Extraordinary recordings on vinyl


You've most likely heard or read of MF's +10 (on his 1-10) scale of rating music, both sonically and for content...

What are your favorite recordings (on vinyl) that tip the scale over 10?

Here's my first one... Steve Phillips "Steel-Rail Blues"

This lp is pure as the driven snow, not an unpure note to be found.
slaw

Showing 6 responses by frogman

****Is someone else going to "man-up" and join in?****

I'll join in.

****This is, after all, a free/site/ that all can post their own feelings!... or at least, that's what I thought?****

Like I said, I'll join in.

****I, don't have ANYONE "backing me up ",****

Be careful what you wish for; "backing up" takes different forms.

Slaw, your passion for music is undeniable and admirable; there is no way I could not back up someone with that kind of love for music. It is for that reason, and because I am a participant in this thread, that I feel compelled to practice what you preach and freely express my feelings.

Imo, you personalize these issues way too readily and come across as very heavy handed with, among other things, your demands for admissions of being wrong. It is unfortunate that what could be interesting discourse gets derailed by passion that shoots itself in the foot as exemplified by the fact that participants stop participating (posting).

The connection between this attitude and the relevant (to me) musical issue might be very interesting, but is probably way above my pay-grade. That musical issue is the relationship between the quality of the music and the perceived sound quality of the recording of that music. I feel it needs to be pointed out that for all the proclamations about love for the music, about 99% of the commentary has been about the sound quality of the recording. Where is the commentary about the music? Not the sound of the drums or the soundstage; the music. We as audiophiles love our music to sound good, but I think there exists a lack of understanding or, at least, lack of context about the relationship between the music and the sound.

Comments were made in earlier posts about respect for the artists; impossible to argue against that. However, it should be remembered that in order to respect the artist one must understand the artist and the artist mentality. Dirty little secret: many artists don't concern themselves with the "sound" of their recorded music the way that audiophiles do. They are so steeped in what constitutes MUSIC that concern about the nth degree of soundstage clarity or tonal nuance becomes almost insulting to the music and that artist's musical vision. Remember, what may be "horrific" sound by audiophile standards is perfectly acceptable to the vast majority of listeners and perfectly capable of getting the musical message across. As always, perspective is everything. I am not talking about truly awful recordings that are so sonically toxic that the music can't come through. Frankly, I don't hear too many like that; and, obviously, there is nothing wrong with seeking out great sounding recordings. Clearly, there are some artists that do care about having superb sound; but, it needs to be remembered that the final sound is often beyond the artist's control or concern. The take-away of all this is that if we truly respect the music and the artist, we should be prepared to put sound quality a distant second when assessing a recording's greatness. IMO.
First three that came to mind:

Bartok "Concerto For Orchestra" Solti/LSO - Decca-Kenneth Wilkinson eng.
Oliver Nelson "Blues And The Abstract Truth"- Impulse! -R.Van Gelder eng.
Phoebe Snow "Phoebe Snow" - Shelter- Phil Ramone eng.
"Mountain of a man" is a great description of the greatness of Mingus. Slaw: You're exactly right. Listeners have the luxury of simply enjoying (or not) an artist's music. For artists, the music and the issue of respect is very very serious business. On the issue of Mingus and respect: the great Phil Woods tells a great story about being married to Bird's wife Chan and, out of financial necessity, borrowing Bird's horn from the family since he had had to hock (!) his horn. At the club that night who walks in but Mingus? Mingus recognizes the horn and proceeds to walk up to the bandstand and stand in front of Woods and glare at him for having the temerity and lack of respect to be playing Bird's horn.

On the subject of the "low fi" sound of some recordings (Black Keys): it should be remembered (respect?) that in some cases that sound is a deliberate choice by the artist and/or producer as part of the aesthetic vibe of the music.
I did; as a matter of fact.

Tubegroover, I think there is truth in your association. 50's era jazz recordings do tend to have "a sound" that is different from many modern jazz recordings; in great part a result of minimalist micing. This resulted in a greater sense of ambient connection between the players and more tonal complexity in the sounds captured; even if the overall sound was not as slick and polished as many modern recordings which tend to cause the listener to focus more on the "impressive" sound and less on the music. IMO.