Champtree, let me see if I understood your last post. You listen to an artist you don't particularly like because the recording quality is high. I think it's situations like yours that prompted Zaikesman's orginal forest for the trees comments. Furthermore, recording artists only occassionally have control over the sound quality of their recordings. Usually that element is handled by the producer, recording/mastering engineers and the record label. What the artist does have control over is the quality of their performance and I notice that despite repeated references to "Stardust", you never comment upon the quality of Mr. Nelson's performance. "Stardust" is a well produced/recorded record, but what makes it memorable is that it's a collection of very fine performances of first rate songs. Worrying over the technical merits of a recording is really no different than obsessing about the technical merits of equipment. Neither really addresses the music.
