The old Warners CDs of American Beauty and Workingman's Dead by Grateful Dead sound fantastic to me. The original Queen - Jazz CD and Greatest Hits (CDP catalogue numbers). I also really liked the original Queen II CD but I don't have it anymore and haven't heard it for years. Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet and Aftermath (London), Exile On Main Street (CBS) Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks Neil Young - After the Goldrush, Zuma, Comes A Time and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn (CDP catalogue number) The Dennis Drake mastered Ella Fitzgerald CDs The Smiths - 1st album (Rough Trade) Strangeways, Here We Come (Rough Trade - I have the gold CD pressing) Iron Maiden - 1st album (Fame CD) Metallica - Kill, Ride & Master (Vertigo CDs) Bee Gees First (RSO) Ultravox - The Collection The Stranglers - The Collection (1976 - 82) all sound great to me.
Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night is a classic example. Also, the Eurythmics’ 80s albums. The ABBA Polydor CDs Duran Duran’s Seven & The Ragged Tiger and Notorious.
There are many......here are a few David Crosby- If Only I Could Remember My Name Elton John- Greatest Hits Paul Simon- Graceland The Alan Parsons Project- I Robot Supertramp- Crime Of The Century Steely Dan- Gaucho Santana- Caravanserai Have fun
Toshiba Black Triangle if you find cheap such as The Beatles - Abbey Road Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of The Moon Bill Evans - Undercurrent Tsuyoshi Yamamoto - St. Elmo
Bill Evans - Consecration on Alpha Jazz or Timeless Beach Boys CP21 The Eagles CDs mastered by BD CSN&Y - So Far mastered any BD
3 that are far above most due to our host work on them.... Buddy Holly From The Original Master Tapes Who's Next Dave Mason Alone Together
I think this discussion may be going off course. I had the impression that OP was specifically asking about cheap “budget” discs from the 80s that end up sounding great. He specifically mentioned What’s Going On from the “Motown Compact Classic” series. Most of the replies have been about 80’s mastered CDs in general, which isn’t quite the same thing. A discussion about budget discs, bargain bin staples, cheap-looking editions that sound great is, to me, a more interesting notion.
Well I have noticed that there's a preference for older CDs in a lot of corners of this forum. That wasn't really squaring with my personal listening experience until I recently started revisiting and doing some spot-checking. I think that once my ear began to get attuned to/seduced by the smiley "car EQ" and added volume of 90s CDs (usually with accompanying 20k or 24k hype), I lost interest in first-gen CDs which were probably truer and flatter in many cases. I've seen articles suggesting that the 90s' 20k and 24k remastering hype was essentially the "180 gram audiophile vinyl" marketing angle of the time. Maybe the difference I heard in many of these releases had more to do with added loudness and enhanced high and low end rather than sampling rate. Was I sucked in by added sugar and MSG?
Deep Purple - Made In Japan Al Di Meola - Casino Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing Who's Better, Who's Best Warren Zevon
You mean this one? The Patsy Cline Story - Wikipedia Just about perfect except for that damn "Tra La La Triangle" song.
Afraid so, but you're not the first and won't be the last. I can't remember if it was you or someone else that mentioned as your equipment improves the fallacy of remastered become overwhelmingly apparent.
Since MFSL has seemingly cancelled this previously announced release, maybe I'll just grab the old CD. You mean the Warner Bros. CD 3296?
I definitely agree on the first 2, but would suggest to the OP read some threads here on them. They can both be found cheap but it is tricky to identify a Who's Next mastered by SH since he is not credited. And for the Buddy Holly, some feel the Made in Japan version sounds better (I am one of them). Still not too difficult to find it cheap. I do not have the Dave Mason so I may have to add that to my wish list.
The original RCA CD of Bruce Hornsby was never remastered (except for 2 rare Japanese reissues), it sounds fantastic.
Yes, I said something along those lines. To me it seems harder to hear what’s good about a more balanced mastering job on cheap equipment. On the same gear, the caricature that exaggerated bass and crispy treble creates can sometimes seem like an improvement - particularly to the casual listener.
I disagree wholeheartedly. The later remasters of these titles sound terrific to me. Beggars Banquet on London Records e.g. suffers from wrong speed and hiss.... there should be lots of threads about these titles.