Best and worst SOUNDING albums?

[the_platypus]

Nevermind what you think of the arrangements or the songs themselves-- what do you think are EC's best and worst sounding albums?

For best I'd have to say Secret, Profane and Sugarcane. The sound is rich and full. I get a huge kick out of listening to this on my headphones.
I also really like the sound of This Year's Model, especially the drum sound. It's really perfect for the songs.

For worst, I offer When I Was Cruel. I personally love the album, I know many people here feel differently, but the sound of it is harsh and very unpleasant to listen to. Compressed as all hell, zero dynamic range and a real muddy, shallow ring to the drums.

I also really adore Get Happy, I think it's an amazing album, but sometimes I wish it sounded a little more natural. It sounds very thin and tinny, especially the drums and EC's voice.

Thoughts?

[bronxapostle]

for WHEN I WAS CRUEL, i would recommend the acquisition of a VINYL copy. i had had the cd for several months BEFORE getting it upon LP! when i did...WOWIE ZOWIE! it sounded like a NEW record. it jumps at you from wax and sounds worlds better, though i can NOT put into words how or why as i am NO audiophile. i just KNOW when i like the sound of something better than what i had been accustomed to hearing. cheers platy. best, benny

[Jack of All Parades]

Without reservation for me it is Imperial Bedroom- he pulled out all the stops along with Geoff Emerick in making that album sound as sonically rich as it does for my ears- this is where he learned how to use the studio to add immeasurably to the music.

Without reservation, as well, I join you in detesting the sound of When I Was Cruel. It grates for the most part on my ears everytime I give it a spin.

[SoulForHire]

I must agree that IB is a sonic masterpiece.

I cannot be objective about WIWC. I love that album so much (as you can tell from my screen name) that it masks the technical flaws to my ears.

The worst sounding single of which I am aware is Beautiful from the House soundtrack. Hard to believe he was going for that sound on purpose.

[when i was cruel]

Yeah I agree with soul, pretty much every song on there is amazing for me. I do wish that a little bit more vocal skill was in Episode however. But why the hate for WIWC ? Lol

[the_platypus]

I link to a thread about WIWC in the first post, feel free to weigh in there. This is a discussion about sound quality and production, not the quality of the songs.

[History History]

Great question. I've always liked the sound of All This Useless Beauty and never been keen on Punch The Clock - too shrill to my ears.

[SoulForHire]

Still thinking. When The Juliet Letters first came out, I felt that the vocals just didn't sound like Elvis. Does that make it a bad sounding album? Not sure. Also was never fond of the mix of Brutal Youth. But I think that it more of a taste preference rather than a technically poor job. Still thinking.

[the_platypus]

Still thinking. When The Juliet Letters first came out, I felt that the vocals just didn't sound like Elvis. Does that make it a bad sounding album? Not sure. Also was never fond of the mix of Brutal Youth. But I think that it more of a taste preference rather than a technically poor job. Still thinking.

I know exactly what you mean. Brutal Youth has a very strange sound to it, but I think it works for most of the songs. "Clown Strike" feels a little bare, though.

"London's Brilliant Parade" is actually one of my favorite-sounding EC songs.

[bronxapostle]

BRUTAL YOUTH sounds great to my ears. classic NICK LOWE production; the only way to improve it's feel would be to issue it upon vinyl.....PLEASE!!!

[SoulForHire]

Examples of sound/mixing choices in BY that I don't care for:

The drums on Rocking Horse Road
The vocals on Still Too Soon to Know
The bass on Pony Street

On the other hand, Steve does sound great through out.

[when i was cruel]

If it's sound quality... All This Useless Beauty is his best for me, not just like quality but the sound itself is amazing. Best EC album for me ever made

[migdd]

BRUTAL YOUTH sounds great to my ears. classic NICK LOWE production; the only way to improve it's feel would be to issue it upon vinyl.....PLEASE!!!

BRUTAL YOUTH was produced by Mitchell Froom, ba. Love the sound of this album and would love to hear it on vinyl.

King of America is EC's best sounding album.

[Jeremy Dylan]

I think THIS YEAR'S MODEL still sounds amazingly pristine, as does BLOOD & CHOCOLATE, which doesn't betray it's year of recording once. SP&S is up there too, and I think the sound of THE RIVER IN REVERSE is gorgeous - you can really hear the room and it has a true warmth to it.

[sulky lad]

I welcome professional opinions about the quality of the albums and it seems everyone picks up on something I've either not thought about or not noticed. I played my vinyl copy of WIWC last night on headphones and the difference between that and the flat CD is quite stunning - I played Episode of Blonde at least three times to verify what I thought I was picking up that I totally missed from the CD. Blood And Chocolate always sounds raw and unhinged ( if a sound can be unhinged) and I totally agree with Jeremy about how it doesn't age a bit. Unfortunately the vinyl also picks up the rather unfortunate merging of takes on Battered Old Bird which isn't really disguised by the segue, but overall it has a real "garage band" feel to it. For sheer warmth of sound and clarity of performances, ATUB,KOA and IB are awesome but each album seems to also be distinguished by astounding ensemble playing which brings me to Get Happy. Maybe the mix isn't the greatest but the sheer joyous outpourings of a band approaching their collective peak performances ( only equaled by Trust and IB) and the sublime songwriting make up for the recording process. I must dig out my 45 rpm promos and listen again to compare.

[bronxapostle]

BRUTAL YOUTH sounds great to my ears. classic NICK LOWE production; the only way to improve it's feel would be to issue it upon vinyl.....PLEASE!!!

BRUTAL YOUTH was produced by Mitchell Froom, ba. Love the sound of this album and would love to hear it on vinyl.

King of America is EC's best sounding album.

yes, you are correct migdd! guess i confused Nick's playing upon it. but, hey, i sure felt then (1994) and still do now, that they were trying to get that late 70's/early 80's NICK LOWE sound. once again, with grandfatherhood comes senility!!!

[SoulForHire]

I always thought that the person really behind the sound of BY was Tchad Blake.

[Poor Deportee]

I'm the furthest thing from a "hi-fi" guy or a connaisseur of recording technicalities; nor do I pay any attention to the difference between vinyl and CD, although I don't have the slightest doubt that the former sounds warmer than the latter (which was the start of the record industry's technology rip-off, whereby they realized they could induce everyone to pay for the same music multiple times through the planned obsolesence of existing technologies. Given this, I find its MP3-induced demolition a suitably ironic punishment).

That being said, in terms of what seem to be "recording" sound, rather than the soundscape and musical tones adopted by EC and his bandmates on any given album, I'd nominate any album where the sound seems to be both clear and warm rather than muddy, hollow, or tinny. TYM, B & C, KOA, MLAR, PM, North, SP&S and Momofuku all come to mind as albums that seem very nicely recorded to me. Conversely:

-I never understood the profligate use of tinny echo on the otherwise jaw-dropping GH;
-PTC is obviously too dated-sounding to qualify;
-Trust sounds pretty good but is obviously quite murky in places;
-BY, to my ears, has an odd quality to the way the vocals are recorded (they seem to be on the verge of overpowering the amp, or something);
-WIWC is mostly an abject disaster in every respect, including recording sound.

I love NR but still find something not quite right about the way it's mixed in places. IB has a bit too airy an atmosphere for my taste, although I can see where that enhances the overall cerebral tone of the record. "Armed Forces" is another case where the manner of recording seems to enhance the effect - in this instance, an icy effect - but not an approach I'd necessarily favour outside that context.

Now, as to soundscape, the musical tones achieved by the band? I absolutely love the sound of SP&S. That drumless, acoustic stuff has a time-out-of-mind quality about it, of which I for one can't get enough. I'll be in a tiny minority here but I always found the timbre of his voice particularly fine on MLAR, and I'm also a sucker for the sheer sonic madness of records like that (notwithstanding certain disasters on there; I thinkl what I'm saying is that they did a truly splendid job of getting his voice on tape there, whatever else is going on on those tracks). KOA has a great band sound going on. And I really enjoy the combination of focus and eclecticism on an album like Momofuku.

Hmmm...bit of a random post here. Sorry.

[SoulForHire]

I'll be in a tiny minority here but I always found the timbre of his voice particularly fine on MLAR, and I'm also a sucker for the sheer sonic madness of records like that (notwithstanding certain disasters on there; I thinkl what I'm saying is that they did a truly splendid job of getting his voice on tape there, whatever else is going on on those tracks).

I think a good example is Invasion Hit Parade. I love the sound of that.

[sulky lad]

MLAR - the best sung album by Elvis before he developed that awful vibrato !!

[the_platypus]

I listened to The Delivery Man this morning, for the first time in a while. I really like how it sounds. It's ballsy, bassy, punchy, and the drums sound absolutely fantastic.

[when i was cruel]

Agree with playpus

[SoulForHire]

Now that I think of it, I know what recording is HANDS DOWN the worst sounding album by Costello. The Futurama Sessions EP (I think it was iTunes only) is just objectively HORRIBLE. Great performance but terribly distorted. Does not sound like an official release but yet it is. His worst sounding by LIGHT YEARS.

ETA - Listening to Futurama Sessions right now. Not as bad as my memory recalled at the time I wrote the above. My wife has a tendency to set my equalizer at home to very odd settings. But here at the office, I guess it does not sound that bad. Not as good as the originals on The Delivery Man, but not horrible. However, I still think it is certainly one of the poorer sounding recordings of EC.

[the_platypus]

I don't think I've ever listened to the Futurama sessions.

[Ymaginatif]

National Ransom sounds pretty bad to me ...

Initially I thought it was a dodgy mp3 collection. But then I bought the vinyl .. the same ...; I bought the CD ... the same ...

some really sloppy mixing with distorting and clashing sound levels (e.g. the rhythm guitar in the title track is an ugly blob). Maybe it sounds fine on a £10,000 soundsystem, but a normal 20 year old stereo can't cope with it.