Recently I came across a post by a forum member recommending a cheap mid-line priced "Motown Compact Classic" series CD as his go-to release of What's Going On. "Ha!" thought I... until I saw Mr. Steve Hoffman's endorsement a comment or two down. I believe he replied, "That's the one." So I gambled $3 on Discogs, and I'll be damned. To my ear, the clarity and scope of sound beat all of the vinyl versions I've heard to date. I began to do a little more investigation and discovered a few more CDs released prior to the '94/'95 20-bit remastering craze that sound as good or better than their subsequent remastered versions. A few that are hard to beat IMO: The Best Of Isaac Hayes (Volumes 1 and 2) (1986) Stax/Enterprise, remastered from analog tapes by Joe Tarantino Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions / The Anthology 1961-1977 (1992) MCA, remastered by Robert Stoughton Big Star #1 Record / Radio City (1987) Line Records, mastering unknown Any other favorite great-sounding CDs from the 80s and early 90s?
You must be new here! There are thousands of great sounding discs from the '80s and early '90s (before the loudness wars). Probably hundreds of threads here that discuss them. Not sure of the best way to find those threads (maybe do a search for a specific title that you are interested in). Some examples of great sounding discs: Virtually any of the Time-Life compilations from before '94 or '95. Almost all of the '80s Motown mastered by John Matousek. Anything mastered by Bill Inglot - pre-1994 or so. Anything mastered by Barry Diament. Anything mastered by Steve Hoffman. Anything mastered by Dennis Drake.
Almost anything by the following artists mastered to CD in the '80s: Steely Dan Grateful Dead Led Zeppelin The Police Prince David Bowie Paul Simon Paul McCartney Queen Yes Rush Rolling Stones Fleetwood Mac Supertramp
Hey thanks for helping me get ramped up, I am pretty new to the forum. I was aware of Bill Inglot’s great work on Rhino reissues from the era, but not the others.
The old Virgin/Charisma Genesis CDs from the 80s. Not perfect by any means, as those old albums didn't benefit from high production values, but the old CDs are fairly true to the original sound of those recordings. I'm talking mostly about the oldest albums, Foxtrot through Selling England. But the Atcos and Atlantics of subsequent albums are also preferable over the more recent remasters, which are either remixed or use noise reduction. My old Genesis CDs are my pride and joy.
As a former Tower Records employee, I had multiple CDs by nearly all of these artists back in the day. However, by the mid-90s I was seduced by the boosted bass and high end of a lot of the 20-bit and, later, 24-bit reissues. A lot of 80s versions seemed pretty thin-sounding by comparison. To be honest, some of them still do (to my ears, at least) - but I’m surprised at how many discs I’d dismissed back then are so... listenable now. Of course, having a better grade of equipment now than I did back then probably doesn’t hurt, either.
Any Original Jazz Classics CD, usually with one of these names as the mastering credit on the back ...... Kirk Felton Joe Tarantino Phil De Lancie Gary Hobish
There should be plenty of threads here with suggestions. There's also some duds from the early days, so take note of those when they're mentioned as well.
I’ve always thought that the original Tears For Fears’ “songs from the great chair” is a great sounding CD
I was writing pretty much the same thing but in two seconds I realized how titanic was "The Seeds of Love" at the time
I just picked up Tango In The Night by Fleetwood Mac. 1987 release. Absolutely amazing. I also continue to recommend the original Chrysalis releases of Pat Benatar's first two albums. Best bass sound ever.
if you like some easy listening jazz, all the old Lee Ritenour catalogue on GRP is quite impressive I was spinning "Festival" yesterday, Brazilian infected smooth jazz, beautful sound, if you turn the volume up just a little bit
And don't buy any RVG Blue Note CDs. The original 80s CDs blow them away. Mastered by the aptly named Ron McMaster.
@Steven Henry there's a rule I follow generally that holds up very well. With a few boutique audiophile labels exceptions, some DCC, MFSL, Audio Fidelity and Analogue Productions releases, older is better. Those first Japanese and German production engineers really knew their stuff and it's played out many times for myself and others.
Few in my collection really stand out on a great system, two from the top of my head: Grace Jones - Island Life The The - Mind Bomb