI very good but a little too hifi. |
well, some labels hae a consistently superior hoouse sound, even when they are as criticisable like telarc is for their impactful early discs. but then, live music is impactful. the lorin maazel pictures and the yoel levy pics are Good examples. many of the others are laudable for their naturalness and accuracy. the eric kunzel things are mostly very good, an example of how a label's stable of artists can draws you in. audiophile labels arent always the source of good music; everyday labels sometimes will bowl you over in quality. muse label for instance. some of mark murphys record will stun you in that regard. on that note, get a load of kurt elling! the messenger is a good place to start. the xrcd discs are too exhorbitantly priced for a company thats not paying the musicians and porducing the recordings themselves. the doug mc leod was good enuf on aq. the merc living presence reissues supervised by wilma cozart are a good contrast to the xrcd. not only are they fine reissues, sometimes exceeding the orig LPs, but they usually give you 1.5-2LPs morth on 1 disc for cheeeeep--$10! at nearly $30 a pop new, or $16 used, its too much...... mfsl, go figure some of the choices they made--matthew sweet? gimme a break. el&p tarkus??? as the magazine in britain is named:"what hifi" i havent even started to paw my thru my LP (6k of 'em)collection or cd for that matter, so i coould crow loudly about some of the stuff thats out there for the grabbing. i'll be baaaaaaaaack. tr |
The remixed and remastered RAW POWER by Iggy and the Stooges.The closest cd comes to the sound of a live rock and roll band. It is the finest and best sounding rock cd out there. Use it as a test cd when shopping for equipment. I'll guarantee you that most of the high rated equipment out there will be torn to shreds when fed a true dynamic signal from this cd. I say all of this with the utmost seriousness. |
i tend to agree with you. my favourite cd's are not rated "audiophile", but check out these mixture: -the very best of Jacques Loussier "Air on a "G" string" Music Club MCCD 399, a UK label. -Paquito d'Rivera "Carribbean Jazz Project" hucd 3039 Heads Up label,USA. -Dave Samuels presents Tjaderized, tribute to Cal Tjader,Verve 70862. -Stan Getz "The Bossanova Years", Verve 823611-2, a 4-cd collection of classic archive material of surprising quality ,fantastic value. |
iceraven.....i have heard of j.loussier from a friend and record store owner (gideon, roundhouse records in granada hills,ca) who is from israel and has lived in the uk. he played me some of the bach, we had been talking about wendy carlos. it was verrrrry nice. i plan on getting some of this. oyeah! the standard issue form bmg of harry belafonte ant carnegie is first rate. the squeaking kick drum beater annoys a little once you identify it. my kinds have to participate with this music every time i put it on; theyre teenagers! where do you live? hifitommy@aol. |
Mark Hollis: Mark Hollis Blue Nile: A Walk Across The Rooftops Lyle Lovett: (anything by him) Alphaville: Salvation |
Mark Hollis: Mark Hollis; Blue Nile: A Walk Across The Rooftops; Lyle Lovett: (anything by him); Alphaville: Salvation. |
Even though, i detest "Rock" music, i did enjoy Robert Lucas, on "Audioquest" label. Well, it is not exacly "Rock" it is more blues/rock, but there is something..."unique" about Lucas. Also "Audioquest" is, in my opinion "as good as it get's". And it is CD. |
For great alternative/rock recordings here are some suggestions (This is the real challenge as there are many jazz and classical excellent recordings, very few excellent alt/rock recordings) 1)Dead Can Dance - Passage In Time (greatest hits) 2)Cranberries - 1st two albums 3)Cocteau Twins - Victoria land 4)Enya - Paint the Sky With Stars (greatest hits) 5)Loreena McKinnet - Book of Secrets, Mask and Mirrors etc 6)Clan of Xymox - Medusa 7)Sade - Best of Sade These all sound heavenly on good system. |
The 45's from Classic will turn out to be "classics". Have had the Harry Belantfonte "Live from the Carnegie Hall", "Sings the Blues", they gave me "goosebumps". Not to miss Miles Davis "Kind of Blues" and also Dave Brubeck "Time out". If you could, buy all the 45s set or cry latter!! KW |
Getting back to the intent of this board, here are a few of my suggestions for Audiophile recordings (and I'll also include a few labels and a website that only caters to audiophile recordings):
David Manley Recordings (put out by fone´ records) http://www.fone.it/believe_en.php
Patricia Barber "Cafe Blue"
Jen Chapin "Songs of Stevie Wonder" on Chesky
Ludus Daniels "Daniel and The Lions" on fone´
The Neville Brothers "Yellow Moon"
Captain Luke and Cool John "Outsiders Lounge Music"
I Musici (on fone´ or XRCD you can't go wrong)
Jackson Brown "Solo Acoustic" (I have volume 2 which is amazing to listen to)
And of course Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (not the Mobile Fidelity's gold label recording of this.. it's complete garbage of a recording.. and I spent $30.00 to find that out )
There are a number of excellent labels that only produce audiophile recordings.
One of the best known, but now consistently the most unreliable (in terms of receiving your order) is Chesky.
Elusive Disc
the home of XRCD carries only audiophile grade cd's and LP's in every genre from many labels: FIM, RR, Chesky, Audioquest, fone´, etc..
https://www.elusivedisc.com/default.asp
fone´ is just amazing.. The man that owns it and produces the recordings.. what can I say? Just like Italian clothes and cars, fone´ recordings are Italian made and worth every penny |
The Ray Brown Trio "Soular Energy" on vinyl. Ridiculously good. |
