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Best vinyl purchases based on pressing, studio production, sound quality and enjoyment.

As you all know this question has been asked a million times on a million sites BUT each time it’s asked, it can be very helpful to those trying to find great vinyl that is quiet, produced well and touches the heart each time it’s played.

I’ve only been into vinyl for 6 months now and have purchased 250 albums, 99 percent new, recent pressings, reissues. So within the last year, what are 10 of your favorite album purchases based on pressing, studio production, sound quality and pure enjoyment??? Here’s my top 20:

1. The Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals. (Various artists, 200 gram QRP)
2. Willie Nelson- To all the Girls (Various artists 180 gram Legacy)
3. Dead Can Dance- Into the Labyrinth (180 gram Mobile Fidelity reissue)
4. Rickie Lee Jones- Rickie Lee Jones (180 HQ Pressing Warner Bros reissue)
5. Stevie Ray Vaughn- The Sky is Cryin (200 gram Analogue productions 45rpm reissue)
6. Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon (2016 reissue)
7. Renee Flemming- The Beautiful Voice (Decca 20th anniversary gatefold)
8. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong- Ella and Louis (Analogue productions Mono reissue)
9. Eva Cassidy- Nightbird (Blix Street Records 180 gram)
10. Doors- All the new reissue 45’s from Analogue Productions, 200 gram
11. Cash- The Man Comes Around (American Records, QRP, 180 gram)
12. Shelby Lynne- Just a Little Lovin (QRP, Analogue Productions, 45 rpm, 200 gram)
13. Vanessa Fernandez- When the Levee Breaks (Groove Note, 45 rpm, 180 gram)
14. Nils Lofgren- Acoustic Live (Analogue Productions, QRP, 200 gram)
15. Neil Young- Live at Massey Hall (Reprise, 180 gram reissue)
16. Tony Bennett- I Wanna Be Around (Mobile Fidelity, 180 gram reissue)
17. Linda Ronstadt- What’s New (Analogue Productions, QRP, 200 gram, reissue)
18. Cat Stevens- Tea for the Tillerman (Analogue Productions, QRP, 200 gram reissue)
19. Muddy Waters- Folk Singer (Analogue Productions, QRP, 200 gram reissue)
20. Fleetwood Mac- Tango in the Night (Rhino, 180 gram, 2017 reissue)

Ps: You can go beyond 1 year if needed.


128x128knollbrent
knollbrent's avatar
knollbrent OP
314 posts
 
Johnny Cash at San Quentin is a great piece of History! @tzh21y 
Gillian Welch- The Harrow and the Harvest, I have this one. Quite good! @fsonicsmith 
The Wall Us and Japanese pressings were very good
knollbrent's avatar
knollbrent OP
314 posts
 
Would love to see someones top ten in classical vinyl with pressing, studio, gram info attached so I can find them. Classical is hardest for me to know which record is enjoyable and sounds good too. 
knollbrent's avatar
knollbrent OP
314 posts
 
If I had to pick just one favorite so far in my short stint with vinyl would be 
The Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals. (Various artists, 200 gram QRP) 

It's so much fun to play. Each artist at their best, beautifully mastered and pressed. Also Willie Nelson's "To all the Girls."
knollbrent's avatar
knollbrent OP
314 posts
 
My collection so far is composted of really great sounding records but there’s a lot of vinyl I just haven’t been able to get decent pressings or good masterings of? I don’t own hardly any originals pressings.  I’ve got nice Floyd The Wall Japanese and Us first press, 89 Madonna Like a Prayer, 84 Prince Purple Rain, 1991 Stevie Ray Vaughan Sky is Cryin, 1982 Michael Jackson Thriller, 2005 Led Zeppelin S/T, and a few others, but mostly new  or reissues.

I bought some real stinkers early that were 1st pressings and just weren’t good, but I know that’s not the case with a lot of the older stuff, just the ones I picked. Blonde, Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar, to name a few. If If I can get a recommendation or see a review, I’m more apt to buy it so it doesn’t sit and collect dust like the Eagles Greatest Hits reissue I just bought. I know, reviews weren’t good or nonexistant, just wanted it and for $20 bucks, thought what the hell. It’s terrible.

So I appreciate any lists that people recommend as it helps me a newbee to vinyl, collect records that not only sound great but are very enjoyable and bring a smile to my face each time I hear them.

Great Lists so far Everyone. Keep em comin!!!
whart's avatar
whart
1,930 posts
 
Run, don’t walk, to buy a copy of Brian Davison’s every which way on Mercury. Pay for a M- copy (you should be able to find it on Discogs for around $30). Sounds like early Traffic, hard rock, blues shouter, jazz motifs, excellent music, first rate recording.
Other records I’d recommend for music that are decent recordings:
Blast Furnace- S/T (Danish reissue from a couple years ago)
Lucifer’s Friend S/T- German Philips (don’t bother with the reissue)
Herbie Hancock- Crossings - the Speakers Corner reissue from a year or so ago;
If you like spiritual jazz, virtually any of the Pure Pleasure re-do’s of the Strata East catalog;
Gil Scott Heron, Winter in America- Strata East (one of the more ubiquitous Strata East records that still doesn’t cost an arm and a leg- great soulful funk/jazz spoken word poetry);
Opeth- Damnation, from the reissued twofer of Deliverance/Damnation (the lyrical, melodic side of Opeth);
Sabbath- Heaven and Hell (Dutch Vertigo- dramatically better than either the US or UK pressings)
John Martyn- Solid Air (UK Island pink rim)
Chris Whitley- National Steel (US promo version of Living with the Law, fewer tracks, better sound- if you want Living with the Law, buy the original Columbia, not the Music on Vinyl version).
King Crimson Toronto 2016- live recording, very close approximation of the band as currently configured, extremely well recorded.
Have fun.



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