OKAY...your 10 or so favorite recordings please

Only ten, huh?

Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong: The Great Summit
This cd contains both the Duke and Satchmo lp sessions. The sound quality is excellent, soundstage is well focused, and the music...it's one of my all time favorite jazz recordings.

Roxy Music: Avalon
When disco was king and rock was in a coma, Roxy Music was creating some of the most unique sounding recordings at that time. Avalon was the highlight of their evolutionary sound. It's a cd I never get tired of and has stood the test of time. An excellent recording.

Pink Martini: Sympathique
I was shopping at Borders and heard the song Amado Mio. It's not often that a song one has never heard before become so infectous. Well, it turned out that the whole cd is a delight. Kind of world beat lounge music.

Eric Clapton: Unplugged
Excellent recording of one of the best rock/blues guitarist playing an acoustic set. You can hear each string of his guitar, and the piano playing by Chuck Leavell is awesome.

Talking Heads: Stop Makin Sense (new version)
Another great band that helped me survive the disco era. One of the best concerts I've seen (and I've seen them 5 times). This cd is the complete concert, and it is an excellent recording with some of the Talking Heads finest songs. Listen to Tina's bass playing and you'll realize what an creative and excellent bass player she is. The dvd is also a must have.

Jennifer Warnes: The Well
If you like Jennifer Warnes's other cd's, you'll love this one. It's her best—vocally, musically and the recording quality exceeds 95% of all my other cd's (1,200+)

Bob Marley: Legend
If ya gotta include some Marley, this is the best of the best.

Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster
Two of jazz greatest tenor sax players work off each other. An excellent recording with an excellent cast of musicians that includes Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Herb Ellis. I consider it a must have in jazz.

Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come Soundtrack
The movie and album turned me on to reggae in a "BIG" way. A compilation of who's who in the 1973 Jamaica reggae scene. Classics from Toots & the Maytals— Pressure Drop; Sweet and Dandy. Desmond Dekker— Shanty Town; the Melodians— Rivers of Babylon;, and the Slickers— Johnny Too Bad. Cliff performs You Can Get It If You Really Want, The Harder They Come, and Many Rivers to Cross. A must have for any reggae fan.

Neil Young: Harvest Moon
For a guy with a nasal, whinny voice, this cd sings. It's Neil the folk ballad singer, and the romantic. A genre he should stick to more often. James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt add to the perfect harmonies. Every track is a winner! The recording quality is excellent.

Steve Winwood: Arc Of The Diver
I've been a Steve Winwood fan since I first heard Gimme Some Lovin, which he recorded with the Spencer Davis Group when he was 16 years old. I think he has one of the best male blues voices in rock. This solo album is a classic, and if you can find a MFSL copy, it's even better. I heard him on a radio station interview play, I Can't Find My Way Home. Just him and a acoustic guitar. It was a performance I'll always remember. It was that good!

The Temptations: Greatest Hits
Nobody, but nobody sang Motown like the Temptations. End of story.

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
This needs no explanation.

Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come
I consider this one of Mile's best works. It's more romantic and mellow than his earlier work, but it's a masterpiece.

Marvin Gaye: Let's Get It On
Here's a voice like no other in soul/R&B. The late Marvin Gaye singing about the turbulent 60's and (early) 70's. The songs are all powerful, the music is exceptional and the recording is pretty good.

Chris Issac: Heart Shaped World
This debut album was a breath of fresh air. Excellently recorded with Chris's unique style of singing and playing. His first was his best.

Bryan Ferry: Boys and Girls
After the break-up of Roxy Music, Bryan got together with some amazing musicians, including: David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Nile Rodgers (Chic, David Bowie) and Neil Hubbard who all play guitar on various tracks. Boys and Girls could have be titled Avalon II, as it picked up from where Avalon left off. Recording quality is excellent. A great album for a romantic dinner and...

The Beatles: Rubber Soul/Revolver/Sgt. Peppers/Abbey Road
If I have to explain what I like about these Beatle albums...

The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet/Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street/Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
Explanation not required due to mature content.

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.

Tin Hat Trio-Helium-Very strange but beautiful music that is recorderd quite well, even though it's in the Jazz section it's not the type of Jazz that most Jazz lovers would like. Very different. Love the last track with Tom Waits

Tin Hat Trio-Rodeo Eroded-More beautiful, strange music that is also recorded quite well. This time there is more than just the three of them, and the track with Willie on it is especially beautiful.

Cassandra Wilson-Blue Moon Daughter-Beautiful singing from a beautiful woman.

Various-The Sound of Three Blind Mice-Love all of the tracks, but I am especially fond of the Tsyuyoshi Yamamoto ones. Good music that was recorded well.

David Bowie-anything-Put on any David Bowie lp or cd and I'm lovin' it.

Harry Connick Jr.-To See You-Great vocals as usual for Harry, and the band was very well recorded, lush but also very clear.

Eric Clapton-Unplugged-Great music that sounds really good, especially for a mass market recording.

Clifford Jordan-Live At Ethell's-Absolutely beautiful recording of great music, you have to hear that sax on a system that can do it justice.

Steve Greene Trio-Acoustic Living-Got this cd free and it sounds great with over 20 songs to boot!

Portishead-Portishead-Don't know if you'd call this trip hop or whatever, but I love it, I have three different pressings of the album and they're all great.

Marilyn Manson-AntiChrist Superstar-Call me weird, but I think this is a great album. NO I'm not a devil worshipper or anything like that, I just like the music.

And a few more that I can't recall the title or artist of right now.