Installment number 3 of my list of top ten. These are vinyl LP listings, with the country of origin indicated.
1. Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies (NUDE 488851 2). British pressing. Ed buller of 140 dB knew how to record vintage guitars and tube amplifiers.
2. Lou Reed, Transformer (RCA AYL 1-3806). I was shocked to hear how good this sounds after all of these years. Simple, but effective. The vocal build-up at the end of "Satellite of Love" is breathtaking.
3. Smashing Pumpkins, Siemese Dream (Virgin Germany D 115586). Beautifully mutated guitar sounds (with vintage Mu-Tron electronics), dreamy backgrounds, a lower end that sounds like no other.
4. Sean Lennon, Into The Sun. (Grand Royal Records 7243 8459 40 22). My wife asked if I was listening to Gilbert O' Sullivan when I had this on last. Sears Sound (NYC) was always a fun place to record, but this shows that this studio is capable of high end fidelity. Highlight: "Spaceship"
5. Beck, Midnight Vultures (Geffen 4905272). Techno generation's Edgard Winter. Lightning quick pans of "Milk & Honey" is a nice soundstage test. Subwoofers beware.
6. John Lennon/Yoko One, Double Fantasy (Geffen 99131 German pressing). They finally found out how to record Lennon in the end.
7. Aerosmith, Toys In the Attic (CBS Holland 80773). The "Simply vinyl" re-release is also excellent.
8. Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy (Classic Records). Audiophiles owe a lot to Classic Records for re-mastering the Zeppelin catalogue. They are all excellent and worth buying: the only problems I have heard at times were problems with the original master tapes (esp. evident on II and III).
9. Neil Young, Neil Young (Reprise 44059 German Pressing). I am continually impressed by old Reprises, and I think that this is the best achievement from the early Neil Young: recorded in 1973.
10. The best for last. BEST ROCK RECORDING AWARD. XTC, Oranges and Lemons (Virgin V2581 West German Pressing). My reference rock recording, although I am not really an XTC fan. Mobile Fidelity put out their own remaster which is even better, but this West German pressing is superb. Other XTC recordings--Big Express (806613620), Mummer (2053383098) and English Settlement (British Pressing only, V2223)--are well worth seeking out, esp. the German or British pressings. Skylarking (207905-630) has a beautiful soundstage, but the sonics are compromised (dynamically, and harmonically) by the decision to inlude over 20 minutes of music on each side. The 2 LP Oranges and Lemons does not have this problem. Japanese pressings of the entire XTC catalogue have been recently released on CD, and I have heard that they are superb.
