I have started to enjoy listening to music that is well-recorded, agnostic of genre. I don’t know whether I’m finally maturing in my old age, but I used to be really bullish about only listening to “good music”, as characterised by an ill-defined musical matrix known and understood only by myself.
Roll on twenty years and many pennies spent on hifi gear and, although I primarily listen to “good music”, more and more, I do find myself enjoying music that is well-recorded that wouldn’t otherwise be my thing.
Kacey Musgrave’s is a good example of this. David Gilmore’s ‘Luck and Strange’ isn’t quite as good an example as I do find his music somewhat interesting, but I love the recording and production on that album.
So, I was hoping for some recommendations. Genre agnostic, please recommend music that you consider to be well-recorded. I would loosely define well-recorded as acoustic instruments sounding very natural. However, I am open to being steered down any path. I’m a drummer, so brownie points for music featuring acoustic drum kits.
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You can and often can find both! Good music and well recorded music don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I hate audiophile music, 95% of the songs I hear being played at hifi shows are painful to sit through, yes they showcase the system but but I’d rather stub my toe on the kitchen counter than sit through some of them.
One of the genres that I enjoy that also happens to have a huge amount of good recordings is jazz. Not surprising when you think about it right?
Look around for bossa nova recordings from the 50s and 60s and generally the jazz greats, there’s a lot of soul moving stuff there and the care and skill applied in recording some of these albums with the tech of the era is insane. Here’s a few to start with.
Duke Ellington, Afro Bossa
Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius
Jazz at the Pawn Shop Vol1
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out
Oscar Peterson Trio, We Get Requests
Another genre that has a lot of good music that is also well recorded is trip hop. Bands like Wax Poetic (you can buy their whole catalog on Bandcamp cheap enough) and Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation. All fantastic music and extremely well recorded.
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Thanks, dude. I do love jazz. Take Five and Live at Carnegie are two of my favourite albums, but it has been a while since I’ve listened to them. I have Qobuz now; hopefully there’s some high-res stuff for me to listen to.
New DAC arrives today …hopefully. It’d be great to test it out with some of this stuff 
While i wish some if my favorite artists put more onto their recordings, most of the really talented and high regarded ones usually have at least one or two albums that are recorded, mixed and mastered extremely well.
Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
Nine Inch Nails - Most any album and Trent remastered most again
And I would say a lot if older albums tend to get it right as i do think more time and care was put into things. Some standouts are:
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Jazz at the Pawnshop Vol. 1
With all of these you get sucked into it and are put into this special “realm” on ever listen. It is not just capture all the details but it is the tone, texture, and emotion that comes across soooo clearly.
I believe most Blue Note albums are very highly regarded and the vinyls sought after by enthusiast and collectors alike.
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Absolutely Blue Note stuff.
@Souldriver Bringing up Fleetwood Mac, there are artists that pour just as much onto the recording, producing, mastering as they do into their music.
Donald Fagen from Steely Dan, is known to be militant about his studio work. With Fleetwood Mac, anything BBC related in the era is going to be of high quality. Peter Gabriel is another one.
Mick Jones from the Clash went in a remastered the entirety of the Clash’s catalogue because of the advancements in studio technology and what it allowed him to do.
We both mentioned Jazz at the Pawnshop, so that’s a big hint on that one. lol
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Hi,
can highly recommend the new Deep Purple Live in Japan Remaster from S. Wilson. He put the 3 japan live concerts into one Album,extremly authentic and perfect live-feeling.
Rgds, Gerald
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I consider well recorded and well recorded live music soooooo different that i dont know how much compares outside of the “its not compressed shit”, of course. The later is much more of catching lightening in a bottle. Just one take to capture so much while having it all align juuuuust right.
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And then there’s the grey area in between a typical studio recording and capturing a gig - a “session recording”, like that of AudioTree, Musora, etc..
Recording a concert is real tricky. The primary intent is for the artist to perform and deliver sound to the audience. Capturing that performance is a secondary endeavour that should not compromise the first. This is where the artist may shine the brightest, with most feelings in their natural environment - ‘capturing lightening in a bottle’ - Brubeck/Carnegie.
Sessions are setup expressly to capture the performance but can be dogged by over production. Fortunately, there are many recordings from such sessions that get it right to my ear - Tricot/AudioTree.
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Reminds me of one of the MTV unplugged session that did just that. Natalie Merchant
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And Alice in Chains. Tbh there were a few good ones that were more than likely due to the Brooklyn Academy of Music being the venue.
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100% agree, venues are like a room. They are extremely important to the quality of the sound. Not just the sound system but the acoustics. Old theaters or playhouses or purpose built venues like Radio City just give you a leg up on the quality of the final product.
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