Your quietest album on vinyl (as a showcase of pops and ticks!)

My nomination goes to King Crimson Lark's Tongue in Aspic. This album is so QUIET much of the time that even looking at it, it looks strange. There's so little info carved into the vinyl that much of it looks super shiny. That's because much of the album is populated by gentle chimes, low wailing violins, stuttering string staccatos -- while at the same time going full-throttle on dynamic range -- delicate tinkle to a Wall of Guitars in a heartbeat -- the result of this wonderful minimalist music and broad dynamics is that it's an open playing field for pops, tic, scratches, and dirty. I love Side One of Lark's Tongue in Aspic, but those low-level passages are just askin' for trouble!

 

That's the one that came to mind when I glimpsed the thread title, funnily enough!

 

Probably one of my Brian Eno ambient records. Pretty quiet stuff.

The ultimate would be that John Cage piece. You know the one!

 

The track "Moonchild" from Crimson's first album is another example.

 

The Universal reissues of the Sinatra Capitol albums are super quiet, and then insanely quiet when I use a Y-connector to cancel channel differences. In The Wee Small Hours in particular.

 

Concur...two more to go!
(oh, they sound good, too...)

 

This is not my copy, but:

 

Why would someone bother posting such a noisy recording? A favorite piece of mine BTW. Was at the New York premier way back when.

 

Yes, but the clicks and pops just become part of the piece.

 

MFSL Tapestry by Carole King.

 

Simple Minds' Street Fighting Years. I have tried but not found a totally clean copy.

 

I guess mine would have to be Sounds Of Silence. A compilation of thirty historical recordings of 'silence'.

 

Kate Bush’s Fifty Words for Snow is an astonishing album in its use of the sapce between notes to evoke the dead quiet of a winter night.

The EU vinyl pressing is superb. The US pressing has so many crackles that it was a good thing that they included a CD, because that’s all i would ever play.

 

Gillian Welch The Harrow And The Harvest

"A single LP mastered for vinyl direct from the analog tapes by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on their own custom-built VMS 80 lathe with Ortofon amplifiers, this pressing of Gillian Welch's The Harrow & The Harvest is the first vinyl record to come out on Acony Records." - from the Acony website

Stunning.

 

Are you talking about the quietness of the music or the pressing?

 

The quiet music, as it were, the notes (or lack of) between the notes. If there's any breaks, you think there's nothing playing.
It's on a par for my ears with the King Crimson Larks' Tongues In Aspic the OP mentioned.

 

I agree. I have a Presswell banded promo copy that just sounds so quiet and clean. I really think Atlantic put special care into the mastering and pressing of this particular album. even my stock copy sounds amazing as well.

 

Morton Feldman is the master of space in composition, and for that reason I only listen to him on CD.

 

I'd love to hear the resonance on vinyl, but ultimately I think you are correct. Any pop or click would ruin the mood.

 

Coldplay - Ghost Stories

Only because it has that 2 minute silent gap between parts of a song. The Optimal pressing doesn't have much noise either.

 

Mines are Metallica - Master of Puppets from the recent boxset and Chris Cornell - Higher Truth. They truly are noise free on my setup.

 

Strangely, I'm listening to this new arrival (as in arrived today) as I read this thread. This one screams for pops and ticks and they are very few and far between. A great platter to test the mettle of your system.




Roedelius* / Hausswolff* ‎– Nordlicht
Label:
Curious Music ‎– curio 8
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Numbered, Clear
Country:
US
Released:
31 Mar 2017
Genre:
Electronic
Style:
Abstract, Experimental, Drone

 

I was talking to a guy on Youtube (comments section) of his video who said something to the effect of loving records because he's nostalgic for the sound of pops and clicks. I mean, I'm not into vinyl anymore but I understand why people love it, I just never thought surface noise was one of those reasons.

 

Probably Lark’s Tongues for me too. Brian Wilson Presents Smile was pretty quiet too.

Also: anything with the mono switch on.