my top 2
Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior
UK - UK
my top 2
Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior
UK - UK
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
this. and “heligoland”.Originally Posted by battema
apart from that i pay very little attention to production as a term. i find it difficult to decide whether it represents sonic value or artistic guidance. or both.
Interestingly, I think a lot of 70s prog was not stellar in the production department - Genesis, ELP, Yes and even King Crimson all had some challenges in that department in the early 70s.
A couple of standout examples of good early prog production is Gus Dudgeon's work with Caravan, which I think for its time was pretty amazing, and Rhett Davies' work for Camel - of course he would later go on to produce an audiophile reference album in Roxy Music's Avalon.
Eddy Offord was hit/miss. Fragile sounds fantastic, Close to the Edge sounds a bit of a mess. Drama, again, was fantastic. His work for ELP was even more patchy, but Trilogy is a nice-sounding rekkid.
The first Genesis albums with a decent sound were Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering. I don't have much love for the sound of the Gabriel albums, with the possible exception of Trespass.
Ironically, probably the best-sounding Genesis album is also one of their most controversial: Abacab.
^I like the way Selling England... sounds, still pretty fresh and 'open' I think, has aged very well. Trick is excellent. Wind And Wuthering, ATTWT and Duke all have a pretty 'cramped' sound. I agree on Abacab being excellent sonically but it's a little half-baked compared with how those songs sounded live. Probably the band's fault!
As for Yes I don't think there's much that strikes me as being 'audiophile' level. Fragile has some issues here and there.
I'd say the best sounding ELP album might even be the live Pictures At An Exhibition, although Trilogy and the debut are certainly nice. Tarkus has some issues on the title track. BSS, I actually really like the sound of that album (never heard another like it!) but some don't.
Pictures at an exhibition has great production for a 'live album'
One of my favourites is an Eddie Offord production - Pallas - The Sentinel, all the instruments are crystal clear and the bass is great
Totally agree. Rupert Hine's records are exercises in production technique. My favorite solo album of his is Waving Not Drowning, but Immunity and Wildest Wish To Fly are very good, too. His Thinkman records are fun, and his work with The Fixx was exemplary. I've picked up almost everything he has produced and that Taylor has engineered. Usually can't go wrong.
I think you mean David Hitchcock, not Gus Dudgeon...
Possibly goes without saying, but anything Manfred Eicher.
Anyone who enjoys the ECM sound should in my opinion check out Don Li's Tonus Music Records and especially his albums - this is for me like the next step after the ECM sound
http://www.tonus-music-records.com/en/catalog/
One thing that has always surprised me is the difference between the first PMG record and American Garage both on ECM both produced by Either but si different in recording and atmosphere.
Envoyé de mon GT-I9195 en utilisant Tapatalk
Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"
Khanate - things viral
Derek bailey and the Ruins - Saisoro
Already mentioned:
Romantic Warrior...my #1 go-to album for checking out sound systems
In a Silent Way
GG - Octopus
will also agree that Djam Karet's drums always sound AWFUL to my ears....sounds like dry-rotted cardboard.
G.A.S -aholic
Paga: Gnosis
XTC - Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons
Sting - just about any album
"Normal is just the average of extremes" - Gary Lessor
In my top 10 along with DSOTM and WYWH
Totally obvious for COTC (my first album bought, too)Yes, and the albums after that. It's a shame about their first album, which had beautiful compositions but thin arrangements and mediocre production. Did they ever do that early material live, later on?
I take their first album for an unrefined proto-prog gem.
Two other obvious choices
If you like snoozefests... Not matter how well-produced, a lot of them are very-well produced soporific albums.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
As I said in an earlier post, this seems to focus on the post-production (sound engineering) rather than the production itself. It's not the producer, generally, who is responsible for the sound engineering.
Yes, and that is my fault from the original post: I sloppily used "production" to include the whole sound-design process. So the thread title is not quite right for the contents.
... “there’s a million ways to learn” (which there are, by the way), but ironically, there’s a million things to eat, I’m just not sure I want to eat them all. -- Jeff Berlin
I actually find Dark Side of the Moon to be overrated in terms of sound
Its not mediocre its great but for me certainly not the benchmark for 70's type of sound
I was never a fan of Todd's production. Always lacking bass, tinny, but the music is oh so awesome!
Coming September 1st - "Dean Watson Revisited"!
The band were not happy with Offord's work on this one. They had it redone for the US release. I don't recall if they did a full blown remix, or just what was done, but the UK and US versions are different, and the US version was a result of the bands' dissatisfaction with the UK version. I've never heard the UK release, so can't comment on that.
And some of them are bloody great! IMO not a boring label all told.
Although I agree @ the benchmark, there are moments that are almost incomparably brilliant as well.
I think specifically and firstly of The Great Gig In The Sky, as the vocalization has peaked, the reverb gradually withdrawn and everything becomes much more immediate, intimate. Suddenly it's close quarters where we had been on the edge of the cosmos seconds earlier.
...and she almost whispers, alongside those wonderfully, beautifully, gorgeously sad Rick Wright piano chordings, she is nearly right next to you...
..."I never said I was afraid of dying..."...
Shivers. Tears. For in this moment a simple rock recording has captured the frailty of the human condition nearly in it's entirety.
Perhaps finding the happy medium is harder than we know.
Yeah, I don't think I've heard anything by Rundgren in the 70s which was anywhere near audiophile. And bear in mind how long some albums were- A Wizard A True Star, ...Utopia, Initiation. Would presumably have been murder to fit on the record!
A lot of Deutsche Grammophon 60 records have amazing sound and from memory often recorded "just" with two well placed mikes. One of the EMI house producers Walter Legge, married to Elizabeth Schwarzkopf was famous for his mike placing and the resulting great records.
Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"
For that matter, the jazz albums engineered by Rudy Van Gelder are highly regarded. Mingus refused to work with him saying he didn't like what Rudy did with his tone but hell, Mingus didn't get along with anyone.
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
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