The Best in your collection

DaveyF

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I would be very interested to see what the other members consider to be their 'absolute best' recorded piece in their collection, be it vinyl, CD, RTR or other. In my case, the best recording I own is the LP by M&K: 'For Duke' .
This LP is so well recorded that IMHO it has set a standard in my collection and has done so for many years. What's your nomination?

Remember this is the 'What's Best Forum':)
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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5. Verve 24Masters of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
4. Analogue Productions "Hoodoo Man Blues" Junior Wells
3. FIM "Three Divertimenti Strings Serenata" Mozart
2. MFSL "Folksinger" Muddy Watters
1. Reference Recording "Pie Jesu" John Rutter & Turtle Creek Choir
 

Johnny Vinyl

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I've been buying a lot of audiophile pressings in the last 3 years, but nothing so far has outdone Neil Young: Live At Massey Hall 1971. This LP is so stupendously well done that it'll be my reference for years to come.

Some runners-up are:

Steely Dan - Aja (Cisco)
Alan Parsons Project - I, Robot (Mofi)
Jose Feliciano - Feliciano (Speakers Corner)
 

Ronm1

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I have more of course, this will do to start but ones that continue to amaze me and my audio buds are

Saxophone Colossus, Way Out West - Sonny Rollins
Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section
These three are 192/24 2ch only dvda's I/we have these in so many formats its almost a sick joke
On good h/w they are pretty special.

If I could only remember my name - David CrosbyDVDA
Guitar Noir - Lawrence Juber - AIX DVDA

Redbook
Anima - Mike Fahie BJU
HB @ CH - Harry Belafonte K2HD I have numerous versions including needle drops, at the moment this appears to steal the show.
Out of this Mood - Lyambiko
Midnight Sugar - Tsuyoshi Yamamoto TrioTBM
 
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Ronm1

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Beware ... there is a parallel thread that is attempting to say playback path quality trumps recording quality.
No trumping just equal footing, its only common sense. I know, I know, audio & common sense oil & water
 

flez007

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If I had to choose one, it would be Terje Rypdal - Descendre - ECM/WB vinyl pressing.
 

RogerD

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All of these are live recordings and have a beautiful ambient quality. These are just a few that I always enjoy playing.

Neil Young, Massey Hall,the red book is very good and has wonderful bloom,the DVD is even better.

Music from Hollywood Columbia CK66691,This recording was done at the Hollywood bowl 2 months before JFK was assassinated. It was recorded using a 2 inch video recorder and the ambient quality is exceptional.

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=1&threadID=41254&archive=1


Annapolis Sounds 1 and 2 and Eternal Father Vol II These are CD's done by recording engineer Charles Richardson. Charles uses his Rezerex process to restore the 40 year old tapes. Again the ambient quality is stunning and there is one cut of a organ piece that gives me goose bumps.

All these CD's totally disappear and have tremendous natural bloom.

There are many tapes that are very good....I like Ella and Louis especially...the Verve 2 tracks are wonderful.
 
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RogerD

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All very interesting Ron, Roger and Lloyd, BUT IF you had to pick just one....what would it be?:)

I can't do it....deserted island maybe,then it would be Music from Hollywood,just because I love film music.

The original Program from the performance! & what a performance it was.

Thanks to Ron Burbella for the complete concert program.


And now, the actual concert program:

FIRST HALF:
Elmer Bernstein.............THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
David Raksin..................LAURA
John Green.....................RAINTREE COUNTY
AN ANTHOLOGY OF TELEVISION THEMES (Cond. By Nelson Riddle)
- ROUTE 66 (Nelson Riddle)
- DR. KILDARE (Jerrald Goldsmith)
- 77 SUNSET STRIP (Jerry Livingston-Mack David)
- BONANZA (Jay Livingston- Ray Evans)
- PERRY MASON (Fred Steiner)
- MY THREE SONS (Frank De Vol)
- THRILLER (Pete Rugolo)
- THE ELEVENTH HOUR (Harry Sukman)
- CHECKMATE (Johnny Williams)
- WAGON TRAIN (Jerome Moross)
Bernard Herrmann.....THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO (4:45)
(The Memory Waltz)
Bernard Herrmann.....NORTH BY NORTHWEST (3:23)
(Main Title)
Max Steiner...............GONE WITH THE WIND (Tara's Theme)
(Conducted by Percy Faith)
Max Steiner...............A SUMMER PLACE (2:40)
(Conducted by Percy Faith)
Alex North..................CLEOPATRA (6:38)
(Caesar's Assassination)
(Cleopatra's Entrance Into Rome)
Henry Wieniawski........CONCERTO #2 FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA
IN D MINOR
(Mahlon Merrick, Conductor)
(Jack Benny, Violinist) (!)

*** INTERMISSION ***

SECOND HALF:
Miklos Rozsa.................BEN-HUR (Prelude)
Miklos Rozsa.................BEN-HUR (Parade of the Charioteers)
Franz Waxman..............A PLACE IN THE SUN (Suite)
Henry Mancini...............DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
Henry Mancini...............HATARI (Baby Elephant Walk)
Henry Mancini...............PETER GUNN
MEDLEY OF ACADEMY AWARD WINNING SONGS (Arr. By Johnny Mandel)
(Henry Mancini, Conducting) (Andy Williams, Vocalist)
- LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING
(Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster)
- MONA LISA (Jay Livingston-Ray Evans)
- ON THE ATCHESON, TOPEKA AND THE SANA FE
(Harry Warren-Johnny Mercer)
- ALL THE WAY (James Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn)
- MOON RIVER (Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer)
Alfred Newman.............HOW THE WEST WAS WON (Main Title)
Alfred Newman.............CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (Conquest)
Dimitri Tiomin................HIGH NOON (Arr. By Morton Gould)
Dimitri Tiomkin..............THE ALAMO ("The Green Leaves of Summer")
(Mahalia Jackson, Vocalist)
FILM THEME FANTASY (Conducted by John Green)
- WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR (Leigh Harline)
- THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Hugo Friedhofer)
- PICNIC (George Duning)
- EXODUS (Ernest Gold)
- AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS (Victor Young)
- HI-LILI, HI-LO (Bronislau Kaper)
FINALE - A GESTURE OF APPRECIATION (The Entire Cast)

**************************************************************************
What Hollywood film music star power was on one stage for one
night! Were any of our veteran contributors lucky enough to
attend? Even relative newcomers "Johnny" Williams and
"Jerrald" Goldsmith were represented? I had tried for a long
time to tape Harry Sukman's noble theme to THE ELEVENTH HOUR
off the TV speakers without success (meaning without the "voiceover").
Anybody know if this is on any LP or CD compilation?

And just what was "A Gesture of Appreciation?"

Ron Burbella
 
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Ronm1

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All very interesting Ron, Roger and Lloyd, BUT IF you had to pick just one....what would it be?:)

Like Roger I just cannot do. I've got thousands of Dvda's, Sacd's Cd's and an easy conservative figure is that 20% are superior, so now we are talking hundreds....heck I have the Massey Hall disc and its great, but I didn't list it cuz I feel the others at this moment are ahead of it. Picking one not a chance. Just imagine if I had to include the 2500 lps in storage.
 

DaveyF

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Ron, nothing that stands out a little more than the rest?:D

I have numerous LP's that I could nominate as close or in 2nd place, but I do think the very best recording I have is :"For Duke".
 

Ronm1

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Best I can do is add a few more...

DVDa(all mlp except the first four)
Muddy Waters - Folk Singer
I Robot- Alan Parsons
Turn Of the Friendly Card – Alan Parsons
Eye in the Sky – Alan Parsons
Almost Like Being in Jazz 96/24 Hugh Masekela StraitAhead2ch only
Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
Morh the Cat – Donald Fagen
Tommy – The WHO
Guero – Beck
Sea Change – Beck
Gaucho – Steely Dan
Perception box set – The Doors The dvda's are superb with the added bonus of a great improvement on Redbook also included
Imaginary Day – Pat Metheny Group

Sacd
Concierto – Jim Hall
Bach: the Goldberg Variations – Glenn Gould Zenph re-performance
Retrospective – Rebecca Pidgeon
Verse – Patricia Barber
Beethoven violin Concerto in D| Mendelsohn violin Concerto in E minor – Heifetz-Munch BSOliving stereo
Waltz for Debbie – Bill Evans Trio Riverside
Nickel Creek - This Side
Bach: Four Great Toccatas & Fugues @ the Four Organs of Freiberg – E.Power Biggs

Redbook
Paganini for Two Shaham:Sollscher
Sonate per Archi #1-6 Rossini - NBK/Erxleben
Bob James & Earl Klugh: One On One jp K2HD
Jazz at the Pawnshop – [FIM] K2HD
Getz/Gilberto [FIM] K2HD
 
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LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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5. Verve 24Masters of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
4. Analogue Productions "Hoodoo Man Blues" Junior Wells
3. FIM "Three Divertimenti Strings Serenata" Mozart
2. MFSL "Folksinger" Muddy Watters
1. Reference Recording "Pie Jesu" John Rutter & Turtle Creek Choir

Oh...and 'Ray Sings, Basie Swings' on SACD Hybrid. Wow. Supposedly considered the best recordings of Ray Charles singing...overlayed on Count Basie Orchestra. They never actually played together, but imho, you'd never know by listening to it. and it truly is a great recording. And my favorite Ray Charles album of the 3-4 i own.
 

puroagave

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Sep 29, 2011
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Dave, if you're talking best sounding recordings, most life-like i.e. "real" in other words a live mic feed directly to your system. The closest thing to live performers in your listening room - the absolute sound - then i would say the direct-to-disc LP. generally theres no compression, editing, mix down, intervening tape (30ips, dsd, whatever) or other "tricks." By far the best sounding recordings ive owned/own that meet that criteria are D2D.

The Mk For duke certainly is among the top tier it blows away the CD that was mastered from the analog tape. the MK "fatha," "hot Stix" and "Flamenco Fever" are three other standouts - flamenco now fetches 400+ bucks on ebay. i guess i made a serious miss calculation when i got $25 ea for 'em back in the day :eek: Besides the aforementioned Here's my list of best D2D Lp's:

Philips (jpn) Red Gardenia
Philips (jpn) Blues to east
Eastwind (jpn) The LA Four - Going Home & Pavanne
Eastwind (jpn) The three
Eastwind (jpn) The great Jazz trio direct from LA
Thosiba/EMI (jpn) The third - Take the A train
Rca (jpn) Ikuyo Kamiya - Beethoven "appassionata" 45 rpm
Rca (jpn) Lew Tabackin - Trackin' 45 rpm
Nautilus: John Klemmer - straight from the heart

most of the sheffields from this era like the Harry James, thelma houston, tower of power, dave grusin, james newton howard, amanda mcbroom and drum/track record, etc would make the cut. there were many more D2Ds on other labels and im sure this list could be longer.

PS - theres a D2D LP by stockfish in Germany that has a companion recording done live in DSD. I havent heard it but it would make an interesing comparison between SOTA LP and DSD reproduction.
 
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DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Rob, I'm talking about the best of the best in your collection ( sound wise), whether it be LP( and of course all of the various recording techniques used), CD, any other digital medium, RTR, cassette or any other medium you care to mention.

The one(1) recording that you feel is the "winner" in your collection!
I agree there are numerous contenders out there and numerous contenders in one's collection, BUT I am looking for the one choice that meets your criteria for "What's Best":)
 

puroagave

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it changes daily, hows that :p

if i were pressed id say reiners lt. kije, tomorrow it would be art blakeys moanin' they're only 7/10 on the sound meter but 11/11 where it counts.
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
6,129
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La Jolla, Calif USA
Rob, your'e talking about Lt.Kije-- the shaded dog? :confused:( HP for many years was saying this was one of his favorites too....although he used to say that "HiFi ala Espanola" on Merc was his #1)
BTW, anyone heard the vaunted "HiFi ala Espanola" ...lives up to the hype?:confused:
 

puroagave

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hifi has been reissued now maybe twice on Lp and CD. it was the holy grail and fetched 1200 at one time. you tell me what you think! HiFi ala espangnola and tabu tabuhan were two records i never understood. im not big on the mercury sound, me thinks some of HP's picks were as much about nostalgia as anything.

imo, the decca sxl 2000 series were the best classical records from the golden age followed by RCA and then Mercury.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
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La Jolla, Calif USA
hifi has been reissued now maybe twice on Lp and CD. it was the holy grail and fetched 1200 at one time. you tell me what you think! HiFi ala espangnola and tabu tabuhan were two records i never understood. im not big on the mercury sound, me thinks some of HP's picks were as much about nostalgia as anything.

imo, the decca sxl 2000 series were the best classical records from the golden age followed by RCA and then Mercury.

Rob, I haven't heard the original 'Hi Fi'. It is still very collectable and unfortunately, I don't have it in my collection....nor does anyone I know:(. Anyone here heard it?
 

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