Most of my favorite CDs sound nice, but they are clearly not "reference" audiophile quality. Can anyone recommend an album based on my tastes?

Beatles, Coldplay, U2, Oasis, Radiohead, Travis, REM, Pumpkins, The Wallflowers, Simon & Garfunkle, etc.

they might not be to your tastes, but Donald Fagen's Kamakiriad and Steely Dan's Gaucho (especially the SACD version) and Two Against Nature sound very good.

most ppl say siamese dream is an exellent example of redbook cds(am i correct?) might have to double check this.

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give Alice in Chains - Unplugged a shot, although its acoustic

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Two popular groups which have very high sound quality CDs are:
-Steely Dan
-Dire Straits

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I'd think Wilco would fit within your tastes and they're probably the best sounding pop CDs I have...I think. Interestingly they're miked very differently from each other, sound quite different sonically, yet try to say one sounds better. I can't do it. They're different examples of wonderful.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/lis...Fencoding=UTF8


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Someone just told me to listen to my Steely Dan as if I had Steely Dan. I last heard Steely Dan on the radio 20 years ago. Maybe I should get some Steely Dan. Never liked that name, Steely Dan.

Reference audiophile quality and good pop/rock music don't very often come together on the same recording. Almost never. And sound quality is unfortunately just as subjective as the music. But since I noticed there are no women represented on your list of artists, I'll go ahead and toss out one that comes readily to mind, a very good recording of very good music, the second album from Tori Amos, Under The Pink. Of course if you hate her, or hate female vocals, or hate piano, nevermind

Here's a link for a guy that reviews some of his records with a strong emphasis on sound quality. He's mostly into Pink Floyd and the classic stuff, but loves Tori too ... http://pages.sssnet.com/glg/aaatoriamos.html#pink

If you wanna explore a little Middle Eastern ambience, another that I've mentioned once or twice here that I really like is Robert Rich Seven Veils, very soothing and captivating at the same time. And incredible sound quality. It's a 1998 instrumental release on the Hearts of Space label that I have seen described as "ancient music from another planet" which may not be far off. A blend of Middle Eastern percussion and constanly changing ambient atmospheres textured with his lap steel guitar and bamboo flute along with others contributing cello, violin, bass and occasional searing electric guitar. A very high level of melodic and rhythmic sophistication on this album will keep you exploring it for a long time. Kind of like some of the stuff from Dead Can Dance, who have some very fine sounding albums as well.

And if you do like Dead Can Dance, another similar band on the Narada audiophile label is Vas. Give a listen to the In The Garden of Souls CD. Well known cellist Cameron Stone is featured on some of the songs and adds a very nice dimension to this middle eastern sounding music.


http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:yuapqj7ioj0a

Donald Fagen's "NightFly"

clapton unplugged
dire straits Brothers in arms
eagles Millenium concert
the police live 1983

I'll second Clapton's Unplugged Alubum. Neil Young's Unplugged and Stop Making Sense by the Talking Heads also sound real good.

Any Steely Dan album, except maybe for "Katy Lied".
(Katy Lied: Rumor has it, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker refuse to listen to it, since something went wrong in the recording process, making the sound quality not live up to their otherwise extremely high standards.)

Fiona Apple, esp. When the Pawn Strikes...

The new Donald Fagen "Morph The Cat" is an excellent album both in content & the sound quality IMHO - There's even a version with a bonus disc containing the album in various "surround sound" formats (whatever that means )
Paul

Yup, Steely Dan rocks, and I've got all 3 of his DVD-A ripped onto my HD in wavpack .