Top 10 best sounding rock of the 60s - early 80s

[sbo6]

I'm back into vinyl and enjoying it very much. What I find myself doing as of late is - finding the music of my youth that I had mostly abandoned from an audiophile perspective on vinyl that, when A - B versus digital is markedly better. So my ask is - what are your top 10 rock albums sonically and musically that are cut from analog tapes? Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[Dogberry]

I'll be no help to you. I grew up listening to "vinyl" in the 1960s and bought my own first record in the early 1970s.* Went on buying records until the late 1980s when a gift of a CD player made me start buying CDs. Bought those silvery bastards for 25 years, and then went back to "vinyl." Despite having around 3k CDs, I have probably spent more on buying more "vinyl" and analog upgrades since then. I rarely play a CD now.
I mean no disrespect to you by putting "vinyl" in quotes. I call them records and I understand the very young call them other things, like "vinyl." So what do I play from the 60's to early 80's on vinyl? Original (Parlophone mono) Beatles. Moody Blues, Fairport Convention, Steely Dan, Supertramp, Pink Floyd. Even today I have two records in the mail from the 60's and 70's. Cleaned up (rather laboriously by my method) they sound wonderful! Pretty much anything you liked at the time can be found again today, and cleaned up—yes, you MUST do this—and will sound great. Only abused records fail to come out of my cleaning regime without being silent. I cannot cure scratches.
All I can say to encourage you is to visit discogs.com, buy only mint versions and enjoy once again your youth.

Chris

*Really? You want to know? OK, first was a copy of Ravel/Bolero/La Valse (but what was on side 2? I don't recall and that might be why I can't find it now on my many shelves of LPs), and the second was certainly Nilsson Schmilsson.

​

 

[sbo6]

Thanks Chris. I get the records versus vinyl, we're probably not that far off in age. My first real record that I got as a gift was the Beatles best of Blue album circa 1971 I'd say.

Also, yep, been scouring Discogs for mint condition oldies. So far, comparing them to the best digital I have or can stream, 9/10 are better than their digital counterparts.

 

[Dogberry]

I can't tell you whether to compare streamed recordings against hard copies. I use internet radio as background music, but I'm unwilling to write off my investment in hard copy LPs and CDs (I confess, I threw away all my hundreds of cassettes). There is pleasure in hard copies, and just as I have hundreds of books* on shelves, I find comfort in shelves of music.

Chris
*Currently re-reading The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, as there should be some point in buying thousands of books, just to keep me entertained in my old age. Who knew the first epistolary novel may have been written in 1771? And as a Wiltshireman, I rather enjoy the hero's adventures.

 

[stehno]

I'll toss this one out there as a no brainer. A bit rough around the edges but still worthy of max volume.

Sorry for the digital but I can assure you it originated from analog tape.

 

[stehno]

Another potential no brainer from my digital collection that originated from analog tape. Only worth listening to at realistic volume levels.

 

[chet atkins]

I'll toss this one out there as a no brainer. A bit rough around the edges but still worthy of max volume.

Sorry for the digital but I can assure you it originated from analog tape.

i would love to hear drive all night by springsteen on this amazing system

 

[stehno]

i would love to hear drive all night by springsteen on this amazing system

Thanks, Chet. It's much appreciated.

Sorry but I've only two Springsteen cd's and most of the tracks seem fairly poorly-engineered in an almost funky way. A greatest hits and Human Touch and neither contains that song. Maybe this track will do as it's also one of the better engineered recordings from the greatest hist cd? Give it at least some juice please.