I'll pick one of my favorites, which I don't believe has yet been mentioned.
Maria Muldair, Richland Woman Blues, Grooveland. It's wonderful music and an incredible sounding record.
Best Record You Have Ever heard
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A bit off the beaten path the Decca recording of the complete Stravinsky Pulcinella done by Ansermet and the Suisse Romande. Not the suite. I have it on a London Stereo Treasury re-release and that Decca sound is rich, 3 dimensional and Stravinsky neo-classical astringent. Great impact. I think it's '66. For those who love Stravinsky and Pergolesi it's a must have. The little known vocalists are wonderful and sing in a characterful way that no longer exists in classical vocalists. I brought it to Stereo Exchange to test out a turntable and the young salesman was really impressed by the sound after we had listened to some pop lps. |
Uriah Heep´s first 3 albums really, UK originals - my first ones were actually original c-cassettes, bought the vinyls shortly after - David Byron can sing everything with huge manly & clean vocal style from heartbreaking ballads "Come Away Melinda", pop, blues "Lucy Blues", heavy rock "July Morning" rock´n´roll, jazz/prog "Wake Up, Set Your Sights", soft jazz/rock "The Park", folk, to operatic heavy metal "Bird of Pray" with ease. 1st album is an incredible mix of many rock styles and "Salisbury" completes the flawless union/fusion of a rock group and a symphony orchestra. And "Look at Yourself" is the ultimate heavy metal album. And frankly all 7 first albums still the best for me since the incredibly versatile 70´s. Musically I mean. David Byron and Gary Thain, the greatest musicians forever ´cos they lived only for the music Thanks guys and my dear Dad who bought me my first humble Island c-cassette that changed my life forever RIP |
Allman Brothers Band Live at Fillmore East on Pink Label Capricorn Released July 1971 Capricorn Records |
Sorry, I’m breaking the rules as I have only heard this digitally and it is fantastic, but it IS available for pre-order on vinyl: Trombone Shorty : Parking Lot Symphony Release date: 2017 http://amzn.to/2pjTV3i Fat and tight, has the greatest combination of being a fun musical experience with superb musicianship AND a great recording. Fat because the sound is HUGE dynamically and soundstage wise.... tight because there is nothing loose, sloppy or maudlin about the performance. Every note struck with precision. |
I unfortunately can’t think of a single "Pop" album I love both musically and sonically. Those two qualities seem to be mutually exclusive in Popular music, at least as far as my taste in that music is concerned. Cat Stevens Tea For The Tillerman is great sonically, but musically? No thanks! Classical LP’s are different---there are a fair number I own excellent in both regards. A lot of the Harmonia Mundi titles, both French and U.S., are imo really fine musically and sonically. There is a U.K. label that specialized in Baroque (whose name escapes me at the moment, and my LP’s are still in cartons, waiting for me to set up my new racks---IKEA’s EKET) that issued a series of recordings by Brit Trevor Pinnock. Solo performances on harpsichord of Baroque material---excellent performances in great sound. Listened to through QUAD ESL’s, the harpsichord appears right before my eyes and ears, I feeling as if I am in the room in which the performances took place, the enveloping recording-venue room sound filling my listening room. Fantastic! If you ever see any of the Ark label LP's, grab 'em. Speaker designer Robert Fulton (R.I.P.) recorded local Minnesota amateur church choral groups, and the sound is absolutely amazing---very transparent, delicate, natural. Maybe the most lifelike recorded vocals I've ever heard, including any and all direct-to-disc LP's, the sound of which I love. And I find the musical groups charming, even if not of professional caliber. I would much rather listen to some amateurs than many pro's I could mention! Steve Perry, Michael McDonald, Geddy Lee, or Kevin Cronin, anyone? |
I am a jazz guy so for me the best of the best is going to be jazz, and as anyone who knows anything about jazz will concede, the first and foremost jazz performer of all time was Louis Armstrong. The rarest of his early recordings is "Cake Walking Babies from Home" with Clarence Williams' Blue Five, OKEH, January 8, 1925. The cleanest reproduction of it on vinyl can be found on the Time-Life Giants of Jazz, Louis Armstrong set, record 1, side 1, which also has excellent copies of the more famous Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. As an audiophile recording, this is a non-starter, but as music, in the words of Duke Ellington, it is beyond category. |
My kids moved recently, and among the vinyl that surfaced was my favorite of all time. I’m listening to it now via Spotify but I sure remember this in vinyl from the 80s--wish I had the system then that I have now (though it's all CD and digital). I need a hi res download... Title: The Fantasy of Indian Drums Artist: Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao Label: Polydor of India 2392 913 Stereo Year: 1980, I believe. It has also been reissued, though I haven't heard the reissue. Sound-staging on this album is hallucinatory--there’s no other word for it. Especially side 2. People are all around me playing different instruments. Bells behind the lamp, drums on the stairs, tablas moving across the wall. A violin on the couch next to my chair. On the couch! "There are times when reality comes closer. In a field, in the actual air" |