OKAY...your 10 or so favorite recordings please

Ry Cooder "Jazz", electic, well recorded.
Nightnoise "Shadow of Time", great music, great recording.
Ella and Louis Again MFSL, do you have to ask?
Sammy Davis Jr./ Laurindo Almeida, very open.
Johnny Adams "The Verdict", astonishing vocal recording.

John Renbourn "Maiden in Bedlam", system test for separating vocals.
Jennifer Warnes "The Hunter", great material and dynamic recording with real bass.
Etta James "Life, Love and the Blues", real blues vocals with a hot band.

Field of Dreams soundtrack, very dynamic bass and simple acoustic instrumentation.
Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves soundtrack with challenging orchestral passages and dynamics.

Short list - based on being really well recorded as well as great music (lets face it, the velvet underground was seminal but its not exactly well recorded).

Gaucho - Steely Dan - great songs, great recording - check out "third world man" -

It's Like This/Traffic From Paradise/Flying Cowboys - Rickie Lee Jones - phenomenal music, audiophile quality recordings - check out trouble man, low spark, and show biz kids from its like this, beat angel from traffic in paradise, and the horses from flying cowboys - RLJ is a gifted artist who is only improving with time

I'll take care of you - Mark Lanegan - former screaming trees lead singer/songwriter comes up with a haunting batch of covers - check out "follow down" - a gun club cover - its addictive - recorded so you feel like he's in the room with you.

The Freedom Sessions/Fumbling Towards Ecstacy - classically trained vocalist Sarah has an outstanding voice and some awesome songs - occasionally the production is problematic - e.g. they seem to want to add distortion to her and lots of echo - but check out her cover of tom waits ol55 on fumbling - recorded live in the studio late at night - a great live take

Tumbleweed Connection/Madman Across the Water - Elton John - oldies but goodies. Before the costumes and the drama took over - Elton wrote some great tunes and made some pretty straight ahead rock. Caleb Quay was the guitarist on Tumbleweed and it rocks a lot harder than the later crap elton has put out. Gus Dudgeon's production is a tribute to what good quality analogue could be even in the early 70's. Highlights are "come down in time, where to now st peter, and holiday inn (from Madman)- the last features some nifty mandolin work from guitarist Davey Johnston

Mystery Lady - Etta James - Etta covers classics originally done by Billie Holiday - need I say more?

Kamakiriad - Donald Fagen - a great album which should have been a steely dan lp. Check out tomorrow's girls - increadible dynamic range on this recording.

Bete Noir - Bryan Ferry - with lots of guitar help from the smiths Johnny Marr - as always with Bryan well recorded, great tunes, and a stellar line up of players supporting him. First track "Limbo" rocks with a caribbean beat thats hard not to sway to.

Live at Fillmore East - Allman Brothers - the blues recorded live and straight ahead - the 2 cd anniversary editions improved sonics put this one on the list.

Nocturns - Chopin - Rubinstein RCA Red Seal - sonic bliss and a performance to match.

I hope some folks enjoy these or come to enjoy these as much as I do.

weird....scotty, i'm playing steely dan gaucho right now as i'm reading your post. one of those i have not listened to in a long while. and rosstaman...a couple of yours are some of my goodies too. thanks celtic for reminding me of renbourn. I'll try and check out some of those new to me. I'll be back later to post my own list.

Oops - The Sarah mentioned in my post is Sarah Mclachlin. Forgot the put her last name in there.

my faves are jeff beck "blow by blow"(great production by george martin) traffic "on the road"(jammin at it's best) michael hedges "watching my life go by"(powerful acoustic guitar) the edgar winter group "they only come out at night"(free wheelin rock-brings back teenage memories) pink floyd "meddle" (what are these guys drinking?) jimi hendrix "band of gypsys" (three piece masterpiece) john scofield "a go go"(cool colaboration with mm&w) joe henderson "so near, so far" (cool colaboration with john scofield) sonus chanterai "music if medieval france" (musicians appear to be sitting in front of me)peter kater & r carlos nakai "migration" (lullaby me to sleep) renaissance masterpieces on naxos (choral beauty) but the list could go on and on. thanks all for your input.