Records where the musicians sound like they are in the room with you

My first thought was Dylan's "Man in the Long Black Coat" from Oh Mercy. Intimate — and spooky as hell.

 

Only certain tracks from Let It Be and most of Beatles For Sale give me that vibe. The rest sounds too tweaked.

This is a far better example.

 

i actually think the new 45rpm LPs give this kind of quality...i am a fan of them.

 

I always thought Brooce didn't smoke. Not so?

 

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (Shaded Dog vinyl)

 

Bill Evans - Undercurrent (Toshiba BT only)
It has distortions but certainly has the feel either.

 

Buena Vista Social Club

 

The Very Best of Roy Orbison (DCC)

 

I will go with Joao Gilberto récord from 1973. Great musician just In your room

http://www.discogs.com/João-Gilberto-João-Gilberto/master/85313

 

I dunno if he smokes or not. But the mood of the album makes me think there'd be a cigarette burning in an ashtray on the table.

 

Steve snuck a nice bonus of Nat singing 'Stardust' with a dry vocal on the DCC cd. Now that is in the room and natural.

 

Chris Cornell' Songbook. Unbelievable pipes and so intimate. One of my faves.

I have to agree about Folk Singer. Heard it for the first time in my life last week. Was blown away. Ordered it on the 45rpm release. That would be the best example.

 

Elvis materials recorded by Bill Porter, which can be heard by Steve's remaster for DCC.

 

The trouble with 'Folk Singer' (depending on your taste) is the common mix has the added reverb. The dry mix is the real in the room one to hear.

 

Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall
Frank Sinatra - Nice 'N' Easy (MFSL)
Beck - Sea Change (MFSL)
Bob Dylan - Love and Theft (first pressing)
Dupree - Nuestro Camino
Spoon - Gimme Fiction

 

John Frusciante - The Empyrean lp
John Frusciante - Curtains lp
The Nat King Cole Story 45 rpm lps

 

That IS an amazing sounding record, and it's amazing music. I have an old Brazilian copy on CD which sounds much more dynamic than the compressed HDTracks version.

As Doug indicates, what most people think of realistic is actually compressed. In real life, dynamics are startling, and few recordings try to capture that, because most people don't want the loud parts that loud or the soft parts that soft (with good reason).

 

An old classic from way back Michel Jonasz - La Fabuleuse Histoire De Mr Swing track 2 of disc 2 ( Le Temps Passé )

 

Nat 'King' Cole

 

The APO reissues of this one and Holly's Temptation both qualify. I'll throw in APO's reissue of Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin'-- and this one (I have the Stockfisch SACD marketed in east Asia):

 

Just listened to that first Pale Horse and Rider album the other day and got that vibe.

 

In theory, any binaural recording should give something of an "in the room" effect. (I know our host has expressed a dislike for this type of recording - I imagine it presents certain mix/mastering difficulties to say the least and who is to say that the head is positioned where each of us would choose to sit).

Although Trinity Sessions isn't truly binaural, I believe the single stereo mike used may have (unintentionally?) yielded a similar result.

A decent modern binaural recording with a similar feel to the Trinity Sessions, though a bit more cheerful, is Amber Rubarth's Sessions from the 17th Ward.

Other favourites of mine are Sinatra '57 and Diana Krall Live in Paris.

I'll be scouring this thread for other recommendations - nice topic!

 

IRON MAIDEN "Piece of Mind"

 

Can you confirm which CD version has the dry mix? TIA.

 

Bruce doesn't smoke, detests smoking. Probably the #1 reason he is able to do what he is doing "live show" wise these days.

Bill Evans "Blue In Green" Aug. 1974 Hull, Canada - plain vanilla Milestone cd remixed and mastered with a Mitsubishi X-80 tape recorder