Great Recordings, Sonically Speaking - and Why.


I think many of us would accept that artists such as Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, and Dire Straits have consistently put out music that was at least originally recorded to a high technical standard. [I'm not too sure what the loudness wars may have done to subsequent reissues, but even so, the tone and timbre thankfully tends to remain intact.]

However there must be plenty of lesser known recordings out there that could be said to be of a high sonic standard.

One such recording that I like to put on in the background whilst I'm doing other things is a piano recording that features wonderfully lush timbre and some delightful tunes.

This one is The Disney Piano Collection by Hirohashi Makiko and to me it makes a lot of other piano recordings sound a little washed out.
cd318
Jazz At The Pawnshop. It’s an excellent demo disc on vinyl and cd. And it was recorded in the mid 50’s. But the recording will blow you away. Chet Baker begins his career. This is before Chet was a household word. Great recording!
"It does not matter how much I spend on a piece of new gear or a tweak, the single biggest contribution to my listening pleasure is the quality of the recording."
@chilli42

AMEN!
Understanding recording quality to derive from: composition, performance, sonics.

In line with that, some worthy titles:
Black Light Syndrome - Bozzio, Levin, Stevens
Earth + Sky - Andy Summers
If You Look Far Enough - Andersen, Towner, Vasconcelos
If Summer Had Its Ghosts - Bruford, Towner, Gomez
Last Dance of Mr. X - Andy Summers
(forget The Police, just listen to these two from Andy)
Meltemi - Alboran Trio
Never Ending January - Espen Eriksen Trio
Searching for Jupiter - Magnus Ostrom
St. Germain (self-titled)



Eric Clapton - Change the World, Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live, Tarrus Riley - Human Nature, Brantley Gilbert - Man That Hung The Moon, yes to much of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler, Super Tramp, much of the remastered Beatles, many classics and too many more to mention.  It's great that these artist care about what their music actually sounds like and spent the money for the best.  Unfortunately very few seem to care or notice anymore so we may hear fewer and fewer great recording.
I have enjoyed Hugh Masakeka Hope.  Great live recording.  Really puts your system through its paces
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