Danvetc,You have to understand that when i first owned Tres Hombres,zz's masterpiece if there is such a thing,my gear was by todays standards,worse than a aiwa shelf stereo,that being said as far as zz top, there first six alblums on cd are done best on the "six pack" collection.This is not as good as the vinyl version ,but what is.The other remastered cd's iv'e picked up recently and have improved sound over there original cd releases are the above mentioned Styx Greatest Hits and Foreigner Anthology.I played Sabbaths first self titled release for a few twenty somtehing year olds who are ozzy fans and asked them what year they thought it was released.There Answer was early 80,s so maybe some of the old music was before it,s time after all.You should have seen the look on there face when i informed them it was from 1969.Of course being nine years old at the time i did not discover this record till five years after the release.The only recordings iv'e heard so far that are as good as vinyl are on sacd,those being SRV Couldn't Stand The Weather, Jeff Beck Blow By Blow and Dylans Blond On Blond.Well got to go my kid just informed me that i am missing the only show on cable tv worth watching.The Simpsons."DOH"
sometimes you just need to tap your toes
I recently bought some remastered non audiophile approved music on cd like styx greatist hits and foreigner[lou grahm is one of the best rock singers ever]about half the songs are tiresome because of too much radio airplay over the years,but the rest got my foot and leg tapping[it was out of my control like the music possesed my leg and toes.This got me thinking,remebering the days when new records came out and you liked every song,and did not care about soundstaging,sense of space,blacker backgrounds or the like.It was all about the music as most of us were to young and broke to be audiophiles and listened rather to cheap record players and 8 track tapes and liked it not for sound quality,but for the music.If we were lucky, we got a kenwood direct drive turntable for 400.00 when we got out on are own and thought it was the ultimate.I talk to some of my younger employees and nephews and they admit there is rarely any new music where they like every ,or even half of the songs,and some of them actually listen to classic rock of the late sixtys but more so 70,s and 80,s at work on the radio as apposed to the pre determined overly played list that most newer music stations play.So if you grew up in the 70's or 80,s you don't no how good you had it until you talk to some of the younger generation about music.They don't no what it is like to have the latest release and love every song on it like we did when we got are ZZ TOP Tres Hombres or Robin Trower Bridge Of Sighs,any Zepplin release or the first time you heard skynryd and liked every song from every release there after.I can remember my dad [big on swing] saying that drummer can really beat those skins[rush live] but do you think you could put on the headphones i bought you, like it was yesterday.The point to all of this is sometimes we need to put are audiophile recordings aside, and throwing caution to the wind ,break out some of the first fun,toe tapping music that started it all for you and let your hair down and tap your toes.This like nothing else will make you realize,it's all about the music and not the gear.