[goblin141]

So many sound so good.  For me i need wide sound stage, bad hearing and tinnitus, to really enjoy the experience. My list is of records that i play for others who have not heard a good system or to show my strengths.

Johnny Hodges, Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra.  Verve V6 8452.  Sax and orchestra in big clear sound and old fashion music to die for.

Les Paul The New Sound Capitol T226.  Mono that fills the front of my room with my stereo AT OC9 II.  Big Big sound in front of me.

Sarita Heredia at the Matador  Flamenco Fire  World-Pacific 1427.  She and her supporting cast are live here before me.  Her son was a guitarist with The Left Bank.

Rhapsody in Blue Freddic Fennel  Eastman Kodak Orchestra  Mercury Living Presence.   Best of the bunch.  my copy is rough so tell others

[Golden_Era]

To my very surprise a $4 copy from the used record store bin of Huey Lewis and The News' 'Sports'.
It bests every single other vinyl I own including very nice MoFi 45 RPM remasters and such. Can't explain it but it's what I put on to show skeptics how great vinyl can be. I just love the irony of it.

[CanadianMaestro]

Patricia Barber's albums
D Krall, Glad Rag Doll
Wagner's Ring/Solti Vienna Phil
many others

[SounderMN]

Paul Simon - Graceland is a standout that I don't see above. 
Rickie Lee Jones S/T
Widespread Panic - Wood

[LesterSleepsIn]

Rhapsody in Blue Freddic Fennel  Eastman Kodak Orchestra  Mercury Living Presence.   Best of the bunch.  my copy is rough so tell others

Hello, Mr. Nitpik here. T’weren’t no such thing as the Eastman Kodak Orchestra. The above mention would have been the Eastman-Rochester "Pops" Orchestra* ‎– Eastman, as in the Eastman School of Music and under the direction of Mr. Fennel, ESM faculty/alum and all-around good guy. However, there was a Kodak ‘band’ formed in 1980 or so, and consisted mostly of retirees who played pop and jazz standards for community audiences and, to the best of my knowledge, never recorded.

Cheers,
Lester

[DavidDD]

Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
Supertramp, Crisis? What Crisis?
Supertramp, Crime Of The Century
Dire Straits, Love Over Gold
Led Zeppelin, II
Phil Collins, Face Value
Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees
U2, Joshua Tree
Steely Dan, Aja
Rush, Rush
John Cougar, John Cougar
Eurythmics, Touch
Rod Stewart, Sing It Again

[innocent_bystander]

anything pressed by Sheffield Labs

[puroagave]

The below list is for Vinyl, if standard pressings assume the earliest domestic or import pressings. I haven't updated this list in about 5 years when it was posted on another site. I probably have a 100 or more additions and some deletions in store. I also have to add Classical selections of which I have a least 200 with the sonics that are off the charts.


Jazz
Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan – Trouble in Mind, Alto
Johnny Hartman – Once in Every Life
Chico Freeman – Sprit Sensitive, 1st press
Johnny Hodges - Blues A Plenty, 45 rpm APO
Sonny Rollins – Way out West, 180g APO
Bruckner, Tate, Bishop - Giganti Del Jazz Vol. 13
Sphere – Filght Path
Illinois Jacquet - Swings' the Thing, 200g 45 rpm mono
Ray Brown – Soular Energy, (Concord Jazz) Super Analogue Jpn 180g
Ray Brown & Jimmy Rowles – Tasty!
Ella Fitzgerald - Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie!, 200g Classic Records
Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby, 45 rpm APO
Rosemary Clooney - Sings Ballads, (Concord Jazz) Super Analogue, Jpn 180g
Charles Mingus - Ah Um, 45 rpm APO
Miles Davis - Someday my Prince will come, MFSL
Shelly Manne & Jack Marshall - Sounds Unheard Of!, Orig 1st press
Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue, 45 rpm APO
Charlie Byrd – Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd, 45 rpm
Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto, MFSL
McCoy Tyner - New York Reunion, Chesky
Branford Marsalis – Trio Jeepy
Archie Shepp Quartet – True Ballads, Jpn
Count Basie - "88 Basie Street", Pablo 1st press
Louis Armstrong - Satchmo Plays King Oliver, 45 rpm 200g Classic Records
Hugh Masekela - Almost Like Being In Jazz, 180g Classic Records
Hugh Masekela - Hope, 45 rpm 180g
Tomas Orberg - Blue Five, Opus3
Tomas Orberg Buddy Bolden Stomp, Opus3
Peoria Jazz Band – Passport to jazz, Opus3
Arne Domnerus – Anitiphone Blues, ATR ½ spd
Isao Suzuki quartet + 1 - Blue City, Super Cut 180g
Isao Suzuki Trio - Black Orpheus, Super Cut 180g
Isao Suzuki - Blow Up, Super Cut 180g
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Midnight Sugar, Super Cut 180g
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin' Else, 45 rpm APO
Oscar Peterson Trio – We get Requests, 45 rpm APO
Serendipity – Mike Garson, Reference Recordings

Rock/Pop/folk/Blues/Country
Elvis Presley - Stereo '57 Essesntial Elvis Vol 2, 45 rpm
Frank Sinatra - At the Sands, MFSL
Nat King Cole – Love is the thing, 45 rpm
Nat King Cole – After Midnight, 45 rpm
Nat king Cole - just one of those things, 45 rpm
Henry Mancini – More Music from Peter Gunn, 1S/1S
The Weavers - Travelling On With The Weavers, CISCO 180g
Doug MacLoed – Come to Find, APO reissue
Ted Hawkins - The Next Hundred years
Taj Mahal – Recycling the blues and other related stuff, US 1st press
Bobby King & Terry Evans – Live and Let Live, 1st press
Sonny Boy Williamson – Keepin’ It to Ourselves, APO reissue
Norman Blake/Jethro Burns/Sam Bush/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Butch Robins/Tut Taylor
Muddy Waters – Folk Singer, MFSL
Peter Case - Man with the Post Modern Blue Guitar
Victoria Williams - Swing That Statue
The King’s Singers – Lollipops, UK 1st press
Joe Jackson – Body and Soul
Merle Haggard – Songs for the Mama that tried
Sam Cooke - Night Beat, 45 rpm APO
Rickie Lee Jones – Pop Pop, ORG 180g
Lou Reed, John Cale – Songs for Drella, US 1st press
Bruce Spingsteen – The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Talking Heads – Stop making Sense, 1st press
Dr. John – In a Sentimental mood
The Pentangle – eponymous, UK 1st press
Pete Townsend and Ronnie Lane – Rough Mix, Uk 1st press or Classic reissue
Robbie Robertson – eponymous, Quiex II promo
Bonnie Raitt – The lost Broadcast Philadelphia 1972
Mighty Sam McClain – Give it up to Love, 200g APO
Mary Black – No Frontiers, 180g reissue
Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones, Quiex II promo
James McMurtry – Too long in the Wasteland, Dutch press
Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome, RSD 2-LP
Various - The Lost Note Books of Hank Williams
Johnny Cash - Unchained: American recordings I - V
Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged
Friend N Fellow - Covered
Little Feat – Waiting For Columbus, MFSL
Doc Watson – Southbound APO
Doc Watson – Home Again! APO
Doc and Merle Watson – Pickin’ the Blues
Joan Armatrading – Show Some Emotion, UK 1st press
Harry Belafonte – Belafonte Sings The Blues, 200g Classic records
Cowboy junkies - Whites off Earth Now!, MFSL
Jayhawks – Tomorrow the green grass
Whiskeytown – Pneumonia
Wilco – Being There
Daniel Lanois – Acadie, Quiex II promo
Alison Krauss - Paper Airplane
Loreena McKennith - The Wind that shakes the Barley
Harry Belafonte - Returns to Carnegie Hall, 200g
Rickie Lee Jones - Eponymous, MFSL 45 rpm
Di Meola, McLaughlin & de Lucia - Friday Night in SF, 45rpm
Holly Cole - Temptation, Classic 200g
Ry Cooder - Jazz, MFSL
Rob Wasserman – Duets
Hans Theessink – Call Me
Neil Young – Harvest, Nautilus 1/2 spd
Neil Young – Live at Massy hall, Classic Records
Jimi Hendrix – In the West
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmos Factory, APO
CCR – Best Songs from Bayou Country, 45 rpm
CCR – Best Songs from Willy and the Poor boys, 45 rpm
Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman, 180g APO
Crosby & Nash - Another Stoney Evening, 180g
Dire Straits – Love over Gold, 180g reissue
Pink Floyd – The Wall, US 1st press, TML
Pink Floyd - Wish you were here, CBS Mastersound 1/2 spd
Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing, 200g Classic Records
Stevie Ray Vaughan – Couldn’t Stand the weather, APO
Phoebe Snow – Eponymous, 45 rpm 200g
Janis Siegel – At Home
The Doors – live in New York 2-lp, Rhino 180g
Nick Drake – Pink Moon, 180g reissue
Aaron Neville – Warm your heart, 45 rpm ORG
Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love, US 1st press
Supertramp – Crime of the century, 180g Speakers Corner
Amanda McBroom – Dreaming, APO 180g
Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown, MFSL
Ray LaMontagne – God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise, 180g
Janis Ian – Breaking Silence, APO 200g
Blood Sweat and Tears – Eponymous, ORG 45 rpm
Bruce Katz Band - Crescent Crawl, Audioquest
Shelby Lynne – Just a Little Lovin’, APO 200g
Amos Lee - Eponymous, Classic 200g
Willie Nelson – Stardust, CBS 1/2 Spd
Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a story, MFSL
The Doors – L.A. Woman, 45 rpm APO
Guy Van Duser & Billy Novick – Get yourself a new Broom
Merle Haggard – It's all in the game, 1st press
Lightnin Hopkins – Goin Away, 180g APO
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me, 200g APO
Genesis – Selling England by the pound, Classic 200g
Livingston Taylor – Good Friends, Chesky 180g
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James, Rhino 180g
John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom, UK
Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat
Cassandra Wilson – New Moon Daughter
Andreas Vollenweider - Caverna Magica, Jpn
Mickey Hart - Dafos, RR
Linda Ronstadt – Whats New, MFSL
Enya – Watermark
Chris Whitley - Dirt Floor, 45 rpm Classic Records
Steely Dan – Aja, Cisco 180g


Direct-to-disc
Nikil Banerjee – Master of the Sitar
Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida – Moonlight Serenade
Stefan Grossman/John Rebourn – Acoustic Guitar
Charly Antolini - knock out
Cal Tjader - Huracan
Cadillac and Mac - The Detroit Four
La Pocha y Su Grupo de Flamenco - Ole'
Dave Grusin - Discovered Again, Sheffield
Amanda McBroom- Growing up in Hollywood Town
Harry James – King James - Sheffield
Harry James - Comin' from a Good Place, Sheffield
Earl "Fatha" Hines plays Hits He Missed, MK
Bill Berry and the Ellington all-Stars - For Duke, MK
LA Four – Going Home
LA Four - Pavane Pour Un Infante Defunte
LA Four - Just Friends
Sample, Brown, Manne - The Three
The Great Jazz Trio Direct from LA
John Klemmer – Straight from the heart
Ikuyo Kamiya - Beethoven "Appassionata" 45 rpm
Kouichi Suiyama - Audio Symphony No. 1
Kouichi Suiyama - Audio Symphony No. 2

International/World
Ryusuke Seto - Miroku, Jpn
Michel Jonasz – Fabuleuse Historue De Mister Swing
Fabrizio De Andre – Anime Salve
Sera una Noche - 45 rpm EP, MA recordings
Al-Haji Papa Bunka Susso– Songs of Kings & Warriors, Water Lily
Ali Akbar Khan – Indian Architexure, Water Lily
Jose Neto – The Mountains and the Sea, Water lily
Dom Um Romao – Saudades, Water lily Acoustics
Buena Vista Social Club - Classic Records 200g
Munyungo Jackson - Munyungo, VTL/Vital
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Shaka Zulu
Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt - A Meeting By The River

Soundtracks/TV/Documentary
Max Steiner - Casablanca: The Classic Film Scores for Humphrey Bogart, Charles Gerhard, NPO
Bernard Hermann - Citzen Kane: The Classic Film Scores, Charles Gerhard, NPO
Franz Waxman - Sunset Boulevard: The Classic Film Scores, Charles Gerhard, NPO
Erich Korngold - The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores, Charles Gerhard, NPO
John Barry - Dances With Wolves, UK
James Horner - Glory, Classic reissue
James Horner - Willow
Jerry Goldsmith - Chinatown
John Williams – The Missouri Breaks
Alan Silvestri - Who Framed Roger Rabbit, white cover 1st press
Giorgio Moroder - Cat People
Hans Zimmer - Gladiator, 45 rpm ORG
Bill Bragg & Wilco – Mermaid Avenue Vol. I, 1st press or reissue
various - Dead man Walking, Classic reissue
various - The Hot Spot, 45-rpm APO
Pat Methany - The Falcon And The Snowman
Eric Clapton - Rush (1992) Korean press

[MontyMo]

I’ll add a few:

Patricia Barber “Cafe Blue”
Dire Straits “ Brothers in Arms”
Steely Dan “Aji”
Rickie Lee Jones “ Rickie Lee Jones”
That is enough for now

Monty

[ryandreas]

Basically anything Prince for me. But Purple Rain is what I use to test out any new gear.

[mallikh67]

amanda mc room - dreaming vinyl sounds very good

[529proaudio]

Jazz
1. Lee Morgan Sidewinder Music Matters SRX
2. Cannonball Adderley Something' Else SRX
3. Any of the Tone Poet Bluenote Releases

Americana
1. Colter Wall S/T
2. Gillian Welch Harrow & the Harvest
3. Any of the Gillian Welch / David Rawlings Acony Pressings
4. Jason Isbell Southeastern

Indie
1. Wilco Schmilco
2. Radiohead (In Rainbows, Kid A, Amnesiac, King of Limbs, etc...all amazing)
3. Andrew Bird Are You Serious

Classic Rock
1. Beatles Abbey Road Giles Martin Remix

[knotscott]

Nora Jones - "Come Away With Me"
Notting Hillbillies - "Missing and Presumed Having a Good Time"
Mark Knofler and Chet Atkins - "Neck and Neck"
Blue Note 86 - "A New Generation of Jazz"
Sonny Rollins - "Way Out West"
Simply Red - "Holding Back the Years"
Jennifer Warnes - "Famous Blue Raincoat"
Chuck Mangione - "Feels So Good"
Dire Straits - "Dire Straits"
Sarah McLachlan - "Surfacing"
Chet Baker, Bill Evans - "Alone Together"
John Fogerty - "Blue Moon Swamp"
Diana Krall - Live in Paris

[nlitworld]

Top 5 albums for sound, space, dynamics and just freaking awesome music

Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come
311 - Evolver
Glassjaw - Worship And Tribute

[Scroof Neachy]

One of the best in my collection is the album On the Boards by Taste. Incredible sonics.

[spains69]

The old standby Dire Straits,Brothers in Arms sounds the best
Steps Ahead,Modern Times sounds great also

[Rdk777]

Dire Straits Mofi - All Albums
Tragically Hip - Up to Here
The Cars - Shake It Up
Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Roger Waters - Amused to Death
Eagles - The Studio Albums 1972-1979
Various - The Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams (this is my #1 best sounding album)

[simoon]

I have to agree with anyone who has mentioned ECM. They are universally good, and many are great.

Some that standout to me:

Terje Rypdal -  Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away
Ralph Towner - Solo Concert
Keith Jarrett - any of his orchestral works
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Nice Guys, and, Full Force
Dominique Pifarély Quartet - Tracé Provisoire  (the best French jazz violinist you've never heard of)
Michael Formnek - Small Places. And with "Ensemble Kolosus", The Distance

I could go on for pages of great sounding ECM recordings.


Almost anything recorded on the German "Brain" label. Known for dead quiet vinyl, and excellent recording quality. Consistently as good as those other rock recordings with much better known reputations (including: Steely Dan, Dire Straights, SRV, etc).

Mostly progressive music recordings, like: prog rock, jazz rock, experimental electronic music, etc.


The Nonesuch label had a series of recording of "New American Music" in the 70's, that specialized in contemporary American classical composers (Carter, Rochberg, Schwantner, Wolpe, etc). They are universally very well recorded, especially with regards to imaging and soundstage. Musically they are also great, but they are modern classical (avant-garde and 'thorny'), so YMMV. I love post 50's classical, so, they are right up my alley. And they are cheap.

The covers tend to look similar to this, so they are easy to spot in the used record racks:




FM - Headroom (direct to disk)

Canadian prog rock trio recorded this direct-to-disk, in the studio. Extremely good sounding rock recording. Prog, with a bit of space rock, and fusion. Top notch musicianship, with world class violin.

[simoon]

Dominique Pifarély Quartet - Tracé Provisoire  (the best French jazz violinist you've never heard of)
Michael Formnek - Small Places. And with "Ensemble Kolosus", The Distance

I am embarrassed to admit, but these recordings are fairly recent, and therefore, there are no vinyl versions. But the CD's sound very good. And musically, they are top notch ECM, so they are still worth getting.

[Craig B]

I don't have my collection at hand, so off the top of my head, here are some of my favorite non-classical:

Beatles "Abbey Road" (I have the original brit EMI/Apple, the old MoFi remaster, and the new Giles Martin remaster)
Pink Floyd DSOTM (original LP and MoFi)
Supertramp "Crime of the Century" MoFi
Cantate Domino
David Crosby "If I Could Only Remember My Name"
David Grisman Quintet (self-titled)

And classical (harder to recall without discs at hand):
Mahler 3rd, Horenstein and LSO on Unicorn
Beethoven 9th, Solti and Chicago Decca/London (recorded at the U of Illinois)
Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Johanos/Dallas on Vox/Turnabout