I like that one as well as Ragtime Razzmatazz V. 1. The album that always stumped me was Winds of War and Peace. Never sounded good in any system that I owned. Someone told me needed to get the right pressing since at that time Doug Sax played around with his lathes.
I had both Winds of War and Center Stage and sold them as fast as I listened to them. Dry and boring. And I heard one of them when Wilson played it on the WaMM in the 1st Hong Kong Hifi Show in the early 90s. Sounded the same too. And a good friend who has the Alexandria MKII echoed the same comments as mine with these 2 orchestral recordings.
+1. And for me, I'll add Dafos, not bec of the 'beast drum', but there are 2 long cuts of exotic percussion music in there that leaves me breathless. And Tafelmusik LP too I like very much.
When I was in the Philippines - just being there 2 days was enough to make me thoroughly sick of this piece, even though I used to like it a lot having grown up with Bonanza on the TV (in black&white).
One of the most successful power pop bands of all time and, occasionally, one of the best. I'd have to go listen to their records again to comment on their audiophile qualities. Unless the sound is particularly bad or particularly good, I usually don't notice.
You don't find the RR amorphous, homogenized and gray? There's also something really weird going on in the upper octaves too. Too much wowee zowee and not enough stubstance. You should really find someone with the TTP release and hear the recording as it was intended!
I beg to differ... The performance in many can be said to be so at times, although they seem to have recorded better artists lately but the recordings are nowhere what you are describing. It would be hard to qualify their Respighi album with your epithet, even the performance is good... or their Rachmaninoff Album or their Tutti Orchestal Sampler album or even their Bolero! albums ...
I can understand aperson not liking the performances of most of RR albums, they are far from the last word in term of performance, some perfromances are good none I can remeber superlative but mostly decent and often amateurish but the recordings .. Come on !
The OP is about music that are well recorded but that sucks and several RR albums could qualify .. I could never get their Topic Affair album and would not claim Dafos as anything but supremely well recorded drums scant musical worth Their are more examples ... THe list of albums befitting the OOP has to be long
It remains that RR albums are standard bearer in term of recording and mastering excellence IMHO.
I beg to differ... The performance in many can be said to be so at times, although they seem to have recorded better artists lately but the recordings are nowhere what you are describing. It would be hard to qualify their Respighi album with your epithet, even the performance is good... or their Rachmaninoff Album or their Tutti Orchestal Sampler album or even their Bolero! albums ...
I can understand aperson not liking the performances of most of RR albums, they are far from the last word in term of performance, some perfromances are good none I can remeber superlative but mostly decent and often amateurish but the recordings .. Come on !
The OP is about music that are well recorded but that sucks and several RR albums could qualify .. I could never get their Topic Affair album and would not claim Dafos as anything but supremely well recorded drums scant musical worth Their are more examples ... THe list of albums befitting the OOP has to be long
It remains that RR albums are standard bearer in term of recording and mastering excellence IMHO.
Frantz: Are you talking about the analog or digital RR release?
So otherwise basically you're telling me (and many others) that we're crazy? Have you ever heard the two RR tapes and compared the LP and tape? If you heard the tape, believe me you'd then hear what I'm talking about.
The bottom line is that I voted with my wallet and stopped buying their releases (and note that I try and support every audiophile label as I have standing subs for many reissues series)-roughly after they remastered some of the Vox Turnabout recordings. I did buy their two newest, all digital on vinyl, releases and wasn't impressed either.
I had both Winds of War and Center Stage and sold them as fast as I listened to them. Dry and boring. And I heard one of them when Wilson played it on the WaMM in the 1st Hong Kong Hifi Show in the early 90s. Sounded the same too. And a good friend who has the Alexandria MKII echoed the same comments as mine with these 2 orchestral recordings.
Another LP that comes to mind is Cardas Records Alive in Little Bridges. 45RPM Direct Disc. 1 very long cut on each side. I couldn't get the music, supposed to be blues/rock. My good friend said the recording is very good.
All the Ana Caram discs sold like hotcakes in the Far East (true!) Whatever you thought of her singing (and I didn't think she could sing herself out of a paper bag), her backup band was amazing! Seem to remember Pacquito playing on several of her releases!
All the Ana Caram discs sold like hotcakes in the Far East (true!) Whatever you thought of her singing (and I didn't think she could sing herself out of a paper bag), her backup band was amazing! Seem to remember Pacquito playing on several of her releases!
Both.. I have heard the HRx version of some R and find them just stupefying .. We will have to move this discussion elsewhere at the end but for now .. RR are great recordings and albums on whatever medium they have been released (including LP from digital master apparently) and their HRx are to me stupendous.. I have never heard their tapes and I would grant you on your words that they are the last word in what RR is about (I believe HRx is that by the way) but for those who don't care about tapes and/or don't listen to it regularly the CD, LP, SACD will do and provide them with a basis of what great modern recordings are...
I have (had) several LPs as well as CDs .. Have not heard a tape and I would believe you it is good ... better ? I don't know haven't . heard them. In the here and now their current releases on any medium are good to excellent.. in term of recording ... music? Several befit the original post.
whart, most of the Soria series actually had the plain red label and not the famous shaded dog label. I posted on the 'shaded dog' forum (http://www.shadeddog.com) about my experience with the Milhaud LP and its plain red label.
As to the DW Lp's. I like mine a lot. But then, I also very much like the RR Arnold LP for the music as well as the sound!
Gary makes an interesting point. The show exhibitor or dealer has a very small window to make a positive impression on a potential customer. Do you go with great music/lousy recording or a great recording/so-so music?
Therein lies the challenge - I would always strive for great music/fabulous performance/great recording. I play a lot of "live" recordings because I prefer those. Patricia Barber or Diana Krall when it is requested - I play Live in Paris.
And the sum of that is still a positive? I guess so. I was asked that once by a fellow hobbyist who was a perfectionist of sorts, if I would bear listening my favorite artist in a bad recording, in my system. I answered 'no'. But I don't mind listening to them in my car or my kitchen boom box.
And the sum of that is still a positive? I guess so. I was asked that once by a fellow hobbyist who was a perfectionist of sorts, if I would bear listening my favorite artist in a bad recording, in my system. I answered 'no'. But I don't mind listening to them in my car or my kitchen boom box.
IN the end I just play the music I like, on my system .. When the recording is really bad and some are .. I seem to filter things out and just let the music flow ... Some recording are atrocious and that is a bother and I have come to use the EQ from foobar on those. I would admit that some are so bad, I can't get myself to listen to, such as the last Eryka Badu .. it is soooo compressed !!! There is no breathing, no singing IN one song the bass level is as high as her own voice and with any system capable of sustained high output in the bass, you can't focus on the song at all the bass is ovewhelming .. How can she accept that? o have found myself quite pleased with some mp3, especially the variable rates one (VBR) on my headphones based system ... There! I just lost the remaining of my audiophiles creds
And to add to the chorus of recordings with good sound and poor music ... Casino Royale .. TO this day IMHO, IME, FWIW, YMMV a bad album of poor music , cheezy music, including the famous "Look of Love" and I did look for that record for such a long time and the recording never struck me as anything worthy of its reputation... There was also another album highly recommended by HP too, Music for Bang, Broom and Barroom I believe, was the name ... Yuck ... The Shieffed drums record was to me poor music but it helped me calibrate my cartridge/arm and TT so ... There was at time where in any Audio show you went there was song by an artist called I believe Basia ... I would simply leave the room the second they played it and did they play it? Everywhere you went, every show , seemingly every audiophile leaning dealer had it .. i even heard it at Tower in Greenwich Village once ... Not the album one song ... Never inquired what was the name of the song .. nor from what album .. Myles would be able to tell ..
Someone told me needed to get the right pressing since at that time Doug Sax played around with his lathes.
