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Best Sounding LPs

Well, after years of chasing a truly satisfying digital sound to little avail, I've finally taken the vinyl plunge. Boy, is it great! It's like listening to music for the first time again.

I have found, however, that LP quality varies widely and unpredictably. When they're good they're magical. When they're bad you might as well be listening to crummy redbook.

Can anyone recommend great sounding lps to search for? I listen to everything, especially rock, jazz, folk, county, acoustic music, plus symphonic and chamber music.

Recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
bsal

Showing 2 responses by sidssp

sidssp
1,077 posts
 
There are too many. Here are some just off my head.

All 24 Sheffield Lab direct-to-disc recordings, particularly:

The King James Version; Harry James and his big band; (Lab-3)
Dave Grusin: Discovered Again; (Lab-5)
Stravinsky: Firebird Suit, Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun; (Lab-24)

Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony, EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD 7038 (1973)
Itzhak Perlman Encores, EMI ASD 3001 (1974)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3; Philips audio clinic series Japanese pressing FH-12 (1978)
Schubert: Piano Quintet, Op. 114 “Trout”; Philips 9500 442 (1978)
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Philips 9500 563 (1979)

Nojima Plays Liszt; Reference Recordings RR-25 (1987)
Dafos, Reference Recordings RR-12 45rpm (1982)
Anne Murray: Let’s Keep It That Way; EMI Capital ST-511743 (1978)
Kitaro: “Ten Kai” Astral Trip, Zen ZEN-1001 (1978)
Kitaro: Silk Road, Kuckuck 051/052 2LP (1980)

And some newer pressings:

All nine concertos played by Heifetz remastered by Classic Records 200g
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me, Classic Records/Blue Notes 200g
Ray Brown Trio: Soular Energy
Jacintha: Lush Life, Groove Note 180g
L.A. 4: Just Friends, Groove Note 45rpm
sidssp
1,077 posts
 
Oh, I almost forgot these.

If you could find some mint JVC CD-4 records from the 70s’, you might want to get them at once. No, they have nothing to do with CD or digital recording. CD-4 was JVC’s failed multi-channel format (4 channels to be exact), very similar to today’s Dolby Pro Logic. They played beautifully in stereo as well. In fact, I consider the engineering quality of those CD-4 records amount the best of the best. They are so quiet and durable. I bought a few 20 some years ago and I play them regularly. Some of them have been played probably close to a hundred times and still there were at most one or two pops. I don’t know how they did that. They are true engineering marvels, great stuff.
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