Best sounding ‘early’ CDs you own. And also the ones you think benefited from a subsequent remaster.

I've been slowly grabbing those old CD-V's of Level 42, besides the 12 incher's, the best we are going to get SQ wise for those mixes

 

Yes, Notorious is just outstanding.

 

The remaster thing is tricky, imo. There's a good number of people who want CD's to sound like the original Vinyl, and that really is the be-all and end-all of the matter. I don't entirely agree with that, I want an engaging experience, and if that means hearing things I've never heard before, then that's okay.

It's really difficult to quantify, and makes discussions on the matter difficult. I have many original CD's that sound great, but I have remasters which I enjoy too.

 

Some of the first CDs that I bought which didn't impress me were

The Joshua Tree - U2
The Christians - S/T
Prince - Sign O The Times (I thought the vinyl sounded better)

I recently gave the 1998 remaster of Clutching At Straws a spin and prefer it to the original 1987 pressing....the quieter bits were just too quiet for me, especially when Hotel Hobbies bursts into life and I'm scurrying for the remote

 

The first lot of CBS/Columbia/Sony CDs were notably bad and practically synonymous with thin sound. There was also that notorious issue of Blonde on Blonde that edited the ending of at least one track.

Sony have turned their reputation around since and names like Vic Anesini and Mark Wilder are practically guarantees of quality, at least as far as I'm concerned. Some people complain about the 'bass boost' employed on certain issues (like the Essential series) but lack of bass was one of the things I found to complain about in 1st generation CDs.

 

I just hate too much compression, bright treble and an overly forward bass on albums where it wasn't overly forward originally. Most remasters jack things up to a degree where sure it sounds good and 'full' but after one track I'm starting to get listening fatigue. I have so many remasters like that.

 

That's really one weird-sounding CD. It's very harsh, almost shrill in places to my ears. Should get the LP some time, though I'm not the biggest fan of that album anyway

Anyway, it's insane how many of the named great-sounding early CDs can be had dirt cheap. I paid fifty cents for a mint CD copy of Ennio Morricone's score for the movie The Mission - it's a UK Nimbus pressing from 1986 and sounds insanely good. Same thing can be said for my copy of Madonna's True Blue, a german-pressed disc for the australian market which then somehow found its way onto an austrian flea market and from there right into my collection. Cost me two euros, also in NM to M condition. Glory days for buying CDs, until they see a mainstream revival one day and prices skyrocket as is the case with vinyl these days...

 

There was supposedly a great sounding remaster of SOTT from Japan a few years ago. Sadly it went OOP and Prince’s subsequent death meant prices soared...

 

Elvis Costello - The First 2.5 Years (Ryko)

 

Yet another one: Paul Simon's The Rhythm of the Saints. I never, ever saw a copy of that album here in austria - the first record store I walked into in Amsterdam drowned in first-run CD copies of that album. Of course, I got one and again, the sound is extremely good - the drums really float through the room and the dynamics are excellent.

 

*sigh*... that happens so often it's not funny anymore

 

It was a really nice MLPS version too. Wish I’d had the sense to pick it up early.

Of course, the standard CDs of Purple Rain and Around The World In A Day are a great example for this thread too.

 

1999 and Controversy, too.

 

I found this with the 2000 remaster of Promise yesterday. At first, I found it really detailed and clear, but by track 5 I just had to stop for a while.

 

All are welcome! Your 25 Best Sounding CDs

 

For me it was definitely classical music CDs, especially 20th Century composers. In the days when the recording chain was classified, I would say DDD generally sounder better.

 

The Anesini John Denver discs are better than the original RCA's.

 

I’m not a classical music fan, but it was such a huge selling point for CDs in the early days.

 

Robbie Robertson's Robbie Robertson (1987 B 24160-2 Geffen) is worth a listen. It has very good sound stage. I was listening to the LP version (Geffin WX 133 UK) the other day and thought, "Where is the separation between the vocalist?" I dug out the CD. When I played it I was amazed at the difference.

 

I seem to recall the 1988 Brian Wilson CD sounding very good too.

 

Sounds like someone’s going shopping.

 

I used to listen to that CD a LOT over the winter of 1987.

 

Guess what, I upgraded that to the remaster, for the dozen or so bonus tracks!

 

How can you tell? I see one with sonopress in the matrix...but what is the indication it is PDO?