[Folsom]

I buy CDs when I can or when I really want one. I hate buying CDs that suck though, that is a chunk of change that could of gone to something else important.

Anyways if any one wants to comment on the following... (audio recording quality wise, I will buy something I like just for the song if I like it that much anyhow)

R.E.M. -
Documents
Out of Time

Bruce Springsteen -
The Rising
Live 1975-1985

Danny Gatton -
88 Elmira St.
Relentless

Amos Lee -
Amos Lee

Uncle Tupelo -
No Depression

North Mississippi Allstars -
Shake Hands with Shorty

Harvey Mandel -
Snakes and Stripes

Vivid -
Living color

Joe Jackson -
Look Sharp!

The Minus 5 -
The Minus 5

Wilco -
Being There

Neil Young -
Fill me in guys, I was looking at the Greatest Hits, but I like having full albums more.

Vapors -
Turning Japanese: The Best of the Vapors

Bob Dylan -
Again fill me in guys... I owned Essential Bob Dylan and thought it was great, someone stold it I think though... Now I am looking to replace. No I have no SACD player yet (can you use an ordinary DAC with SACD player?, I was thinking a really cheap SACD/DVD/CD/HDCD player might be in order in the future).

Fleetwood Mac -
I have Rumours and love it, any other suggestions?

John Mayer -
Suggestions? I like Try! an awful lot.

Pink Floyd -
The Wall current version on amazon, is this remaster any good? I know my non-remaster rip from a friend is great.

Tom Petty -
I like Wildflowers, what other ones are good?

Yeah I know a lot of those are from the "What are you listening to now" topic...

I like owning albums, greatest hits are ok, but so many albums are ment to be played as one thing. Oh well... Please just feel free to chime in on anything. I have other albums I am already sure about from previous topics on here too, like R.E.M.'s Murmors and Automatic for The People.

[mcrespo71]

I buy CDs when I can or when I really want one. I hate buying CDs that suck though, that is a chunk of change that could of gone to something else important.

Anyways if any one wants to comment on the following... (audio recording quality wise, I will buy something I like just for the song if I like it that much anyhow)

R.E.M. -
Documents
Out of Time

Bruce Springsteen -
The Rising
Live 1975-1985

Danny Gatton -
88 Elmira St.
Relentless

Amos Lee -
Amos Lee

Uncle Tupelo -
No Depr ...

REM IRS CD's are in desperate need of remastering.  Your best bet is to buy the vinyl versions or to buy the MOFI CD versions (if you must have CD) of Murmer and Reckoning.

Living Colour- Vivid- ancient recording- needs remastering.  Best bet is to buy the newly remastered Greatest Hits.

Bob Dylan SACD's- these are fabulous and are dual layer, so no need to have an SACD player.

Fleetwood Mac- they came out with very fine remasters of Fleetwood Mac Rumours, self-titled album, and Tusk, which are some of my favorite fleetwood mac albums.  They are legacy editions.  The 80's CD's suck and the best are still the original 70's vinyl LP's or the MOFI LP reissues.  The Nautilus LP of Rumours sucks.

Michael

[Folsom]

Well I rip everything, I have no transport setup right now, and may never... That kind of rules MOFI cd's as hardly necessary, I am not worried about quality of the actual disc.

Even without remastering how is the quality? I like my non-remastered version of Rumours. I just have to turn the volume up a little bit when I listen to it. Remastering I would not say always makes the sound quality actually better.

What Bob Dylan albums do you recommend? I know nothing about them... I only know his well known songs.

[Folsom]

Anyone have the Hybrid SACD of The Downward Spiral? I have the original but it has some serious weekness in the recording... The bass is just not there! It lacks it so severally it makes it hard to listen to often.

I am wondering if the SACD cd layer is better?

I guess I should ask, you can rip the CD layer on hybrids with a computer right?

[Rob Babcock]

Vivid by Living Colour actually has been remastered.  The results aren't spectacular but are a step up from the original CD.  Musically it's a fine enough (although uneven) album to warrant adding the remaster to your collection.

Both the REM CDs you list are acceptable, sonically, IMOHO.  I wouldn't wait for a better sounding version- those are really essential purchases.

[Gordy]

I've tried ripping dual layer sacd's on a Sony twin deck copier in the past and the results were ugly...  copy protection?  I'm ripping The Kinks 'Low Budget' sacd to wav/flac on a Olive unit right now, it uses a cdrw drive... I'll let you know how it turns out...

Both the REM CDs you list are acceptable, sonically, IMOHO.  I wouldn't wait for a better sounding version- those are really essential purchases.

All of Danny Gatton's recordings are essential listening for me.  A live recording of his that made the rounds for years as a bootleg among industry insiders and reportedly was recorded accidently (and was recorded on one track only) is absolutely essential for me and is how Danny got his nickname, The Humbler.  It's a collection of rockabilly standards with Robert Gordon and is, appropriately enough, called The Humbler....

....A quick listen to the sacd and the ripped versions of Low Budget show 'em to be different but too close to hear a preference on first listen... I'm also rooting for the Olive, so take that with a grain of salt

[Folsom]

I only rip with my computer, that is why the SACD hybrid issue is important... as long as I can rip the CD half.

I only burn stuff to put in a car or let friends have a listen to something they might buy, not for real use.

Thanks for the info on the CDs so far.

[PeteG]

What Bob Dylan albums do you recommend? I know nothing about them... I only know his well known songs.

One of my fav: BOB DYLAN/OH MERCY SACD

[mcrespo71]

Well I rip everything, I have no transport setup right now, and may never... That kind of rules MOFI cd's as hardly necessary, I am not worried about quality of the actual disc.

Even without remastering how is the quality? I like my non-remastered version of Rumours. I just have to turn the volume up a little bit when I listen to it. Remastering I would not say always makes the sound quality actually better.

What Bob Dylan albums do you recommend? I know nothing about them... I only know his well known songs.

As far as the REM original 80's CD's for Murmur or Reckoning are concerned, they are not so good when compared to 1) the original vinyl LP's, 2) the MOFI vinyl LP's, and 3) the MOFI CD's.  I suggested the MOFI CD over the regular CD based on SQ, not on the quality of the gold disc- if that is what you were getting at.  Out of time- the CD is OK, the vinyl version a little better.  Document- the original LP is great, the EMI LP reissue is stunning, and the original CD is listenable, but not special.  However, I agree with Babcock that most of REM's 80's output and some of it's early 90's output as being essential, so go ahead and buy the regular CD's.  They are OK quality- certainly listenable, but nothing amazing.  Some of the REM vinyl releases sound stunning, though the Monster LP is not so great, but still better than the CD.

Fleetwood Mac Rumours- the 80's CD you have is the worst version.  You may be happy with it, but I can tell you from owning 4 different versions of Rumours that it is clearly the worst.  Here is how I would order them:  Original 70's LP, Legacy CD, Nautilus LP, 80's CD.

Bob Dylan Albums- geez- he's a monster of the last century- here are what I think are his best:
Highway 61
Blonde on Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Bringing it all back Home
Blood on the tracks
Desire
Nashville Skyline
time out of mind
Love and Hate
Another side of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan and the band.

[ricmon]

Vivid -
Living color

Live this disk,  Has given alot of pleaseure for many years souds great and because of the bas shy mix it can be played very loud


Pink Floyd -
The Wall current version on amazon, is this remaster any good? I know my non-remaster rip from a friend is great.

Got this album put this weekend to take a listen and boy was I diasapointed.  the music laked dynamics and sounded a little closes in or compressed.   Did even come close to Frank Zappa's Apostrophy (all run out and find vinyl version super great sound!!!!!!!

[Folsom]

I think I will replace my version of Rumours.

Bob Dylan wise I think I will go with -
Oh Mercy
Desire
The Free Wheelin' Bob Dylan

Crap on the Pink Floyd... I will look for an old version. Oh well

I am really curious about the Bruce Springsteen albums... I really want to get some of his Live stuff where he is putting it down with the guitar.

A few more CD's I have found I might want..

Wishbone Ash - Argus (remastered)

The Vapros - Turning Japanese - The Best of the Vapors (remastered import)

I usually buy based on what I want the most, and what is avalible (rather becoming unavalible). I hate when albums become unavaible so I have to hunt for them!

I actually have some rap on my list because I want to own some good stuff.... like Public Enemy. I do enjoy it, but mostly in the car.

[mcrespo71]

Neil Young -
Fill me in guys, I was looking at the Greatest Hits, but I like having full albums more.

Albums I have- on vinyl- (BTW, I rarely buy CD's of 60's or 70's music because that was when they mastered properly and when the vinyl version is generally king):
Harvest
Rust Never Sleeps
After the Gold Rush

These are all excellent albums and you can play them straight through.

[Folsom]

I agree about Vinyl but I find myself unwilling to go for everything on Vinly. The time it takes to basically operate the turn table and flip the record... I am so busy that I only go for certain albums on it. There are a lot of very good CD's from all eras, but then again there are some bands that got nothing but Vinyl.

Neil Diamond so far, nothing but Vinyl. Listening to a CD by him it just.... No. The same goes for Creedence Clearwater Revival as of yet. At one point I had a chance to try the 20-bit ones but they would not play on ANYTHING. I have no idea what was wrong with them.

Also I just buy Vinyl I can find locally usually, it is expensive to buy a lot of online new.

[Thump553]

Like you, I generally don't like greatest hits albums.  But speaking as a Neil Young diehard fan for 35+ years, I strongly recommend "Decade", a triple album/double CD greatest hits and more that came out in the mid-seventies.  This plays like a "real" album and the unreleased stuff that came out on it is great also.  "Lucky 13" is a nice sampler from the Geffen years (the label that sued him for releasing "uncommercial" music-and he certainly wandered among the styles then).  As far as Neil Young regular albums, my very favorites include:

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere-awesome album, esp for 1969, recorded in a few days right after the group formed

Zuma-electric NY, a personal favorite

Comes A Time and Harvest Moon-softer, acoustic style NY

Rust Never Sleeps-his first, and best, among the feedback/arena/ear bleeding rock style

Bob Dylan-I have a hate/love/hate relationship with Dylan's music.  Again, the greatest hits packages are very nice overviews.  I tend to like the Bootleg series for the gems that pop up there.  Blood On The Tracks would be my nomination for his most cohesive, enjoyable album-although I personally have overplayed it to death years ago.

Tom Petty-I prefer the original (Roger McGuinn/The Byrds) more, but a personal favorite is Southern Accents-not many hits here, but the album as a whole fits together great.  Full Moon Fever is similar to Wildflowers.

Best of all, you can pick up all of these at $5.99 per single album shipped from yourmusic.com.  The Dylan there is SACD.

[Folsom]

I have been thinking about doing Yourmusic. They have a lot of music, not all I want, but a lot of it.

I need to look into the details a little bit more on it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Wayner]

I just scored 1000 albums that were only played once, and most are from Germany. I now have almost complete collections of Dylan, Floyd, Almond Brothers, THE BOSS, Alan Parsons, Steeley Dan, Stephane Graphelli, and the list goes on and on. Lots of Art Pepper, Roxy Music and Stanley Turrentine are also in there. My reason for the posting is how amazing the German pressings are and especially when almost all albums are perfectly flat and have almost no noise! My VPI, Empire and AR turntables never sounded better. Look out CD's, your slip is showing!