JADIS' JADES...aka PC's SDs (SuperDisks) As this thread moves towards its 10th year, and with a little nudge from my friends, particularly
Doc Esi who a few years ago gave me the idea of compiling a list of the best LP recordings I have heard or mentioned in this R&R thread; I have finally garnered enough energy and concentration to come up with a short list of some very notable recordings which I truly cherish, enjoy, and consider a joy to keep forever. But before that, I would like to mention that the records, which by and large have been posted here already, are my personal favorites and reflect my own taste and bias. Music, like many other things in life, is tremendously subjective, and I greatly subscribe to the saying - 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'.
And the list does not include OPMs because my favorite OPMs are mostly on Compact Discs.
THE DESERT ISLAND LIST: 1. Kornet Har Sin Vila
* Original 1981 Pressing Proprius Sweden
2.The Cascades - Rhythm of the Rain
Valiant USA & Mareco Phils. Stereo Pressings
3. The Weavers - Reunion at Carnegie Hall
<> Vanguard USA Gray Stereolab 1st Pressing Gatefold Cover
4. Brothers Four Sings Lennon McCartney
* Columbia USA 2 Eyes Stereo
5. Kenny G Live
*<> Arista USA 2 LP Gatefold (Promo and Regular US pressings)
6. La Fille Mal Gardee
*<> Decca Wide Band UK 1st Pressing
7. Dave Grusin - Mountain Dance
*<> Nimbus Supercut UK Pressing
8. Earl Klugh - Living Inside Your Love
*<> Nimbus Supercut UK Pressing
9. Carol Kidd - All My Tomorrows
*<> Aloi Linn Original UK Pressing
10. Doris Day - Latin for Lover
Columbia USA 2 eyes Stereo
11. Julie London - Latin in a Satin Mood
Liberty USA Stereo
12. Best of Julie London - Best 20
Liberty Japan Stereo
13. Radka Toneff - Fairytales
* Odin Original Pressing, Norway
14. Beverley Craven – Self Titled
Sony/Epic UK
15. Anne Karin Kaasa - Svalande Vind
<> Kirkelig Records, Sweden
16. Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat
<> Cypress USA Original Pressing
17. Mary Black - Babes in the Woods
Grapevine UK Pressing
18. Cantate Domino
*<> Proprius Original, JVC half speed, Super Analog and ATR German Mastercut
19. Dionne Warwick - I'll Never Fall in Love Again
Scepter USA Stereo
20. The Mambo Kings OST
* Warner German & Brazilian Pressings
THE 'SHOCK AND AWE' LIST... 1. Friday Night in San Francisco
*<> CBS DM Japan Pressing
2. Jazzical - Wayne Bedrosian Trio
<> Perpetua Records JVC Test Pressing and US Regular Pressing
3. Charango - Jaime Torres
* Messidor Germany
4. All-Star Percussion Ensemble Plays Bizet
<> Golden String Records, Doug Sax Mastering 180g pressing
5. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
<> Columbia Original 6 Eyes USA
6. Saul Goodman - Mallets Melody and Mayhem
<> Columbia Original 6 Eyes USA Stereo
7. Pigs Eye Jass
*<> Insight Records USA
8. Don Shirley Trio - Water Boy
<> Original Cadence Records Stereo USA
9. L.A. Four - Just Friends
*<> Concord Records Direct to Disc
10. Moonlight Serenade
<> Original Jeton Records Germany
11. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
<> Original UK Island Solid Pink Label 1st Pressing
12. Gounod Faust/ Bizet Carmen
<> RCA USA Original and Classic Records Pressing
13. Hi Fi ala Espanola
<> Mercury USA Original and Classic Records Pressing
14. Mysterious World of Bernard Herrmann
<> Original UK Decca PFS Pressing
15. Yamamoto Trio - Midnight Sugar
<> TBM Toshiba/EMI Pressing Japan
16. Beethoven - Appassionata
<> Japan RCA 45 RPM
17. Provocative Percussion - Enoch Light
Command Records Original USA
18. Dafos – Micky Hart, Airto Moreira
<> Reference Recordings
19. James Newton Howard and Friends
<> Sheffield Lab Direct to Disc
20. Professor Johnson Astounding Sound Show
<> Reference Recordings 45 RPM
21. Ortofon Test Record 003
* Ortofon Original Pressing
22. For Duke
*<> M&K Direct Disc
23. Koto Vivaldi Four Seasons
Toshiba/EMI Japan Pressing
24. Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
<> RCA USA Original Pressing Living Stereo
25. John Klemmer - Straight From the Heart
*<> Nautilus Direct to Disc
26. Royal Ballet - Ansermet
<> RCA USA Original and Classic Records Pressings
27. Sheffield Track Record
Sheffied Lab Direct Disc
<>28.Time Warp
Telarc Records
29. Antiphone Blues
<> Proprius Original and ATR pressings
30. Lincoln Mayorga & Friends Vol 1 (S9) and Vol. 3
Sheffield Lab Direct Disc
THE EASY LISTENING LIST: 1. Toots Thielmanns - Contrasts
Command Records
2. Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries
<> Windham Hill Records
3. Tony Mottola - String Band and Strum Along
Command Records
4. Singers Unlimited - Acappella
MPS BASF UK and Japan Pressings
5. Tafelmusik
*<> Reference Recordings 45 RPM
6. Vivaldi Lute Trios and Concertos
<> Hungaraton Original Pressing
7. Earl Klugh Trio
Warner Germany
8. Billy Joe Walker - Treehouse
MCA USA
9. Jazz at the Pawnshop 1.2. & 3
<> Original Proprius pressings, JVC half speed for Volume 1
10. Getz Gilberto
MFSL Pressing
11. Ana Caram - Rio After Dark
*<> Chesky Records
12. Jim Brock - Tropic Affair
Reference Recordings
13. Dave Grusin - Discovered Again
Sheffield Lab Direct to Disc
14. 30 Years Tubes
Mark Levinson/ABC Presssing
15. Acoustic Alchemy - Blue Chip
MCA Records
16. The Strayaway Child
Song of the Wood Records
17. The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd
<> Nimbus Supercut UK
18. Mozart – Fortepiano Concerto
<> Edition K Open Window Germany
19. Vivaldi – Italienische Musik fur Laute
<> Edition K Open Window Germany
20. La Vie – Pierre Buzon
Audiolab Records Japan
21. Rossini – Double Bass Concerto
*<> EMI UK and Germany
22. Bob James and Earl Klugh – One on One
CBS Half Speed Mastered
23. Stanley Black – Digital Spectaculars
Decca Records UK
24. Soular Energy – Ray Brown Trio
Concord Original USA and Germany
25. Late Night Guitar – Earl Klugh
* MFSL
A FEW GOOD MEN: 1. Nat King Cole - Love is the Thing
DCC Stereo, Mark Levinson ABC pressings
2. The Best of Nat King Cole
DCC Stereo, Mark Levinson ABC pressings
3. Eric Clapton - Unplugged
EU 2-LP pressing
4. Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
<> Original USA and MFSL Pressing
5. Johnny Mathis - Heavenly
*<> Original 6 eyes Stereo, MFSL Pressing
6. Aaron Neville - Warm Your Heart
<> Original Holland & Classic Records Pressing
7. James Taylor - JT
Original Columbia USA pressing
8. Willie Nelson – Stardust
CBS Half Speed Mastering
9. Julio Iglesias – 1100 Bel Air Place
CBS USA
10. Kenny Loggins – Nightwatch
CBS USA
A FEW MORE GOOD WOMEN: (Don't I just love them) 1. Joan Baez Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring
<> Gold Castle USA Pressing
2. Roberta Flack – Killing Me Softy
Original Atlantic USA
3. Amanda McBroom - Dreaming
Monster Cable Gecko Edition
4. Linda Ronstadt – Sentimental Reasons
*<> Asylum USA
5. Enya – Watermark
WEA USA and Germany
6. Amanda McBroom – Growing Up in Hollywood Town
Sheffield Lab Direct Disc
7. Clair Marlo – Let It Go
CISCO Records Pressing
8. Patricia Barber – Café Blue
<> Premonition Black Label USA
9. Dionne Warwick – Promises Promises
Scepter Stereo USA
10. Barbra Streisand – Memories
CBS DM Japan Pressing
* Over the years, I developed something from collecting many copies of the same album - 'Hoardiliosis'. And that in turn resulted in the creation of the "P.D.A.F. Syndrome" (Phil’s Deadly Allocation to Friends). To me, the P.D.A.F is a good indicator of a good sounding record. <>This mark, like the Telefunken tube base diamond mark <>, connotes here exceptional sounding records in terms of recording, where you have an almost perfect recreation of the sound space of the recording venue or studio, in palpable 3D quality, not to mention the seamless balance of top, mid and low frequencies, without compression nor exaggeration of musical content. These recordings are above anything else I have heard so far.Postscript:
This is not an end all be all list by any standards, and the list simply represents the 'vinyl treasures' I have discovered in the decades of hunting for great and exceptional sounding records. I am sure there are millions more great LPs out there that I have not unearthed nor heard. And I am indebted to the late WS member and true guru of great recordings, Pic Annonuevo, or PICAN here on WS. It was he who opened my eyes and ears to great things happening inside the vinyl grooves, in terms of a special effort to produce a better sounding record in contrast to those millions and zillions of mass-market LPs that were being churned out then. He would jokingly call me Mr. Lionel Richie for looking for those sorts of pop records the first time we met in his house in the mid 80s. During that time, he pulled out a Linn/Aloi LP of Carol Kidd and told me to listen and he told me it will be so different from whatever I have heard in tems of recording and not just the voice and instruments in the record. It didn't take long before I was looking for those types of records, in my visits to HK and other countries, and even using snail mail to connect with record producers all over the world and then risking my hard earned money (cash wrapped in carbon paper inside a Par Avion envelop) to have sellers ship the LPs by 'pony express'.
I was touched when Pic told me that, for the recordings ‘talk’ that we were supposed to split between the 2 of us in Val’s Analog 101 seminar a few years back, he has given me the green light to cover the records topic by myself. I was speechless, and I considered it a great honor that the teacher had given his trust to the student. I met so many valuable friends in the course of trading and dealing records through the years. And I do not buy vinyl just because it is spelled vinyl. To me, vinyl is not a badge or license that has a positive meaning in itself, vinyl has to be done well, and done right, and most of all, it has to sound SOUND GREAT for it occupy its place in the audio hobby. And recalling what I said in Analog 101, the record hunting experience to me was inspired by a simple saying - 'garbage in, garbage out'. To me, the beginning of the audio chain is not the turntable/arm/cartridge rig – it is that light circular plastic that one puts in the platter.
This list is a product of that 1 small step that Pican taught me long ago, and has resulted in a giant leap as far as my knowledge in record collecting is concerned. In this vinyl hunting endeavor, I will always be a student - forever.
Thanks for reading.