The Missing Music

dallasjustice · Aug 2, 2014

I believe there's a lot of music that goes unmentioned. I was sort of inspired by Gary Koh. Not that Gary would agree with my music preferences.

Other than the usual suspects, which albums do you want reviewers to listen to when reviewing gear? I'll kick it off:

Metallica, And Justice For All

Phelonious Ponk · Aug 2, 2014

Van Morrison - It's Too Late To Stop Now

Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters

Rubber Soul - the mono remasters

New York Rock N Soul Review: Live at the Beacon Theater

Sorry....ran into Dylan's Bootleg Series, volumes 1-3 and got distracted...

Tim

asiufy · Aug 2, 2014

My favourite music genre, progressive rock, is remarkably absent from reviews. Other than the occasional Pink Floyd, I only remember Art Dudley mentioning, ONCE, a King Crimson album. A shame, really, as even though the recording quality is not generally fantastic, prog is usually very rich sonically, with lots of instruments and layering.

There's a new remix series coming out in hi-res (so far only on physical media, either DVD or BD), produced/engineered by Steve Wilson. So far they've done a lot of the medallions, Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and even XTC. All tastefully done, with more punch and separation between the instruments.

alexandre

Dre_J · Aug 2, 2014

Phelonious Ponk said:
...
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
...

Tim

Great Album. I even talked about it in print Here:http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/dr-feickert-analogue-woodpecker-turntable/

Dre

rockitman · Aug 2, 2014

I think Metallica would be the last thing I would choose for the upper tier of metal.

DonH50 · Aug 2, 2014

And your constructive criticism leads to what suggestion for "the upper tier of metal"? My son listens to metal so I am curious...

A few of my picks:
Amanda McBroom and Lincoln Mayorga (yes, I know, but I like them)
Flim and the BB's
Several of the Sheffield big band albums (Harry James and friends)
Al Di Meola
Return to Forever
Dave Grusin
Sanford
Earl Klugh
Casting Crowns (I really like "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day")
Joe Sample
McCoy Tyner
Mile Davis
Copland
Mussorgsky
Mahler (5th, of course, but others as well)

Don Hills · Aug 3, 2014

rockitman said:
I think Metallica would be the last thing I would choose for the upper tier of metal.

"... And Justice For All" isn't bad.

Iron Maiden's "A Matter Of Life and Death" is similar vintage and quite clean too.

If your interests in metal and high fidelity happen to intersect, you could take a look at http://www.metal-fi.com

My personal go-to album is currently A Perfect Circle's "Thirteenth Step". I find it very good for sorting good systems from less capable systems.

HedgeHog · Aug 3, 2014

"Justice" had the bass roll-off because of James and Lars' ego. It wasn't until the next album that production improved. "Load" is also a well produced album. I played a couple of tracks off Gojira - From Mars to Sirius for auditioning speakers.

I found the Audiophile Voices series from Premium Records sound pretty good when demoing.

asiufy · Aug 3, 2014

"And justica for all" sound horrible, IMO. Great album, though. The slick, dry sound is not my thing. Those gated drums are also awful. See the 2nd Dream Theater ("Images and words") for another great, but lousy sounding album.
Some Iron Maiden albums, on LP, up until 1990 or so, sound quite good! Unfortunately, most of the digital I heard suffer in comparison.

alexandre

dallasjustice · Aug 3, 2014

I used to think AJFA sounded too flat in the bass. I don't anymore. I think it was mixed "accurately." I picked it for reviews because it's very tough to reproduce. I think it sounds awesome.

LL21 · Aug 3, 2014

dallasjustice said:
I used to think AJFA sounded too flat in the bass. I don't anymore. I think it was mixed "accurately." I picked it for reviews because it's very tough to reproduce. I think it sounds awesome.

curious...I read a detailed article from HifiCritic which described the evolution of the Band and each of their albums...musically but also in terms of mastering quality. Didn't Metallica also have MFSL remasters done? Curious...have you heard any of them? Not a big Metal fan but happy to explore with a great album and a great mastering for some fun.

Do you recommend AJFA as the definitive place to start?

dallasjustice · Aug 3, 2014

I can't speak to mastering quality. I don't know.

I like this album for reviewers due to the challenges it presents to a standard 2CH system. I also think metal music is totally absent from reviews. I think there are a variety of reasons reviewers and audio shows cling to to the same 3 piece jazz productions from the 60s.

I also like AJFA because it was the last Metallica album with the garage band sound. Very shortly after AJFA, Metallica became an arena metal band. Naturally, the music had to adapt to their new status.

LL21 said:
curious...I read a detailed article from HifiCritic which described the evolution of the Band and each of their albums...musically but also in terms of mastering quality. Didn't Metallica also have MFSL remasters done? Curious...have you heard any of them? Not a big Metal fan but happy to explore with a great album and a great mastering for some fun.

Do you recommend AJFA as the definitive place to start?

LL21 · Aug 3, 2014

dallasjustice said:
I can't speak to mastering quality. I don't know.

I like this album for reviewers due to the challenges it presents to a standard 2CH system. I also think metal music is totally absent from reviews. I think there are a variety of reasons reviewers and audio shows cling to to the same 3 piece jazz productions from the 60s.

I also like AJFA because it was the last Metallica album with the garage band sound. Very shortly after AJFA, Metallica became an arena metal band. Naturally, the music had to adapt to their new status.

Thanks...i'll explore a bit on amazon and listen to a few albums just to get a better flavour. may try Metallica, their eponymous album. will also go back and re-read the HifiCritic article.

Johnny Vinyl · Aug 3, 2014

Roxy Music - the high road
ELO - Eldorado
Garland Jeffreys - Ghost Writer
Anita Baker - Rapture

Joe Galbraith · Aug 3, 2014

Dave Alvin Blackjack David
Linda Ronstadt What's New
Count Basie 88 Basie Street Original Pablo pressing
Pat Metheny What It's All About

Al M. · Aug 3, 2014

dallasjustice said:
I used to think AJFA sounded too flat in the bass. I don't anymore. I think it was mixed "accurately." I picked it for reviews because it's very tough to reproduce. I think it sounds awesome.

I agree. It sounds awesome also on my system. Great bass.

HedgeHog · Aug 4, 2014

Al M. said:
I agree. It sounds awesome also on my system. Great bass.

I guess that's why music is subjective and dependent on listener's preference (and that's ok). Here's Kirk Hammett's own opinion (http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jaso...for-all-bass-tracks-water-under-the-bridge/):

Newsted’s recent comments echo those made by Kirk Hammett during a 2008 interview, when he recalled, “The bass frequencies in Jason’s tone kinda interfered with the tone that James was trying to shoot for with his rhythm guitar sound, and every time the two blended together, it just wasn’t happening. So the only thing left to do was turn the bass down in the mix.”

Calling it “unfortunate,” Hammett added, “It was an experiment. We were totally going for a dry, in-your-face sound, and some people really like that sound. A lot of the newer-generation bands, especially, think that album sounds great. But at the end of the day, it was an experiment. I’m not really sure it was 100 percent successful, but it is a unique sound that that album has.”

I found the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Midnight Sugar and Misty (both SACDs) sounds pretty good in my setup.

Ronm1 · Aug 4, 2014

HedgeHog said:
I found the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Midnight Sugar and Misty (both SACDs) sounds pretty good in my setup.

I have the original RB and tend to play MS when friends, colleagues ask why I delve in this hobby. Another is
200 More Miles - Cowboy Junkies
They appear to get the 'you are there quality' with certain recordings. Another is HB@CH

rbbert · Aug 4, 2014

Well, call me a traditionalist, but I think Channel Classics SACD or PCM or DSD doenloads of Ivan Fischer and Budapest performing Rachmaninoff Symphony #2, Mahler Symphony #1 and Stravinsky Rite of Spring are fantastically well recorded and hit all the dynamic, volume and frequency extremes needed to evaluate a system's sound, as well as being great music. And I say this as someone whose music collection includes well over 10,000 hrs of rock and 5,000 of jazz.

garylkoh · Aug 4, 2014

dallasjustice said:
I believe there's a lot of music that goes unmentioned. I was sort of inspired by Gary Koh. Not that Gary would agree with my music preferences.

Other than the usual suspects, which albums do you want reviewers to listen to when reviewing gear? I'll kick it off:

Metallica, And Justice For All

I'll play

I also feel that reviewers, dealers and (I suspect) designers use way too narrow a range of music. As you said, Metallica And Justice For All is a challenge for many 2 Ch systems. The garage-band sound has some particular challenges to power delivery that I suspect is a cause for some thinness of sound in the upper bass. Heavy, short-cycle reverb can tax the power supply caps at exactly the frequency that the time-constant of some of the larger capacitors being used. (See Don's thread on power supply simulation to understand.)

Here's the latest of my "challenge albums". If you haven't heard it, you deserve to. Good production values, well recorded, dynamic, and challenging. Good music too!! If AJFA is "garage metal", Going To Hell is "girl metal".

Another album that would challenge a reviewer's system is the hard-to-classify Trioscapes. May be I will call it "jazz metal" from now on.

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