not lately. But I'm glad to hear you're listening to the White Stripes, big fan here. Also - in concert - gawdamm they rock!

Few months ago I got vinyl by the Drones, "The Minotaur + A Brief Retrospective". Good sound but in this case not really superior to CD. Not the quietest vinyl. But it is a very cool 3-D-ish picture LP. The art goes right across the label area, no paper there.

The Replacements reissues

Wilco's vinyl reissues of their 1st 3 albums are supposed to be great...

Stereolab's 'Chemical Chords.' Luscious electro-pop with huge-ass motown drums, never thought electro could sound so good on vinyl.

Animal Collective's latest sounds terrible on LP... and on WAV. Yuck.

Well, I never know how an old album is going to fare, such as the Rolling Stones LP I got recently (Between The Buttons) which sounded great. A new one I also wasn't asking much from sonically was The Clash Live at Shea Stadium and the sound was very surprisingly good too. Must have been somebody who know something behind the boards for that show because it's got decent dynamics, a clean mix and and even some ambiance. Performance was killer, which I expected.

Have you guys heard any of the recent Low reissues from the Kranky label? Completely analog production (AAA), and they sound crazy good.

Quote:
Stereolab's 'Chemical Chords.' Luscious electro-pop with huge-ass motown drums, never thought electro could sound so good on vinyl.

i'm pretty sure that stereolab create two masters: one for digital reproduction and one for vinyl reproduction. tim gane (the guitarist) is quite the audiophile. i know they created two masters for "sound-dust."

"Unlike most pop musicians, who seem to prefer a boombox to anything resembling decent hi-fi equipment, Tim Gane is a full blown audiophile whose choice of hi-fi influences everything from his recording choices to his mixing techniques. With two systems in his London apartment, Gane is a dedicated vinyl addict. And with a $7,000 Simon Yorke turntable, who can blame him? Gane

Quote:
Have you guys heard any of the recent Low reissues from the Kranky label? Completely analog production (AAA), and they sound crazy good.

yeah, i have them all. wonderful, beautiful stuff; secret name being my favorite. i even like the earlier stuff kramer recorded, i'd love to find that stuff on lp.

the radiohead re-issues sound might fine as well. supposedly radiohead take much care to record and master very well.

also, for you fans, if there are any, the joy division remasters sound wonderful. i've liked them since my teens but it took these to make me realize just how violent joy division's music was, and how much of a ROCK band they truly were.

Quote:
Any surprises that translate to vinyl better than expected?

I was listening to a little White Stripes (yikes, Stripes!) on vinyl as was taken by how good a job they did in translation.

NIN seems to pay full attention to vinyl love, too.

On "Elephant" my red disc plays better than the white one.

In previous threads I have commented on the many 180-200 gram audiophile releases that disappoint- but for everyone of those there's a run of the mill old gem I find that puts you with the musicians. My cheapo re-issue of Beefheart's "Clear Spot" kicks way more ass than most of my "audiophile" pressings.

Rhino's EC, "My Aim Is True" varies in quality from track to track. Why????

The White Stripes albums I've heard sound darn good. I picked up a reissue of Elliott Smith's self-titled album recently, and was really shocked by how good it sounded. It has some of the most intimate "he's right there"-like sounds I've ever heard from any medium.

Nick Drake "Family Tree." I expected this to be pretty crappy considering its origins (recorded at home). And, sure, you can tell that it isn't studio work, but it is still "surpsingly good." Much better than I expected. The Simply Vinyl "Pink Moon" is sonically wonderful as well.

I too haven't had any better luck with 180-200g pressings than regular pressings. Go figure.

On a different note, I've had pretty good luck with MHS records. They're cheap and were distributed via a mail-order record club of some sort as I understand. Some of them are indeed crap, but others are quite nice sonically.

Axl

Legend of the seven dreams, ECM, modern Jazz featuring the saxophone player Jan Garbarek.
The vinyl of this album sound quite better than the CD and I have a strong feeling the sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug have something to do with it.

Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker- kickass

Whiskeytown-- Strangers Almanac Reissue. more asskicking

Gene Parsons-- Kindling. PERFECTION!!

Ian Matthews- Valley Hi! amazing.

also..

i picked up pat methany group american garage LP the other day.

God, that music is terrible.

it sounds like bad pr0n music for guitar nerds. terrible, dated, hideous.

yuck.

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. I purchased this LP in 1990 and even though it is a 125 gram disc the engineering of the recording shines. I'd like to compare it to a 180 gram or the new 200 gram Japanese release on some good equipment.

The Books' "Lemon of Pink" on TomLab.

This LP came out a few years ago and I loved it. This is pre-audiophile days, so I listened to it so much on my iPod, it was ridiculous.

I bought the 1st pressing of this LP, and it sounds shockingly good. For those who don't know The Books, they're a duo from Brooklyn who make quirkily intelligent, found-soundish "electronica." Very smart, very lyrical music.

If you see "The Lemon of Pink" in the used bins or on ebay, get it!
Anyhow, the LP sounds completely natural and acoustically real. A huge surprise given that it's electronica (although not of the thumping bass-heavy, house-y kind). More surprising is the fact that I did not expect such great sound out of this, because recent LPs from bands like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear sound like crap.

Quote:
Legend of the seven dreams, ECM, modern Jazz featuring the saxophone player Jan Garbarek.
The vinyl of this album sound quite better than the CD and I have a strong feeling the sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug have something to do with it.

I've got an old album of JG improvising to a Keith Jarrett string orchestra called Luminessence. One of those '70's experimental jobs. Not readily accessible music, but interesting.

anything that sheffield labs did...

direct to disc--amazing

and

http://www.danfogelberg.com/infonetherlands.html

and AKUS Live