Can Rock-N-Roll have great sound quality?

RUSH-Moving Pictures-MFSL.

This is just my opinion, but it seems to me that rock-n-roll/metal cds produced in the States are severely lacking in fidelity when compared to those made in some other countries. If you are interested in expanding your musical horizons (geographically, as well as musically) you may want to check out the following:

Freak Kitchen: Move (2002, Sweden)
Nightwish: Wishmaster (2000, Finland)
Artrosis: In the Flowers' Shade (2000, Poland)

The only thing these three cds have in common is a higher level of fidelity than the vast majority of cds out there. These three bands are very different, but all very good at what they do. Now, if Artrosis and Freak Kitchen would just tour the States....

I'm not sure of your definition of Rock-n-Roll, but I'll assume a loose meaning:

Yes album remasters
Allman Bros. live at Fillmore East remaster
Lynyrd Skynyrd one more for the road -live remaster
Beck albums (most)
Jack Johnson (studio albums)
Ben Harper albums - excellent
White Stripes albums - more recent are better, but all are pretty good
Tool - some are HDCD
Primus
Days of the New - excellent acoustic guitar rock
Unplugged Alice in chains and Nirvana - both are stunning
Godsmack - The other side

It's worth noting that the last Warners reissues of the Van Halen albums are remastered using HDCD and sound great.

The same goes with the last Doors remasters also done with HDCD.

Audiophiles seem obsessed with DCC releases-most of these have been bypassed by more recent releases...

Thanks to those who have added dimension and intriguing new possibilities to this quest! I will definitely be checking out those mentioned with which I'm unfamiliar.

I am aware there may be a problem of classification on some of this stuff. Personally, I will listen to AND PERPETUALLY RETURN TO ANYTHING well recorded (about 25 to 50 of my thousand or so CDs). The rest I just won't listen to, so it is obvious to me that recording quality is MUCH more important than content to me. I have everything from Jane Monheit to African tribal chants to the hardest fusion (my musical core preference) BUT IT MUST BE RECORDED WELL!!

On ELP: LOVED THEM during their heyday on the world stage and years ago tried to reacquire the remastered CDs. Sound quality was OK, but like all the archive R and R stuff, the instruments sounded small and recessed in space. I want my instruments to sound life sized or larger -- as big in a room as an amped live guitar would be -- very rare that an old recording will give you that.

A few more entries in best recorded electric-guitar based post advent-of-rock music: Uncle Moe's Space Ranch by Brett Garsed et al. And the first two Attention Deficit CDs don't know if they've put out any others.