Seems some folks don't know what "one" means.
OK, I'll narrow my list to one:
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
If there was only ONE album/cd/release you can listen to, over and over.............
Your " best ever " recording, which has likely been discussed ad nauseam, would you select, say, if given a choice of only one ( whatever the scenario would be; stranded on an island, locked up in isolation, all music gone, but this one ). As hard as this is, as there are so many to choose from, I have selected " A Tribute To Jack Johnson ", by the esteemed Miles Davis ( 1992 Columbia version ). I have selected this, specifically for the performances, as I do with all of my listening. The playing.....the musicianship.....the arrangement.....the story, set to music, by the esteemed M.D.. And, my system delivers the message, so I feel proud of my set up. What can I say ? I hope everyone well, and, ENJOY ! Always, MrD.
136 responses Add your response
Not many albums will be mentioned twice or more but this one will.........................................Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars !!!!! The Great David Bowie.....One of the best pure rock albums of all time..I believe Mick Ronson was his guitarist....Fabulous.......Totally groundbreaking when it was released AND STILL IS TODAY...It's one of those few albums that once you've heard it...you Have to have it...... He is missed. |
Impossible task. I guess Rumors or one of the Beatles albums, but CNSY is very listenable as well. No one is mentioning more current music for this generation; I would guess TS would be on their lists, Better would be picking 12-14 individual songs to make one "album" of favs that would be more listenable over time. I would have one side of rockers and one side of slower tunes. That way, you could mix jazz, rock, classical, etc. Cheers! |
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions. While it would eventually bore, it has enough variety to keep boredom at bay for quite a while. @fuzztone I can't believe you mentioned The Wondermints and that album. It's absolutely fantastic and hardly anybody knows how great it is. |
Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde I say still his masterpiece although he has created more masterpieces than most other artists. I couldn't count how many times I have listened to it but it must be once every two or three months at least, so starting in 1966 that is around 300 listens. I have 8 versions and some are very good SQ as befits this icon. The Sony gold CD is very good and hard to find now. The SACD is also good. The best is the 45rpm MFSL 2013 release.
@dpop Notice you've narrowed down to All Things Must Pass. Great choice and near the top of my list. But where do I get a clean sounding release without the Phil Spector Wall of Distortion? Do the masters have this mush or was it added afterwards. |
For me, it can only be... Santana Abraxas, the original Columbia pressing. Also for those expressing concern about something being their only choice, the OP did not state that it would be playing constantly. Only that it would be the only recording you had available. Big difference to me anyways... Happy listening. |
I've got a copy of the Gold CD but the 2003 Blonde on Blonde is quite good too.
Better would be picking 12-14 individual songs to make one "album" of favs that would be more listenable over time.
Yes, this is what I usually do. There aren't many albums I can sit through in one listen more than a couple of times. Probably no more than 10 - 12 that never get stale.
Seeing DSOTM mentioned so many times on this thread makes me want to give it another spin.
|
I could go with almost every single album(s) mentioned here but, on reflection, I find myself playing Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel when I can think of nothing else to choose. It’s compact, well recorded, and I saw her on tour after it’s release. let me confirm: there is no studio trickery used to give her voice that “wall of sound”….she did it onstage in a cow barn in Mississippi. |
@rettrussell No argument with that one! Have you read her 2 books? She was a product of the times, but boy, she is a VERY accomplished artist with a deep understanding of the ART of SINGING. Hard to say that about many "performers" these days. And yes, she is the same live as on recordings. She is a true vocalist with all the skills. I might add Tapestry to the long list, but have not heard it in a while, so maybe, maybe not. As for Live at the Fillmore, Allman Brothers, Oh, yeah! Best version of Stormy Monday ever, and the LIVE guitar solos are beyond what most can ever hope to accomplish. Even Clapton hired Duane to play the slide on the original recording of Layla... Cheers!
|
Hello all, and thank you for participating. I knew this would be hard for all, but it was presented as a deep, profound way for us to unleash our all time " best ", nothing more. I agree with so many titles listed on this thread. ABs at the Fillmore East, I was there 2 of the 4 nights, so you might be hearing me and my clan in the audience, lol. As far as our selection playing constantly to the point of sickness, this was not my intent, however I stick to my selection, as many of you stick to yours. The same can be said for " best food " ( pizza, Chinese ), or " best movie " ( Shawshank, My Cousin Vinny ) etc., but this is a crowd of music listeners, so this is why I created this thread here. Hopefully, this scenario will never occur, in my lifetime, in my child’s lifetime, or ever.....but.......I wish everyone a joyful holiday and a prosperous new year, and sincerely hope, the world becomes a better place.......keep enjoying.....My best. Always, MrD. |
You guys got me searching for my Jeff Buckley "Grace" album. No trace of it on the shelves, either on LP or CD. Ah... It's on Qobuz... BTW, I'm a big fan of Tim Buckley, the dad Jeff supposedly hated. Still have Tim's LPs. Maybe I mentioned this before on this site but I saw Tim once at the Troubadour. He was awful. ...Into his full-blown nonstop screaming faze. |
I was going to go with Selling England, but @arthur1954 beat me to it. So I’ll go with Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman; it never gets old. |
Some nice choices made... As stated, very difficult to decide, and many choices came to mind. These were chosen not only because they are loved, but they also are associated to experiences in my life that were extraordinary. Rather than outright cheat the OP's rule, my end run is to let chance decide. I'd take a single six-sided die, roll and accept the result. 1. Jethro Tull : Bursting Out 2. Beatles: White Album 3. Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll 4. Genesis: Seconds Out 5. Fishbone: Reality of my Surroundings 6. Altan: Harvest Storm |
@fred60 +1 As a Prog guy an inclination would be to pick The Yes Album or DSOTM but the 'Lamb is just more of a total journey IMHO. Decided this question in college. Same answer today but loads more coming close. |
Easy: I have burned my entire CD collection onto my streamer and assembled into a continuous stream. That is my pick.
Does this violate the rules?
And it was recorded by some of the best orchestral and choir sound engineers. And it was recorded DIGITALLY, back in the day when digital was the enstranged child of music recording. Sorry, vinyl people, your best bet is to get this in a digital format. (Qobuz’s rendering of this equals the CD pressing.)
I believe that John Eliot Gardiner is to Handel what Neville Mariner and The Academy of Saint -Martin-In-The-Fields was to Mozart. Handel’s "Der Messias", conducted by John Eliot Gardiner Gardiner’s Messiah was recorded in a European Cathedral, where it was written to be performed.
Gardiner, the small size of the choir and chamber orchestra, is precisely how Handel wrote The Messiah--more as a ballet, a ballad--not a huge in your face choral shout-fest, and NOT for giant choirs and giant orchestras.
Handel’s Messiah was written nimble and precise, with fast attacks and transients, as man audiophiles love to say. For instance, the first two-thirds of The Hallelujuah Choir is to sound like a light-hearted ballet, with delicate instruments playing in the vein of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music). Only a small, tight choir and orchestra can accomplish this.
Most recordings of The Hallelujuah Chorus blow it out and come on full bore with 300 voices. It is like how to properly cook an egg: most folks murder the eggs--overcook them by overbeating them, adding way too much ingrediants, and add too much heat, turning them into rubber. A properly cooked egg is simple, fluffy, delicately spiced and presented in a tasteful manner that allows the natural elements to shine. If you want LOTS OF EGGS (i.e., huge soundstage), then increase the amount of properly cooked and layered eggs--not heat, additives or physical beatings of the whisk.
Of course, The Messiah has sections where the choir is supposed to sound HUGE--the most well known of these sections being the last third of The Hallelujuah Chorus. And here is the trick: a small, tight choir--classifically trained--projects their voices against each other, layering upon each other, building an amplification of tones that--when set against a Cathedral backdrop that resonates--swells the sound of the choir to a presentation every bit as huge as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (now renamed as the "The Tabernacle Choir").
However, unlike how the Morman Tabernacle Choir’s "hugeness" is sloppy and dissonant (like a poorly ported sub-woofer that lacks precision), the Monteverdi Choir achieves a huge choral soundstage while retaining the tightness and articulation (like a Magico speaker) that only a small choral group can achieve.
It is a landmark recording.
Of course, I have to turn up the volume to hear the delicate complexities. This will not play at the same volume level of an Ed Sheeran recording, whose tracks are modern and clear and immensely voice forward--which I truly love for HIS recordings. Rather, you--well, I do, at least--have to really crank up Gardiner’s version of Messiah to realize the full soundstage.
But this is a GOOD thing, because it shows how superbly and properly the sound engineers packed all of the complexities of a chamber choir and orchestra, recorded in a huge cathedral, in proper relationship with each other, without losing precision and layered nuance. It is ALL there. Just crank it up. And to boot, when you crank it up, you will NOT hear noise. The backgrounds are BLACK and QUIET.
Again, truly a landmark recording. I can go to my grave with this one.
PS: My very close runner-up is the John Rutter conducted Christmas Night: Carols of the Nativity, by the Cambridge Singers and City of London Sinfonia. This is THE GREATEST Christmas recording. Period. Crank this one up for soundstage, as well. Make sure to get the recently digital remastered release. |