It was October 1990 and Richard Lehnert, at that time Stereophile's music editor, buttonholed me in our office parking lot. He had an idea for a new feature in which, instead of recommending audio components, which we had been doing since the first edition of Recommended Components in 1963, we should do the same for music. "Rather than a selection of all-time (or year's) best recorded performances—which are common enough—or a list of audiophile reference recordings—common enough in the audiophile press, at any rate," he said, "this would be a list of stereo recordings that are both musically and sonically impeccable. In other words, the best, the tops, to die for."
It took me less than a New York minute to sign off on Richard's idea. We asked the magazine's audio and music writers each to name two of their favorite albums of all time—albums that were, to them, "to die for." There weren't many rules. Each record would be described in 100 or so words. In subsequent years, writers must not repeat a previous selection, although they could choose a new reissue of a previous choice.
The very first Records 2 Die 4 listing appeared in January 1991 and has been published in every February issue since then.
Back then, the only music media capable of offering hi-fi sound quality were LP and CD. But as SACD, DVD-A, hi-rez downloads, and streaming services appeared, we expanded the eligible categories to include surround recordings and music DVDs, as well as backtracking to include mono recordings. Then, in 2022, following everyone's harrowing experience with the pandemic, Editor Jim Austin, long unhappy with the "die" in the listing's title, decided that we needed to adopt a more positive spin—ha!—and renamed it Records 2 Live 4 from 2022 onward.
So here it is: Records to Live For 2025.—John Atkinson
