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Any good quality Soul/R&B CDs in your collection?

post #1 of 29
12/22/05 at 12:32am
Thread Starter 
That's the main genre I listen to. Most of it from the '70s. However, what are some albums in this genre which you feel have pretty good or audiophile qualities? For example, an album that's like, "You can't enjoy this album without some audiophile equipment". It's just hard for me to determine what "good quality" is when no one ever mentions my genre! It's usually rock, jazz, or classical.
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post #2 of 29
12/22/05 at 12:38am
I like the genre as well. Some of my favorites include:

- The Best of the Spinners
- The Four Tops Greatest Hits
- The Best of the Stylistics
- The Essential Sly and the Family Stone
- The Essential Tavares
- The Commodores Greatest Hits
- Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder)

I have quite a bit more, but these immediately come to mind. I don't know if the recordings are of "audiophile" quality, but sometimes you got to just sit back and enjoy the music.
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post #3 of 29
12/22/05 at 1:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMT
I don't know if the recordings are of "audiophile" quality, but sometimes you got to just sit back and enjoy the music.
That's true...I'll never NOT enjoy the music, but sometimes I wonder what people hold are "thee" supreme-quality soul/r&b albums. Most are probably remastered to today's contemporary standards (w/o the over-compression & limiting). I mean I could also go on about the good music in general, but the list would be shortened greatly if I added some criteria pertaining to album quality.
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post #4 of 29
12/22/05 at 3:08am
yay, some soul fans!

i'm a big fan of the stax label and most of my collection is 70's southern soul like stax and hi-records. but i've been giving northern soul some time. oddly enough i've got some northern soul compilations that were released from britain. i'm still not a motown fan but i think these northern soul compilations are making me appreciate it more.

my current favorite is the Candy Staton collection that was released by Astrelworks last year.
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post #5 of 29
12/22/05 at 10:23am
Here's a few more:

- Larry Graham and Graham Central Station: Anthology - The Jam
- Issac Hayes: "Shaft" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Issac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul
- Tower of Power: East Bay Grease
- Tower of Power: Bump City
- Tower of Power: Tower of Power
- Tower of Power: Back to Oakland
- Tower of Power: Urban Renewal
- Tower of Power: In the Slot
- Tower of Power: Soul Vaccination - Live
- Cold Blood: First Taste of Sin
- Cold Blood: Sisyphus
- Lydia Pense and Cold Blood: Lydia
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post #6 of 29
12/22/05 at 10:40am
A few musts:
An Al Green collection (there's a few)
Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (yes it's usually classified as R&B)
James Brown - Live At The Apollo
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On / Let's Get It On

And it's more Blues/R&B, but I can't recommend the recent Bettye Lavette - I've Got My Own Hell To Raise enough.
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post #7 of 29
12/22/05 at 10:50am
Don't forget the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Magic Sam, Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson, and Barry White.
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post #8 of 29
12/22/05 at 3:32pm
...and The Chi-Lites, The Tymes, Earth Wind & Fire, War.
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post #9 of 29
12/22/05 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 
I kind of figured this would happen; the thread becoming more of a "good" soul artists/music. I know there's a lot of good stuff out there, but what stuff actually has supreme quality??? I could go on and on about the artists I like also!
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post #10 of 29
12/22/05 at 8:30pm
I'd have to list 600 CDs or so!

I'd suggest going here: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

That's the best music forum on the web, especially for determining what the best sounding LP or CD versions of the albums you are looking for.
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post #11 of 29
12/22/05 at 8:36pm
Music comes first in my book, but if you're primarily interested in sound quality, the Stevie Wonder albums are your best bet. They were recently remastered and sound like completely different records (in a good way this time).

See ya
Steve
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post #12 of 29
12/22/05 at 8:47pm
Al Green , but heres some new free Funk if you dont mind

http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkYVO-YGA
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post #13 of 29
12/22/05 at 8:59pm
Best of Sade
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post #14 of 29
12/22/05 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Music comes first in my book, but if you're primarily interested in sound quality, the Stevie Wonder albums are your best bet. They were recently remastered and sound like completely different records (in a good way this time).
Now that's weird. You usually hate compressed CDs with heavy EQ-ing. I can't see how one could complain about the Rhino treble boost but still enjoy the treble-boosted Stevie re-issues. They aren't even from the original master tapes, apparantly, either. I don't mind them, but I certainly figured you would hate them.
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post #15 of 29
12/22/05 at 10:48pm
The original Stevie Wonder releases (including the LPs) must have been from AM radio mixes or multi-generational submasters or something. They were much more compressed and had a narrower frequency response than the current remasters. (This applies more to the older titles than the more recent ones- It's like the difference between the Stones' regular LP releases and the same songs on the Hot Rocks "best of"s.)

EQ is something I've given up on... most engineers can't EQ their way out of a paper bag because there are no calibration standards any more. I fix that myself on an "as needed" basis.

See ya
Steve
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