Albums you need to hear on vinyl - Page 2

Part of it is that for the most part the albums listed here were mixed with vinyl in mind so they simply sound best on vinyl. Mixers knew the limitations of the medium and worked with them to get the best possible sound.

ETA: Or what Dave said.

Look forward to your analysis, Dave.

Love Gish and I'm glad to hear it sounds so good on vinyl. For me, none of SP's other albums ever measured up to the promise of their debut.

Some newer vinyls that are quite rad:

J. Dilla - Donuts
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Man Man - Six Demon Bag
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Beirut - Flying Cup Club
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Destroyer's Rubies
My Morning Jacket - Z
Liars - Liars
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Four Tet - Pause
And any Shellac. But that's an 'of course'

Will Oldham is pretty much made for vinyl. I See A Darkness gets constant play.
Ryan Adam's Jacksonville City Nights and the three Neko Case's out (Blacklisted, Fox Confessor, and Canadian Amp) are really amazing sounding on wax.

Pro Ject (http://www.project-audio.com/) are really good, and really affordable turntables, all of the good stereo stores near me carry them, so I think you should not have too big of a problem tracking one who does down.


From there it only gets scarier and scarier, look on Ebay for used Rega's and Lynn's, also look at What Hi Fi, a British stereo review mag, becaue in the back they have charts for everything they have reviewed. because here in England vinyl is still going quite strong.

Very belated thanks, as I finally got around to purchasing this today. On sale, too! I'll finally put my fancy In Rainbows records in play.

I know this recommendation isn't for an old record but if you ever get the chance try giving Chuck Ragan's "Los Feliz" record a spin.

I'm not a huge fan of live recording but I absolutely love this one and love it even more on vinyl.


From reading this thread I think I'll get some Beatles records on vinyl.

And another question for any collectors out there:

I want to probably put up many of my album covers into frames and use them as wall displays so that leaves me with a naked record in the dust sleeve. Is there any product out there that let's me keep them safer than say....a milk crate? And am I the only sucker for colored vinyl?

You're most welcome. Enjoy!

Thats cause it really does.

I'll add Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band to that.

Every Zeppelin album sounds better on vinyl

Never Mind The Bollocks sounds so much better on vinyl

Most of Zappas stuff sounds pretty great on vinyl

At their most basic level, digital waveforms are very different than analog waveforms. One looks like a set of ascending and descending stairs, the other looks like mountains.

A safe bet for any worthy LPs are any records made before 1987. That's around the time when analog began getting phased out. Personal vinyl faves of mine include The Cars, London Calling, Purple Rain, most of which are easy to find.

That's a good part of it. But another part is that a number of the albums listed here were mixed with vinyl in mind not digital. I'm not sure if Radiohead did a different mix for In Rainbows on vinyl but it would make a pretty big difference in the end product.

Finally took the vinyl plunge and brought my dads old (really old) record player home with me. The difference in sound is downright astonishing. I picked up Zen Arcade and the first Okkervil River album and they sound simply incredible. What astonishes me the most about vinyl is how full the sound gets with just a little bit of volume. I often feel the need to turn up a CD really loud to get the full effect. That doesn't seem as important on an album.

Also grabbed another Peter Gabriel album, 154 by Wire (whoa), Solid Gold by Gang of Four, Boston, Mass. by the Del Fuegos and an old James record, almost all used. They all sound amazing.

Any other really good fines to report?

Got to raid my family's collection. While it was disturbing to see how big a Manilow fan my mother was, the first three Zeppelin albums were worth it.

I can only listen to Eric Clapton (especially Derek & the Dominoes) on vinyl. Also, the first two Allman Brothers Band records!

My dad had some duds (Molly fucking Hatchet???) but he also had Abbey Road and the Cars debut, which benefits greatly from the vinyl treatment.

In Rainbows sounds amazing on vinyl. Of course, I am used to hearing the low bit rate version that Radiohead was offering on their website.

I'm not as big of a Nine Inch nails fan as I used to be, but I pulled out my copy of The Downward Spiral on vinyl and there are all kind of ambient noises that don't translate to the CD version of the album. I must have listened to that record three times in the past week.

I picked up "Days of Futures Past" by the Moody Blues, and that fucker feels so right on vinyl. I recommend that to anyone, really.

If you ever get the time to do this, Dave, I for one am still interested.

It blows that the new NIN album costs about 300 dollars on vinyl and free online.

I'll add another one to the list...

DJ Shadow's Entroducing.

Wow.

Gotta agree with this, I have Entroducing and Private Press on Vinyl and they honestly sound like different records to their CD counterparts. In particular Private Press's 'Six Days' and 'Blood On The Motorway' are really muted sounding on CD.

This and the NIN comment are really tempting me to get a turntable. Thing is, I don't have a phono entry on my receiver.

This has been a fascinating thread.

Am I the only who grows increasingly disenchanted with the music industry post 1975ish the more and more I learn about it? "The day of the audiophile is over", bemoans an industry that did everything it could to overprice, overproduce, and underprovide its wares to a public that was willing to accept anything other than the thorough anal raping they'd been handed for decades.

It's 38$ at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-I-IV-Ni.../dp/B0015FQZ9E

*gasps and giggles*

I tracked down a cheap LP copy (under $20) of Wowee Zowee online and it was totally worth it. Now if only I could find Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain. Pavement was made for vinyl, it seems...

Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs sounds great on vinyl. If you have a chance to see this band live, I highly recommend it.

Exile In Guyville is being reissued on vinyl:

http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Guyville...765552&sr=1-15

US only release! Remastered LP includes a bonus 7-inch of unreleased B-sides and also includes a copy of the remastered CD!

If you have a record player, this is a no-brainer.

Note: this package doesn't come with the new DVD documentary.

That's a great deal but I still wish they would have sprung for a 4 side double album. 18 tracks just seem to be too much for 2 sides of vinyl.

"Easter Everywhere" by the 13th Floor Elevators...because the CD is a shitty recording from a vinyl lp. Has a great cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue".

Agreed.

I don't even have a record player, but might spring for this package, too.

I just love that cover. Now Phair's exposed nipple will be even more magnified.

The label those appeared on, Mo'Wax, is essential collector's material if you're a vinyl experience junkie. I used to collect their releases for a while, and honestly each & every one of them is a work of art & love. Best example of modern (digitally made) music optimised on vinyl release, and the artwork is out of this world- hang-em-on-a-wall quality there. Check out some screenshots from the catalogue: http://www.discogs.com/label/Mo+wax (that Innerzone Orchestra 'Bug in the Bassbin' fe.). Later releases got really crazy, with intricate fold-out sleeve design. Sadly the label got bought by Universal, and a whole lot of character was lost.
Back to DJ Shadow: get the EP 'What Does Your Soul Look Like' for the full Mo'Wax experience.. stunning, elegant artwork & 4 heart-wrenching tracks.. two of 'em appeared on Endtroducing, but it's just this particular combination & order of tracks that does the trick.

Their release of the first Money Mark album on vinyl is also a keeper, great gatefold sleeve & wonderful music. Same goes for Sukia- one of the weirdest bands ever.

The Beach Boys- SURF'S UP

Neil Young-TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT

Rolling Stones-Between the Buttons /Flowers

Not sure if you're still looking for Third/Sister Lover, Dave, but 4menwithbeards recently re-released it with the original artwork/track list (not the Ryko reissue). Still, it's 180 gram vinyl and sounds fantastic (it's now one of my favorite records). You can probably find it cheaper than $15 online.

May I suggest Bend sinister by the FALL, one of my favourites - it was also re-mastered before release from the song-writer's (MES) walkman so that it sounded exactly the way he wanted it on vinyl. If you like Pavement or US-era-Blur-that-sounds-like-pavement then check out the fall (god knows pavement did)

Also Live at action park by shellac. but i guess that goes without saying, what doesn't is my suggestion to get your ear really close the needle and you get this incredible echo-feedback from one-ear to the other which suits albini's scratchy atmospherics (esp. on dog and pony show)

Replacements - Let it Be
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Both are great on vinyl.

I love The Fall and I've been looking everywhere for new or used and have come up with squat. Oh well, I'll find some eventually...perhaps in Chicago when I visit next week.

My gal's brother has Let it Be and Tim on vinyl. He let me borrow Tim and it's dramatically better, especially since that one hasn't had a squeaky clean reissue yet.

All Replacements on vinyl generally sounds better.

My favorite Fall album on vinyl is The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall. The first Fall album I listened to and remains one of my favorites.

I looking to get a player. I have no idea what to get. I don't have much space for it, so I'm looking for something small.

For anyone interested, they reissued the first two Big Star albums. I got the first and it sounds amazing. They're pretty cheap too (about $13). Nothing beats Third/Sister Lover, but I'm glad I have the chance to get the trifecta.

Fun thread to read through. I grew up with vinyl, and still have several thousand LP's sitting around in storage: the exigencies of life, though, mean that pretty much all my listening these days is ripped mp3's. I'll get that turntable set up again one of these days.

I'm fascinated by the vinyl revival. I have two young nephews (12 and 10) who have recently got turntables and are starting to put new LP collections together. One of them is coming to visit later this year, and his dad has evidently made a browsing trip to my storage unit sound like a journey to Aladdin's cave for him. His first vinyl purchase was a reissue of the first Stooges album, so he's got a lot to look forward to.

I'll agree with whoever posted that, to my ears anyway, the vinyl advantage really only shows up consistently on top-flight equipment (of the kind I've never really been able to afford). Otherwise it's more hit and miss to me.

I had the experience of replacing (well, supplementing) my vinyl albums with CD's as the newer format was emerging, and so doing a lot of one-to-one comparisons. It seems to me that the differences really had more to do with the time and care put into the digital remastering than the format: I've got albums that were much improved when they hit CD, and others that only sounded wretched on shiny disk (almost every Columbia CD I bought sounded terrible compared to its vinyl version).

For me, it's less about the sound advantage and more about two other things:

(1) Having original masters of stuff. That's sort of a corollary to the 'sound of vinyl' thing, but I find that I prefer vinyl masters most of the time.

(2) It's not disposable. I was finding that with CD and MP3 I had more and more music that I was listening to less and with less attention. Vinyl demands a certain attention and maintenance while listening, and there's always the fact that it's faster to play a side again than it is to switch to another record. Since I've gone back to mostly vinyl listening I'm not hearing as much, but I'm taking it in more deeply.

Could I do the same with CD/MP3? Sure, but for whatever reason I wasn't.

The attention thing is a pretty big deal. Not just the fact that turntables aren't portable, but that album's feel measured. Putting a new LP on my iPod and pressing play makes it feel like any other playlist but the idea of an LP spread across two (or three, or four, et al.) sides means that there's something to be said in contained segments. That gets lost on an iPod. Not just because you skip an album's "Wild Honey Pie" or "The Long and Winding Road", but because it never really feels like there's a definitive end.

Them I want to see live...

Thanks to my father I get pretty much all the Beatles, Led Zipplion, David Bowie, Cream and Rolling Stones on vinyl..god damn they all sounds beautiful. OK Computer and Kid A are fucking the boss on vinyl as well.

I don't know if it's true of later pressings, but when Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever first hit CD, there's a pause after "side one" ends, and Tom tells you that he's going to wait for the amount of time it would take for you to get up and flip the record over before continuing.

You know, when mp3 players first hit, people found it odd that I still preferred to listen to my albums as complete artifacts, in the way that I always had, even though I now had the chance to skip stuff right and left, or copy over only certain songs. It was as though their first goal upon receiving music digitally was to immediately rid themselves of every song but their very favorites.