Best Sounding CDs Ever?

  • Thread starter Thread starter willied
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Three of the top CD recordings for me are:

AC/DC - Back In Black: Not much new that I can add about this one that hasn't already been said.

KISS - Sonnic Boom Disc 2: I was never a big KISS fan, but this CD takes their music to another level. This CD picks up where Back in Black left off.

Halestorm - S/T: Yes this one is very modern sounding and loud, but I think it is balanced and well produced.
 
Fishmed said:
AC/DC - Back In Black: Not much new that I can add about this one that hasn't already been said.
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Which version do you prefer?

BNB was mastered 4 times.

Bob Ludwig – mastering (original LP)
Barry Diament – mastering (original CD releases)
Ted Jensen – remastering (EMI/Atco reissue)
George Marino – remastering (Epic reissue)
 
Hot House is very well done.

I would say Tony Rice's "Native American" is one of the best sounding records of all time. Produced by Bill Wolf. Phenomenal playing expertly mixed and mastered.
 
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Waltz Mastering said:
Which version do you prefer?

BNB was mastered 4 times.

Bob Ludwig – mastering (original LP)
Barry Diament – mastering (original CD releases)
Ted Jensen – remastering (EMI/Atco reissue)
George Marino – remastering (Epic reissue)
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I have the Ted Jensen – remastering (EMI/Atco reissue) version. Since I have not heard the others since paying attention to it, I don't know how they compare, but on its own, I do like like this one. I assume Bob's is the most perferred, but if not, which one is?
 
Kamakiriad by Donald Fagen just kills me. Every single event sounds like it was crafted individually. :cool:
 
For me its Queens of the stone age and Songs for the deaf. So much louder and powerful sounding than a lot of recordings without being a mess.... Always have to turn down a bit when a track pops up in my playlists!
 
Lost Horizon - Awakening The World

This has been my favourite CD since 2001, the year of it's release. Nearly a decade later, it still blows my freakin' mind every time I listen to it, which is fairly often. Everything on it is perfect. Of course, it helps that I love power metal.

Also, I was always sorta fond of the 1994 Led Zeppelin remasters.
 
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes i'll see you on the dark side of the moon.








:cool:
 
D_Vincent said:
Some of my favorite CD's have mostly been remastered.


Judas Priest-Turbo Lover...the song turbo lover sounds really good when the volume is cranked.
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Oh yes, the Priest remasters are brilliant, especially that one.
 
I have some that have always stood out from a production standpoint, even if the music means less over time.

Cat Stevens- anything produced by ex-Yardbirds Paul Samwell Smith. Oh man he KNEW how to get his stuff RIGHT!

Alice Cooper- Welcome to my Nightmare (Bob Ezrin). AMAZING production, one of my all time faves.

Kiss- Destroyer. Beautiful production done right.

Beatles- ol' George...what more to say?

Led Zep- Page did so much in this area it's sick. Forget his playing, his production skills were beyond the beyond!, no matter who took credit in the end.

AC DC- Stuff like Back In Black just was RIGHT!

Van Halen 1- no idea who produced it, but the sound!......BOMBS AWAY!
 
I love rock music but I can't list any rock album as being "best sounding". Depending on the day I will love or hate the same mix. For instance rage against the machine (the one with the burning monk) sounds awesome but some days I can't stand how fake the kick drum sounds. Repeat for any andy wallace mix.

I would have to go with the bob marley recordings as being the highest fidelity. (in the realm of multi-track recording)

If you want to talk about simple 2-track recordings, or multi-mic to 2 tracks, there are dozens of jazz albums that are incredible. I have an album of joe pass playing solo that is amazing.

In the end I love all of these styles for what they are. I mean you can listen to the old skatalites recordings and they aren't high fidelity by any means but they WORK. Some of the ravi shankar stuff is very high fidelity, and sounds very good to me. I also agree about the ry cooder recordings. The Ali Farkah Toure album recorded on a generator in Mali sounds awesome to me.
 
"superb recording quality means nothing to me if the songs don't move me. It can't make me like them more. Or to put it another way, the wonderful quality of a recording cannot in any way make up for crummy songs."
-Word. Good music, is good music regardless...and a polished turd is still crap.

Stuff that I think was done well:
Generation X: S/T (slightly lower production values, but it hurts nothing)
Mercyful Fate: Melissa
Just about any of the Silent Hill sound tracks, well done, and creepy.
Venom: Welcome to Hell
Misfits: American Psycho (decent guitar presence)
Tool: Aenima. (It's just intriguing to listen to).
 
Chris Isaak, self titled, great songs and amazing production. Very easy to listen to. Sarah Brightman, Dive. I'm not a drummer but the drums on this album blow me away. Actually all of Brightman's albums are well done, Frank Peterson is a great producer.
 
big favourite of mine at the minute is "the songs of leonard cohen" by leonard cohen...

i think it grabbed my attention so much because it sounds bad, and there are loads of plosives that duck the music and ,,,well,,,some of it sucks...


yet it's one of the greatest albums i've ever heard and i can't stop listening to it...


i just love it when the content is just so much more important than the production.
 
Steenamaroo said:
big favourite of mine at the minute is "the songs of leonard cohen" by leonard cohen...

i think it grabbed my attention so much because it sounds bad, and there are loads of plosives that duck the music and ,,,well,,,some of it sucks...


yet it's one of the greatest albums i've ever heard and i can't stop listening to it...


i just love it when the content is just so much more important than the production.
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Cohen's productions are curious; it's easy to have a love/hate relation with them. You're right, the content makes it worth it hands down, arguably one the best songwriters of the 2nd half of the 20th century (I'd personally put him in the top three.)

But getting past that and to the actual productions, he keeps them so simple and spartan that one is simultaneously pleased with the simplicity and cleanliness, and OTOH at the same time kind of frustrated that he didn't do more with them.

The saving grace IMHO is the huge number of covers of his stuff done by virtually every artist and producer on the planet; there's bound to be a version out there that works for just about anyone ;).

G.
 
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