PictureMan

These are all albums that sonically "rock my world". Great over either speakers or headphones, besides having great music, these are so sparkling and clean and smooth that you can almost taste the music.

In no particular order:

1) Abbey Road - The Beatles
2) The Nightfly - Donald Fagan
3) The Wall - Pink Floyd
4) Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
5) Breakfast In America - Supertramp
6) Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
7) Moving Pictures - Rush
8) Dreamboat Annie - Heart
9) Elegant Gypsy - Al Di Meola
10) Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin

(yeah, yeah, I have a tendancy towards classic rock - so sue me )

Please join in if ya want!

Tscott

hmmm, going by sound alone I guess my list would look something like this:

1. Brian Eno – Music for Airports
2. This Mortal Coil – Blood
3. Tori Amos – from the choirgirl hotel
4. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
5. Simon and Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence
6. Gomez – Bring It On
7. Beatles – Revolver
8. Kristen Hersh – Hips and Makers
9. John Coltrane – My Favorite Things
10. Eliza Carthy – Red Rice

Yancey

The Eno is a good call, as is Revolver (which deserves mention just for "Tomorrow Never Knows") I would also cite:

Velvet Underground -- Velvet Underground
Has such a warm tone that I don't hear on many other albums.

Wu-Tang Clan -- 36 Chambers
Redefined hip-hop, as did the Chronic. But the way everything sounds so fractured, on the verge of collapse, is pretty astounding.

All of the Stax/Volt material
Booker T and the MG's weren't playing anything complicated, but the production value was very slick while still capturing the immediacy of Otis Redding (as well as many others).

Sly and the Family Stone -- Riot Goin' On
I would call this the first lo-fi album. Very thin, but the lows are still really thick. Sly's voice just sounds amazing. In "Family Affair" I could swear he's right behind me whispering.

Portishead -- Dummy
Just for the process used to get the dated sound. Ridiculous.

Beach Boys -- Pet Sounds
An obvious choice, but there is a real depth to the recordings.

Billy Ward & His Dominoes -- Anything
A lot of doo wop was recorded really well, picking up the ranges of each singer. With a lot of it being done around one mic, it becomes even more impressive.

Rolling Stones -- Sticky Fingers
Every song is pushed way into the red. An incredibly raw sound.

Mafia81RCV

Pearl Jam does great studio recording, especially with Binaural.

Jimmy Page was one of the pioneers of stereo sound recording, thus Zeppelin has some great sounding albums. (My Fav's: Led Zeppelin I-IV)

kilcher

I'm always amazed at how well Fleetwood Mac - The Dance sounds, especially since it's a live album.

uberjoe

U2 - The Joshua Tree

The BEST in everyway.

Turd Ferguson

In no particular order:

Radiohead: OK Computer
Lindsey Buckingham: Out of the Cradle
Stevie Wonder: Original Musiquarium Volumes I and II
Steely Dan: Aja
Sting: Mercury Falling
U2: Achtung Baby
Beatles: Abbey Road (been listening to it in the car a lot lately)
John Lennon: Double Fantasy

codefree

1. Ned's Atomic Dustbin: Brainbloodvolume
2. Catherine Wheel: Happy Days
3. Radiohead: Amnesiac

edclem

in no particular order:
1. Dave Matthews Band: Crash
2. Queensryche: Empire
3. Metallica: Master of Puppets (Gold CD version only)
4. Rush: Moving Pictures
5. Opeth: Morningrise
6. Peter Gabriel: So
7. Steve Vai: Passion and Warfare
8. Yes: Magnification
9. Dream Theater: Images and Words
10. Iced Earth: Alive in Athens
11. Emperor: Emperial Live Ceremony

PictureMan

Hey edclem,

I see that you have the DCC Master of Puppets. Do you also have the DCC Empire, and Mobile Fidelity Moving Pictures?

edclem

i don't yet have either of those, actually.
i've got the MFSL Signals and 2112 (but neither one is quite up there with moving pictures) I've thought about picking the others up from fleabay, but I can't bring myself to do it.

monkey

Let's see:

1. U2 - Achtung Baby
2. The Cure - Disintegration
3. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
4. The Beatles - Help!
5. Morrissey - Vauxhall And I

Yancey

That is generally considered one of the worst produced albums ever. Bowie put no bass on it at all, it was really tinny. The rereleased version sounds much, much better.

Oliver Clothesoff

Almost anything produced by Phil Spector in the 1958 to 1968 period goes on the top of my list. The man was a genius, and something so simple as that little piano lick in the background of "He's A Rebel" is pure masterwork.

Some others (some of which have been mentioned):
-The Beatles "Revolver"
-The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" (the intro to "God Only Knows" might be one of the most amazing things ever put on record)
-the Pixies "Surfer Rosa"
-Beastie Boys "Paul's Boutique" (wow)
-Catherine Wheel "Chrome" (love this spacey wall-of-sound)
-Nirvana "In Utero"
-Johnny Cash "American III: Solitary Man" (stripped down, but the Man in Black never sounded so good)

Coral

Wow, you guys have to start listening to albums from the smaller audiophile labels, as well as older jazz and classical titles.

They make the big studio rock recordings sound like crap by comparison.

Tscott

examples?

B5Erik

I'm sure some of those jazz recordings sound great, but that's not the sound that I prefer.

Here are my favorite SOUNDING albums (best audio production):

Iron Maiden - Powerslave
KISS - Revenge
Dio - Holy Diver
Van Halen - Van Halen
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Y&T - Mean Streak
Queen - A Night At The Opera
AC/DC - Back In Black
Ratt - Out Of The Cellar

Mister Beefhead

Primus - Brown Album
Basement Jaxx - Rooty
Gorillaz - Gorillaz

Rypro 525

for some reason, I felt Zepplein II sounds distorted and with very distorted symbol tracks and guitars. (should I get this one again)

the aftermath

Yes. Yes. YES!

It's just so raw. It personifies hiphop as far as I'm concerned.

Spike Jonze

Are you, uh, uh, uh
Are you a warrior? Killa? Slicin' sh*t like a samurai
The Ol' Dirty Bastard Vundabah!

Whooooo! Classic!

I'm not a big hip-hop fan, but I can never get enough Wu-Tang.

atlantamoi

Everytime I listen to "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac I'm just amazed by the quality of that disc. I only have the CD and don't know if it sounded like that when it came out, but it's incredible.

palebluedot

The CD I take with me when I listen to high-end audio gear is Mozarts Requiem with J.E Gardiner. Not only the most acurate interpretation of the Requiem Mass but an astounding recording.

Other than that, Ten Summoner's Tales by Sting is very well produced.

There is also a release of Band On the Run that is supposed to be pretty amazing (the original recording is very good also). I don't think it's MFSL but something like that.

KevinSmithIsGod

Motley Crue-Dr.Feelgood
Motley Crue-S/T
Metallica-Black album..

All produced by Bob Rock..he is the MAN!! Gets the best sounding guitars and bass..a nice full sound.

fallow

Tortoise - TNT is my number 1 by far.

Close behind...

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew and Kind of Blue
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada EP (a time when tape hiss sounds GOOD)