[Tuneslover]

If you want truly great recordings...check out Jazz from the 50's and 60's!

 

[Solrighal]

  Probably one of the most amazing groups from the 70's was Led Zeppelin.  It's taken how many iterations of remasters and remakes to improve the sound?  Each or these remasters attempt to improve on the previous and to a degree they are getting better (not to mention the fellas are also getting richer) but I still wouldn't consider the ultimate best remaster to date a truly great recording. 

 
No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

 

[DDDamian]

Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman on SACD, or even better, the 24/96 Doc Roberts vinyl rip. Air, emotion, timbre, detail. Wow.

 

[chuck8403]

   
No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

Read your post and broke out the Crack and HD650s. Listening to Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees. I have a BIG smile on my face. Next, Greatest Hits Live.

 

[BobG55]

 

  Probably one of the most amazing groups from the 70's was Led Zeppelin.  It's taken how many iterations of remasters and remakes to improve the sound?  Each or these remasters attempt to improve on the previous and to a degree they are getting better (not to mention the fellas are also getting richer) but I still wouldn't consider the ultimate best remaster to date a truly great recording. 

 
No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

May I also suggest Steely Dan.  The production of their albums is outstanding.  The bulk of their recording was done in the 70s.

 

[BobG55]

 

  Like I said, if the music you listen too is not well recorded...then no dac or amp will help that....no mod will help that....crap in = crap out.
 
Your genres of music must just not be recorded to well.....like 70's rock music was recorded bad.
 
There is a lot of good music that is well recorded today, though....make no mistake about that....lots and lots of it  

I think a lot of the 70's rock was better recorded than some of the current pop stuff.  Bruno Mars and Beyoncé are two that come to mind as really bad.

Is Bruno Mars a dark chocolate Mars Bar ?

 

[Solrighal]

 
May I also suggest Steely Dan.  The production of their albums is outstanding.  The bulk of their recording was done in the 70s.

 
Yeah, that's true. Gaucho's good.
 

 
Is Bruno Mars a dark chocolate Mars Bar ?

 

 

[Kodhifi]

  oh.....I dont listen to that , so I would not know......lol
 
I mean, i have heard of them, it is not what I listen to.
 
Not all 70's rock was bad, but an awful lot was.
 
It's is strange though....I have been listening to a lot of old blues lately......so much very old stuff that was extremley well recorded.

Some people like pop idols, airbrushed averages of that decades beatific ideals.
 
Other people prefer Janis Joplin or Heart in all of their unpolished, realistic, soulful fury.
 
 
I'll give you an example, Dave Brubeck's Take Five, still one of the best jazz recordings in my collection. It's not particularly clean, or well recorded, or reference material. It's kind of dirty, dingy, compared to todays recording clarity, etc. But it's bursting with character and I love it.
 
The Moody Blues - Days of Future Past. One of the most crappified recordings of the 60's. Heavy dynamic compression, wall of sound trying to saturate and sound good on an AM radio, lots of tape hiss, fake instruments like the mellotron. Pretentious poetry and lyrics. And I don't give a damn because I fricking love it. I wore my LP out when I was a teenager (not that old, it was old even at that time) and Nights in white satin and Tuesday afternoon are still the songs of my childhood even though they were 25 years after they came out.
 
Nobody listens to the Beatles because OMG they were recorded so well. It's because the flaws are just as lovable as the rest of the song.
 
Modern music uses more and more dynamic compression to try and cram more and more signal into a limited amount of dynamic headroom, and the effect is if you have a VU meter, it goes to 0 and stays there until the song is over. There is no air in the music anymore. At least pop music. Lets not forget as much as everyone worships The Beatles, and Rolling Stones with their wizard Brian Jones, they were pop music of their time. Pop music can be art like Radiohead. Sadly we only have 1 Radiohead, and a metric ton of flavor of the week pin up models trying to sell records.
 
 
 
Pay homage to the king!
 
 
 
Also, because **** it why not
 
 

 

[gefski]

No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

Thumbs up on your mention of John Martyn. Another great one we lost in recent years. His interplay with Danny Thompson was always incredible.

 

[gefski]

No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

Thumbs up on your mention of John Martyn. Another great one we lost in recent years. His interplay with Danny Thompson was always incredible.

 

[gefski]

Sorry for the double post folks.

 

[jimmers]

 
Is Bruno Mars a dark chocolate Mars Bar ?

No, that was a Mars Midnight (over here, briefly)

 

[Krutsch]

 
May I also suggest Steely Dan.  The production of their albums is outstanding.  The bulk of their recording was done in the 70s.

As a life-long fan, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the mastering is on their latest compilation. This edition was remastered by Joe Palmaccio, as opposed to Roger Nichols, and the sound is stunning. Too bad Joe P. didn't remaster the entire catalog, but at least the compilation is most of my personal favorite tracks. This is one of my "auditioning new gear" albums.
 

 

[whirlwind]

 

 
I think a lot of the 70's rock was better recorded than some of the current pop stuff.  Bruno Mars and Beyoncé are two that come to mind as really bad.

Probably one of the most amazing groups from the 70's was Led Zeppelin.  It's taken how many iterations of remasters and remakes to improve the sound?  Each or these remasters attempt to improve on the previous and to a degree they are getting better (not to mention the fellas are also getting richer) but I still wouldn't consider the ultimate best remaster to date a truly great recording. 

Yeah, no truer words have ever been spoken and I agree, the latest remasters are as good as it gets to date .
 
The music made by these guys is truly some of the best ever.
 

 

 

  Probably one of the most amazing groups from the 70's was Led Zeppelin.  It's taken how many iterations of remasters and remakes to improve the sound?  Each or these remasters attempt to improve on the previous and to a degree they are getting better (not to mention the fellas are also getting richer) but I still wouldn't consider the ultimate best remaster to date a truly great recording. 

 
No, that's true but go & listen to Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees), Al Stewart (Year of the Cat) or John Martyn (Solid Air) and you'll hear a rich soundstage full of detail and with nothing emphasized.

May I also suggest Steely Dan.  The production of their albums is outstanding.  The bulk of their recording was done in the 70s.

Yes, Steely Dan albums are recorded very well.

 

[Solrighal]

 
Some people like pop idols, airbrushed averages of that decades beatific ideals.
 
Other people prefer Janis Joplin or Heart in all of their unpolished, realistic, soulful fury.
 
 
 
Also, because **** it why not
 
 

 
Funny you should mention Heart. Bad Animals is without a doubt the very worst recording I've ever heard. Really, it's that bad. People should buy it just as a reference of how badly a recording can be screwed up.
 
As for Russian Circles, what can I say? I have everything by them but the track you've highlighted here is probably my own favourite too. Aural fireworks. I have a copy of it in the car so that I can impress the ladies (not really, I'm 50). I have twin Alpine subs in the boot (trunk) driven with over 800W and the slam in this tune is truly jaw-dropping!

Thumbs up on your mention of John Martyn. Another great one we lost in recent years. His interplay with Danny Thompson was always incredible.

 
Yes, Solid Air is in my all-time top 5 recordings & you're right, the musicianship is top of the class. A sad loss.

 
As a life-long fan, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the mastering is on their latest compilation. This edition was remastered by Joe Palmaccio, as opposed to Roger Nichols, and the sound is stunning. Too bad Joe P. didn't remaster the entire catalog, but at least the compilation is most of my personal favorite tracks. This is one of my "auditioning new gear" albums.
 

 
This is now on my list. Thanks.