Records you truly love in spite of genuinely awful sound

It's too bad you know. It's painful to be in the same room as my stereo when I play that album. And since my inclination is to want to play that album loud, the metallic thwack of the drums makes me run for cover.

 

Crowded House, 1st album. Perhaps my problem is as much with the contemporary production than sound; but however it goes my teeth are on edge, trying to mentally peel away the '80s stylistic encrustations and digital glaze from what is, from a songwriting and pure performance p.o.v., a wonderful debut record. Fortunately they were to get better with every release going forward...at least up 'til Intriguer (the sound of that one a victim of modern production and mastering!!).

 

Raw Power

 

"Crowded House" doesn't bother me in the least. It's just a product of its time.

Heck, I like "Intriguer"(although not the mastering).

 

Half the stuff from the No-bass 80s.

 

Mountain - Climbing! But the massive bass almost makes up for the muddy sound.

 

All the brickwalled stuff from 2000 on

Liz phair. Exile in guyville. Its supposed to sound low fi

 

Ditto.

 

I like this record. What's wrong with it?

 

The music? Nothing. I love this album.

The mastering, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. It's one of the few albums I own where the lossy download is actually my preferred format - the CD sounds pretty bad too and my vinyl LP is actually worse than both. Even the lossy download is fuzzy and distorted and overall loud.

But I deal with it as the music itself makes up for it.

 

I'll have to listen to it again, I guess. I've never noticed what you've mentioned.

 

???? i think it sounds pretty good... lee perry is not for audiophiles...

 

Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
Yes - Yessongs
Anything by Django Reinhardt

 

gotta agree on the early stones stuff- 'money' is the best example i can think of, all that reverb and mic bleed sounds great to me.

cheers,
rob

 

Valtari by Sigur Ros and Lonerism by Tame Impala are two of the best albums of the last year and they sound terrible (at least on CD).

 

The Layla album.

I'll second Beck-Ola and add Truth.

 

Springsteen - The River
The Who - Odds & Sods (Polydor CD Re-Master)

 

Angel Witch S/T - guitar is burried
Introducing The Beatles always sounded distorted to me
Kiss -I thought Hotter Than Hell was awful -I only had the 8-track version...nope, the LP is nearly as bad
Rush -A Farewell To Kings - seems a bit "cold" - could be intentional

 

I've had issues with the sound of all of Kate's post Hounds Of Love releases. Interestingly this was when Del Palmer took over as engineer so maybe it's more to do with the engineering of the albums rather than the actual masterings. Director's Cut being the worst offender.

 

Voivod -rrooaarr

 

Soft machine Third



There is much worse I guess then Third but I wish it sounded better.
I thinks s/t and II got the short end on production as well.

 

Probably not to the taste of many here but I love Alter Bridge's records (well, the first 2 anyway) despite the brickwalling rising exponentially with each release. Their third was almost unlistenable, largely as a result of this.

 

I had a bunch of fun at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest by asking the various vinyl-oriented dealers to play my early (deep groove) pressing of Jimmy Reed's Rockin' With Reed and a WLP of Tadd Dameron's The Magic Touch.

They both sounded awful on the megabucks systems. The Reed record sounds utterly sublime on my 'home away from home' system with an Shure V15 III and a Dual 1229. The Dameron is a flat out awful recording,but the music is great.

 

The Who Sings My Generation. But of course, if that album was "well recorded" it wouldn't be the same.

 

Allman Brothers - SUNY at Stonybrook
Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends
Grand Funk Railroad - E. Pluribus Funk