Albums you need to hear on vinyl

I had a record player growing up. I still have some Vinyl leftover from those days, but I don't have a player any longer. (By the way Dave, what kind of set-up did you get? I've been thinking of getting another one and I want to know what I should look for).

Anyway, what I remember in terms of better Vinyl recordings is somewhat limited. It was quite a few years go. But these are the few that I had at the time that I remember being particularly different from their CD releases.

Portishead: Dummy: The samples somehow call more attention to themselves and simultaneously blend better on vinyl.

Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life. Much fuller production on Vinyl.

Peter Gabriel: It somehow seems like you can pick up more of the details and individual instruments on the LP.

Pearl Jam: Vitalogy. Never been a huge Pearl Jam fan (someone gave this to me as a gift) but I have to admit that the vinyl release sounds much warmer than the CD version.

I need to get back into this. There are so many used record shops near me and I really love LP's.

Help out someone who knows less than nothing about this sort of thing, what are the technical reasons why a vinyll would sound so different from a CD?

In general, I like the way that jazz and blues sound on vinyl but Love Supreme is particularly awesome. Electric Mud from Muddy Waters is also much, much better on vinyl then CD.

For rock stuff, I love Joe's Garage on vinyl. I also think most of Bowie's stuff sounds way warmer on vinyl. I particularly like Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. Dylan's Blonde on Blonde is almost a must.

I'd love to hear U2 War on vinyl again. It's been well over twenty years since I heard it.

I'll second both of these as well.

Oh, and Stevie Ray Vaughn's Couldn't Stand the Weather.

I always thought Dark Side of the Moon sounded better on vinyl.

I got him this one. It took about ten minutes to go from opening the box to listening to Rattle and Hum, and that's only because I paused for a moment during setup to do some dusting. So far, so good. I found it at Best Buy.

Thanks for the tip. I'd like to hear that.

This is one of the three albums that I bought along with the record player. I got it because a) it's my favorite Pearl Jam album and b) the second track was a perfect accompaniment to a record player as a gift.

Personally, I'm looking forward to playing the U2 stuff until I wear it out and finding a copy of Joni Mitchell's Blue. We found Court and Spark this weekend and it sounds great. I'm also looking for some Bowie (Ziggy Stardust particularly) and, yes, Dylan, even though we already have it on CD.

Patrick, here's a very informative article from Rolling Stone about this very subject. There are some nice links and resources on the last page. Enjoy!

Couple of reasons. Analog sound sources simply sound different from digital -- analog (vinyl) can sound 'warmer' but also lacks an over-crisp and compressed sound that can characterize CD playback.

Current CD masters are also frequently pushed to higher and higher volume levels -- read up on the Loudness Wars and how some people think the trend is destroying the sound of even proven older albums. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

And for DaveB, I don't remember your position on Joy Division, but good condition copies of their two LPs would be a great thing to have.

I love Night at the Opera and Tumbleweed Connection on vinyl.

I think it goes without saying that At Folsom Prison should only be heard on vinyl.

For newer stuff, The Black Keys and White Stripes' albums have real differences. M. Ward was also made for vinyl.

My favorite, though, has to be an old, scratchy copy of Burl Ives' greatest hits.

From that good wiki, I was lead to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ . Having examples helps, at least, for me.

Oooooooo, Joni Mitchell! Sadly, I've only recently become a fan so everything I've heard is on CD* but I would think Blue is amazing.

*I worked at a radio station when Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm came out but I recall nothing of it's quality as an LP.

Yeah, that's the trouble with a lot of the CD releases. How many times do I need to buy the same album on CD? Most of the Pixies releases are terribly transfered and whenever I put them on the mix tape they sound noticeably quieter then anything else. That drives me crazy. I think there's a digitally remastered Surfer Rosa out there somewhere but I'm always annoyed about picking up the same CD twice. I might just pick up the vinyl myself.

Thanks, Zooey, for the link. Did you get speakers as well or did you guys use pre-existing speakers? That's the thing I'm really curious about. Is it tricky wiring it up? And are you going to use some program to record your vinyl into MP3's?

My personal favorites on vinyl are Sgt. Pepper's (I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet) and The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. The warm and "full" sound of vinyl really add to the music of these two albums.

And I'll suggest ELO's El Dorado, only because my love for that album is ridiculous. I don't know if it's essential or drastically improved by not being on CD.

I think I'll check out my local record store for some of the great suggestions here. Now I can't wait to buy a Drive-By Truckers album on vinyl.

Remain In Light

We're using pre-existing speakers (I hooked it up to the same receiver that our VCR, DVD, and CD player run through - it's so old that it has a designated Phono hookup) and it was very, very easy to set up (like I said, about 10 minutes). It comes with everything you need to run it through a receiver, or even your tv if you'd like.

Dave's going to address the recording issue. He has a Tascam that he uses to run guitars through our computer. He thinks that the record player can be hooked up to the computer using that. So, to answer your question, yes, if we can.

There are a lot of analog-era albums I'd love to hear on vinyl, if only because the current CD masters of them are terrible. This is more the fault of record companies unwilling to properly master their CDs than it is the fault of the CD medium itself.

Listen to the mid-late Steely Dan remasters, or Fragile by Yes (Rhino remaster). Those sound better than most albums recorded today, because someone put some love and care into remastering from the original tapes.

The Husker-Du album, for example, is probably (educated guess here) just the old vinyl master dumped onto CD, instead of redone from the original tapes. And it was a shitty recording to begin with that probably benefits from analog distortion, aka "warmth", the same way older video games look better on a standard tube TV than on a computer monitor.

Edit: If I ever start buying vinyl, the biggest reason would be the artwork. I'm really into graphic design, layout, and art in general. The printing quality and size of vinyl artwork is amazing to me. You can hold it up and completely lose yourself in the depth of the image. Shitty CD sleeves are a disgrace. Digipaks look a lot better in terms of printing quality, but still tiny.

I'm probably alone on this one, but Edith Piaf does it for me on Vinyl. Great sunday afternoon music.

I might buy the turntable Zooey found just so I can get a decent-sounding copy of "Electric Ladyland." It's one of the first CDs I ever purchased and it has ALWAYS sounded like shit.

More importantly: Neil Young, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"

Probably most of his stuff (at least with Crazy Horse). I have been without a turntable for a LOOOONG time and am no "audiophile" but these songs were made for analog. I love that soft analog hiss - Maybe I'm biased I once read that Neil himself swore he hated digital sound?

I love Edith Piaf. Just watched La Vie En Rose this weekend. Don't do this if you're an Edith Piaf fan.

I've been sporadically collecting vinyl since high school and just finally got a turntable thursday night. Its been great to finally hear all the Pearl Jam Fanclub Christmas Single that have been collecting dust in my closet for all these years. I also picked up Eddie Vedder's Into the Wild soundtrack on vinyl and it really sounds great. Led Zeppelin's 4th album and U2's Joshua Tree have also both gotten alot of play around here this weekend.

Earlier today, I picked up Drive by Truckers The Dirty South and Neil Young's Decade set on vinyl and have been listening to them all afternoon. I also ordered a couple of My Morning Jacket discs that I'm really looking forward to hearing (Z, Acoustic Citsuoca, and Chocolate & Ice).

You need to hear Ring on vinyl. Aerial Boundaries is very nice as well. Most of Rush's albums sound better on vinyl too, I would imagine; the original CD releases sound pretty small compared to what CDs can really do. The Rush Remasters are a huge improvement, though.

That one is probably the most striking difference between analog and digital in the Neil Young catalog, in my opinion.

The vinyl version of ZZ Top's "Tejas" is a pretty good example. Not only does the band sound better on vinyl, but the only place you can hear the original recording of the album is on the vinyl version. When the ZZ catalog was converted to cds in the 80s, the record company decided to add all of the lame 80s production and synthesizers that made their 80s albums terrible.

Abbey Road. You start Side B when you're good and ready, and not before. The end of "I Want You" is supposed to leave you hanging.

My stuff probably seems pretty standard issue, but here goes:
Pink Floyd-Meddle
The Beatles - Sgt Peppers
Harry Nilson - The Point
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Maybe it's because they were all recorded for and released specifically for the medium (because that's all there was), but I haven't heard them sound better on any different device than a turntable.

Please excuse this brief off-topic post: who wants to offer up any suggestions for baby's first turntable? Whether it's a model you own, or a good web site for reference, I'd appreciate any pointers.

flyarz, I got DaveB this one and we're quite happy with it. As it's the first turntable either of us has owned in years, I can safely say that it qualifies as a good "beginner's" turntable.

Music From Big Pink by The Band

Don't forget The White Album and Abbey Road.

Also Hot Rocks, Hot Rocks and Fazed Cookies, and Some Girls by the Stones.

Apparently we had a retro week at the S~/H~ household. Wednesday we picked up a very cool old bumper pool table (bar style, coin-op, real slate) for forty bucks. Plus my lovely wife picked up Joe and Eddie "There's a Meetin' Here Tonight" and Mahalia Jackson's "Mighty Fortress" on vinyl (I've been on a gospel kick* recently). Gospel lends itself so well to vinyl that it's hard to listen to the CDs now.

*Kinda weird being a Buddhist and all

I didn't.

Funny about the multiple Vitalogy mentions. I picked that up when the original was released, and it got me on a kick. I have since picked up the entire Pearl Jam studio release catalog on vinyl. These days they are framed on the wall, so they don't get a lot of play, but it was Vitalogy that began everything.

I'd love to raid DaveB's U2 vinyl. My wife would probably orgasm if I could round up their entire catalog on vinyl. War sounds amazing.

I have all three Big Star records on vinyl. If you don't then you should.

Yeah I have the original on PVC Records. It didn't cost me that much, though I got it probably close to twenty years ago. #1 Record is one I really shelled out for, my copy of Radio City is a repress. I was actually doing a good job of forgetting In Space until today. Oh and while I'm at it, you being a big power pop guy should grab some Dwight Twilley. Most of his stuff is really easy to find used.

Both of these statements are correct. Analog has greater amplitude, per frequency, per wavelength, therefore the peaks and valleys of the wavelength shape are higher and deeper. Whereas, a digital wavelength won't have the dynamic reach of analog until greater compression is allowed per digital file. Eventually, digital will sound better than analog.

Here's the catch with vinyl versus CD - people say it sounds 'warmer' which is basically a description of 'more white noise' due to a sub par needle rubbing against a worn groove. If you do not have a really great needle speaker system, your CD player or MP3 player will always sound better. But, a really good needle system sounds a little more crisp and bass-y than a digital system.

That is the difference between being a music consumer vs. a music lover.

I know it's always contentious to add U2 to a list, but I think both 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby' make for good (if not better) listens on vinyl. Probably because you can hear more of Eno's influence in them.

That goes to my vinyl suggestion, which is SANDINISTA!

I made a cd-r for my buddy one time and I lamented the fact he wasn't going to experience six sides.
With this lp I would listen and re-listen to a side before finally flipping it over and/or putting on another lp. It may have been weeks before I even made it to sides 5 + 6.
36 tracks on 2 cd's doesn't begin to duplicate the experience of 6 tracks x 6 sides of vinyl.

How is the sound on these? Drastic difference? I'd love to hear them as Big Star is, depending on what mood I am in, my favorite band.
But I guess with the Three record, you're stuck with the incorrect track order, which is one advantage of having it digitally.

If I had the time and the funds to get even more obsessive about music than I already am, I'm pretty sure I'd start hunting down a lot of vinyl. I do have a working turntable and some old records but not many essential ones. I'm thinking that by following this thread, though, I might be inspired to pick up some must-haves sometime.

I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough in this area to know which records I'd have on my wishlist. Don't mean to hijack this thread, but here is just a partial list of what I'm curious about*. If anyone has heard the vinyl versions, please speak up and let us know how they sound on LP**:

The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Black Crowes - The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Amorica
David Bowie - anything (I've just started exploring his old stuff this year)
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks, Modern Times
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Funkadelic - any of their '70s stuff
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love
King Crimson - anything
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Led Zeppelin I, II
Lounge Lizards - anything
Morphine - Cure For Pain
Van Morrison - Moondance, Astral Weeks
My Morning Jacket - Z
Otis Redding - anything
Pearl Jam - No code, S/T
Pink Floyd - Animals
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Radiohead - anything
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Santana - any old stuff
Soundgarden - Louder Than Love, Superunknown
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Talking Heads - anything
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Van Halen - I, II, Fair Warning
The White Stripes - anything
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Sky Blue Sky
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Yo La Tengo - anything
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats


*Of course I'll research these on my own, but thought I'd ask here as well. If nothing else, maybe this list will
help someone else build a wishlist. Then again, I don't know if all of these are currently available on vinyl.

**I tried to leave out some albums that have already been mentioned in this discussion.

Good article here: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/m...eningpost_1029

I've been considering a turntable purchase for the last year or so, but I'm afraid that I'm going to fall in love with the sound and go flat broke re-buying all of my favorite albums.

But my old vinyl copy of Ziggy Stardust (that's currently acting as decor in an album frame) calls to me...

C'mon Matt, join the vinyl devolution!

That reminds me Devo's Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo is all kinds of awesome on vinyl. Same with The B'52s debut album.

Responding to Ryan C's list (and reiterating my first post in this thread for the second time): Abbey Road is a perfect argument for LPs. Not just because of the sonic quality but because of the side-break. 'Here Comes The Sun' is not supposed to play right after 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' ends. You're supposed to zone out listening to the previous song's hypnotic final riff, sit there in stunned silence for as long as you need to after it stops, then get off your butt and flip to Side B. And your reward is Harrison's intimate little masterpiece.

Cool, thanks. And I appreciate the ritual aspect of listening to LPs you're referring to. But are there any particular details in the mix that you feel are superior on the vinyl version over other formats? People generally say that vinyl sounds 'warmer', but I'm thinking some albums - perhaps for different reasons - are more essential to own on vinyl than others are. I guess these are the things I'm most curious about in regards to comparing records and CDs.

I've also read and heard people claim that certain albums sound just as good or better on CD, but I'll bet that's an exception to the rule.