SURPRISE This is a pretty dang good LP

I had not seen that particular list, Dennis, but I reviewed it just now. I did agree with several of the listings that I have previously heard, but totally disagreed with several others (not the music so much as the sonics). As such, I'm not sure how much stock to place in it as a source for acquiring other LP's I have not yet heard. But, it IS comprised of the entries of "readers". As such, it is probably no different than the list being assembled here! :-O

If you haven't seen it, there are a lot of great sounding Lps on audio annex recommended recordings. http://www.audioannex.com/AAxRRs.htm

Great thread.

An unexpected surprise was Ambrosia - "Life Beyond L.A."; pop-progressive (heavy on pop) best known (only known?) for the ultimate "old girlfriend" homage, "How Much I Feel".

I was surprised how good the production values are on this old '78 release. Good balance of instruments, soundfield placement, timbral reproduction and weight, eclectic variety of genre (for an LA pop outfit), an enjoyable listen. And David Pack's blue-eyed soul should have gotten more notoriety in his day.

Most disappointing for me was Gino Vanelli's "Nightwalker". I always thought if they had brought Gino's voice down in the mix and brought forward Vinnie Colaiuta's excellent drum work (he throws in more fills than a Foster City housing development on this release), this could have been a rockin' outing. But alas, just another Vegas-sounding album.

But hands down my biggest surprise was when I dusted off my old records after upgrading from a Technics table to my VPI with a good cart, and discovered this old big band album I had inherited from someone years ago and never played. I Disc Doctored it, cued it up, turned up the volume...spank me and call me Martha...I think I soiled myself.

It was the M&K Realtime release, "For Duke". I had NEVER heard anything that stunning from recorded music before.

Frank, you're entirely welcome and thanks to you, and others, for the return tips! This is how I am hoping this thread will continue. The "World is a Ghetto", kind of a funk/jazz/soul thing, is extremely well produced (deep, layered, and balanced) with War using a wide variety of instrumentation. Some of the tracks will really show how tight is your bass! I recall buying it new and mostly listening to the title track and "Cisco Kid", other tracks are also great, as I have found.

I was lucky to have scored twice last night in the "great music-great sonics" game, having also cleaned what is perhaps a polar opposite to the War LP:

Norman Blake: "Fields of November"; Flying Fish Records FF-004.

Have had this since 1975 and it just kinda got forgotten in a box. Amazing how much good music is buried in the grooves of so many similarly buried LP's.

4yanx, if you like "The World is a Ghetto" then I'm sure you'll like WAR's "Why Can't We Be Friends" (United Artists LA-441-G). It's always been one of my personal favorites -- a lot of great songs, well-recorded. I particularly like the instrumental, "Smile Happy". :)

Thanks for the tip on "W is a G" I'll have to see if I can find a copy.

Frank

Prior to selling off my analog rig :-( I cleaned up a few old lp's I'd been listening to on CD and was amazed at how good the recordings were. The quality of the music didn't surprise me, they are amongst my favorite of all time. Don't have them in front of me so can't say labels. They are; Roxy Music "Stranded" and "For Your Pleasure" and Audience "House on the Hill".

I just cleaned up an old copy of Little Feat - "The Last Record Album. I don't have it in front of me, so I can't offer label info. I was amazed at the recording quality given it's early 70's vintage. Some great Lowell George songs - Long Distance Love for one. Little Feat
was/is an extremely tight band with excellent musicianship.

A white vinyl 45 rpm 10" single of India Arie singing "Strength, Courage and Wisdom". It has "the gap" (clothing company) logo on one side and her picture on the blank/flip side (manufactured by Neverstop records).

I received some LAST cleaning products recently. On a lark, I cleaned an old LP and it completely put some of my recent 180 gram purchases to shame. My daughter and I were jammin to Funkadelic's "Uncle Jam Wants You" Warner Brothers BSK 3371. Purchased new in the 70's.

Mirrors; Reflections of Today by Dick Hyman
Command ABC; RS 924 S

Side 1 Track 3 is a lovely version of Groovin'.

I think this is "well recorded" in the sense that I like it.

I look forward to the suggestions you receive here. God bless.

I would love to see a lot of repsonses to this thread in the interest of opening up the possibilities for all to enjoy some good, and WELL RECORDED music that they might otherwise ignore. If someone posts a title or artist that "just ain't your bag", please, keep it to yourself. I hate threads that descend into "I don't like what you like so you are wrong and so I will disparage your taste in music" drivel. Thanks