What are the 5 best sounding non-audiophile albums in your collection?

Rage Against the Machine - S/T and Evil Empire (Both OP, standard weight vinyl, and stunning sound. Demo disks, both.)
Little Feat - The Last Record Album (OP, I don't know if I have a hot stamper or what, but it's crazy good.)
Pearl Jam - Vs. (OP, standard weight vinyl, demo disk sound)
Led Zeppelin - HOTH (It's actually a late 70's repress with the 19XXX catalog #, but I've never heard any digital or vinyl version that matches it. I play this first when I set up a turntable, and if it rocks, it's right.)

 

Talking LPs here:

Too tough to guess individual albums, but I think Traffic consistently had some of the best production / SQ of any band I can think of.

Oh, just thought of one individual pick -- Muddy Waters "Folk Singer"

 

I'll give you 500 -- all of the U.S. albums where they used regrind vinyl with the labels also regrinded into the vat!

 

Yes Fragile PLUM
The Police - Ghost in the Machine (initial release bests Super Disc audiophile pressing by a while)
Joni Mitchell - Court, Hissing and Hejira
Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky, The Pretender

 

I purchased this great cd (which I never heard before) for just 10 cent at a flee market during Queen's Day. Just like you I was flabbergasted...

 

I only have the reissue. But I do have original Vitalogy which is awesome. My No Code and Vs reissues are also prettt good!

 

The Harrow & the Harvest - GillianWelch
See You Around - I’m With Her
Cassadaga - Bright Eyes (to my ears, The People’s Key and Down in the Weeds Where the World Once was both sound great. Cassadaga stands out, perhaps, because of the ‘big’ sound).
Pure Comedy - Father John Misty
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco (I could have gone for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which is also fantastic sounding to my ears)

 

Dire Straits - On every Street
Chris Rea - Auberge
These two have an extremely threedimensional soundstage and superb details

Diana Ross - The Force behind the Power (bit artificial, but the reference for Disco)

Roger Waters - Amused to Death

Randy Crawford & Joe Sample - both Albums they did

Marillion - Fugazi for their unbelievable Bass at the beginning of Fugazi, which shows that many ‘High End’ speakers with their small diameter long throw drivers just can’t do it, they even get out of tact. JBL and Tannoys can do it though.

Buy there are a lot more than that (Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd, Santana, Miles Davis, Eddie Higgins, Coltrane, Laura Fygi, ...), many Jazz Albums are fantastic.

I exclude the ones from small labels like Stockfish and Sundance, which are generally superior

 

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name (Presswell)
Joan Armatrading - s/t
Pentangle - Basket Of Light (Australia)
Quincy Jones - Smackwater Jack
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing

 

Well...I would add:

1. Led Zep: II RL...lucky and blessed to have one, thanks to Dad
2. Allman Brothers: At Fillmore East pink label
3. Pure Prairie League: Two Lane Highway...WLY in deadwax
4. The Who: By Numbers...TML in deadwax
5. Hendrix: Axis Bold As Love...pink and green steamboat label

 

Ah should have put some more info about my copies - although very possible better still pressings out there. If so, please let me know!

Joan Armatrading US (SP-4911 M1 (MR) TML-M Hackit ◁ 20931)
Smackwater Jack (Canada gatefold)
Solitude Standing (Germany)

 

Fun game! And late as usual...5 is tough:

Beatles - Sgt Pepper (orig UK Mono). Recently purchased...can't believe it took me so long. Amazing!
Stones - Exile on Main Street (1st US pressing/Monarch with the b'way labels)
Pearl Jam - Vs (original)
Allman Brothers - Fillmore East (US/Capricorn pink labels)
Tom Petty - Wildflowers....the new 3 lp set sounds incredible

Also considered: Motorhead Ace of Spades (UK vertigo), Nirvana - Unplugged (original), David Bowie - Ziggy (US), Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (Columbia 6-eye)

 

Reviving a somewhat older thread, but I've really enjoyed reading all these! This just goes to show you don't have to shell out big bucks to get great sounding LPs, or 45s for that matter. So here's my top 5 (technically top 8)- trying to list stuff I haven't already seen mentioned
-ELO- Out of The Blue- Nearly any original US Pressing
-Deep Purple- Fireball/Machine Head/Who Do We Think We Are?- any of these on a first press WB Olive Green Label
-Boston- Don't Look Back- Wally Traugott master- Orange Label Epic first press
-Little Feat- Sailin' Shoes- WB Green Label first press
-Steely Dan- Royal Scam- Japanese first press on ABC- mind-blowingly good!
Lots of the WB green label releases from late 60s-early 70s are known for their great sound. Same for early mid 60's Columbia 2-eye pressings.

 

Haircut One Hundred: Pelican West (2002)
Peter Gabriel: Security
Simple Minds: New Gold Dream
Spandau Ballet: True
ABC: The Lexicon of Love

All the original CD releases except HC One Hundred.

 

Air "10000 Hz Legend"
Blood Orange "Freetown Sound"
Opeth "Damnation"
Mark Lanegan "Imitations"
David Lindley "El Rayo X"

first things that popped into my head. There are others...

 

Going through some more of my LPs and came up with these- All US pressings:
-Stevie Wonder- Innervisions- Tamla/Motown first press
-Kinks- Misfits- Robert Ludwig mastered- Arista first press
-Warren Zevon- S/T first LP- Asylum first press
-Bob Seger- Night Moves- Wally Traugott mastered- first press Orange label Capitol
-Frank Zappa- Waka Jawaka- Bizarre/WB Seven Arts first press. It's well known that FZ invested a lot of time and money
on the newest (at the time), state-of-the-art recording equipment for his studio, and you can hear it in many of his recordings.

 

Have been really enjoying the sound of my US Sire copies of Depeche Mode's Black Celebrayion and Music for the Masses lately.

 

Tracy Chapman - S/T
The Cure - The Head on the Door
REM - Automatic For the People
Intergalactic Lovers - Greetings and Salutations
Nick Cave - The Boatmans Call

 

1. Donald Fagen -The Nightfly (European first pressing)
2. Grover Washington, Jr. - Winelight (European first pressing)
3. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (German first pressing)
4. Joe Jackson - Body And Soul (European first pressing)
5. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (Early 80s pressing)

 

Bat Out Of Hell
Nebraska
Yessongs
Raw Power
Memory Almost Full

 

Yessongs? Really?

 

CD:

Dreams Japan 2009 (1970):

Don't know how this compares to any other version, but here we have extreme instrument separation, treble is over the top, bass range is ok. The album is so extremely bright it hurts my ears compared to other albums (e.g. Nilsson from same time period), but in this case I consider it a "feature". Album originally released in 1970. When they recorded this, they had to put in some serious effort to make it sound like this, maybe audiophile?

 

presumably all 5 of those were sarcastic

 

Figured Craig was being a smart-ass
There is a later US club re-issue CD of Bat that cleans up the muck quite a bit for Bat. The old US/Japan for US sucks...

 

Hmmm me thinks he’s pulling our leg