The thread on Third's sound quality got me thinking about the 'best' sounding albums of the '70s. I'm wondering if there are any albums that, for whatever reason, people often overlook or rarely mention. Most of us are familiar with albums like DSOTM, Crime Of The Century and Aja. Was there anything from that time that is 'better' sounding than those three albums?
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off
I'm not going to claim it was better, but I would include Yes - Going For the One in that list.
"Terje Rypdal/Miroslav Vitous/Jack DeJohnette", Weber's "Colours of Chloe" just to mention a few ECMs, though it would be hard to go wrong on that label.
I always thought "Joe's Garage" sounded particularly good despite not being a huge fan of the album.
I don't know about "better" sounding but here are a few great-sounding albums from the 70's that come to mind:Originally Posted by zravkapt
Dire Straits--Dire Straits
John G. Perry---Sunset Wading
Camel--Breathless
Elton John--Blue Moves
Steely Dan--Royal Scam
Alan Parsons--I Robot
Brand X--Unorthodox Behaviour
Ragnarok---Ragnarok
Chris Squire--Fish Out Of Water
FM--Headroom
We are the grandchildren of apes, not angels
But only we are gifted with the eyes to see
On days without FEAR, when our heads are clear
That angels, we could be
(Marillion 2016)
Same here.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off
The first one I thought of was "I Robot".
Traffic.
The older I get, the better I was.
One of my all-time favorites is: Romantic Warrior
T-Rex's "The slider" still sounds better than most current albums to my ears. Amazing, considering its really an early 70's album. The noise floor is still relatively high, but the instruments sound great!
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
Call me a heretic, but I always thought that the sound quality and production of Animals equaled and maybe even surpassed DSotM... Maybe it's the stripped-down nature of the music itself, but it was a headphone-immersion delight for me from day one.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
Curt Cress Clan's self-titled debut (1975) is a killer recording.
Ambrosia's first album has always sounded very good to me.
Ziggy Stardust
Houses of the Holy
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Stranded
Second Helping
Minstrel in the Gallery
A Farewell to Kings
Wish You Were Here
Crime of the Century
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Marvin, Welch and Farrar- Second Opinion
Queen, A Night At The Opera
Steely Dan- Aja
Last edited by BravadoNJ; 02-06-2016 at 08:21 PM.
Do you really think so? I found it a bit tinny compared to the first few albums.
I remember seeing an infomercial about Zildjian cymbals once where Jonathan Mover said that he asked them to make him a hi-hat for the GTR album that sounded as good as Vinnie Colaiuta's hi hat sounded on Joe's Garage, and then the engineer who mixed GTR told him it was the best hi hat sound he had heard since Joe's Garage.
Zappa himself lamented that Joe's Garage was lacking in low end because it was half-speed mastered--the only album that Zappa did that way.
It won an award for best engineered album of the year, I believe.
Here's some artists that had great sounding albums at that time
Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman, Foreigner, Catch Bull At Four
RTF - Romantic Warrior
Alan Parsons - Edgar Allen Poe, I Robot
Jean Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean, Imaginary Voyage
Pink Floyd (of course)
Steely Dan (of course)
Eberhard Weber (anything on the ECM label was awesome sounding)
Dire Straits (any)
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Coudn't Stand the Weather
Michael Hedges (any)
Dave Gruisin (any)
Lee Ritenour (any)
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Enya (most of those electronic artists had good sound actually)
Joni Mitchell - Hijera, Blue, Hissing of Summer Lawns, Court and Spark
Dooby Brothers - Best Of
Andreas Vollenweider (any)
Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs
Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
Kevin Gilbert (any)
actually Fragile and Tales were pretty good sounding as well.
Last edited by BobM; 02-05-2016 at 03:58 PM.
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A gentleman is defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't.
I think Station To Station is a better sounding Bowie album and Sabotage is a better sounding Sab album.
I forgot in the OP but I remember reading about how great sounding people thought the debut albums of Boston and The Cars were when they first came out.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off
The 70s were too early for Enya and Kevin Gilbert. Their recording debuts were in the 80s.
Kansas - Masque
and II & Sheer Heartattack
Alice Cooper - Billion dollar Babies has a lot of detail.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
What? Not a single nod to Thick as a Brick? Clear, warm, dynamic and detailed. One of the best sounding ever, IMHO.
Last edited by StevegSr; 02-06-2016 at 10:43 AM.
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
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