What do you play when you have someone over to listen to your system and they are a non-audiophile? Over the next few articles, I want to share with you some LPs I put on for non-audiophiles. They’re also good enough recordings that they can be used when setting up your system. They never make you think about the sound, and if they do, you probably need to change something in your setup. I’m going to start by sharing four female vocal LPs.
Nancy Byron, Neon Angel
I have the APO 180g 45 rpm issue of this LP. It is one of my favorite LPs. It is so musical and one of the best-sounding recordings I know of. I think I love every single song on the album. If your system is right, it should have wonderful harmonics, and her voice should sound smooth, rich and very powerful. At the same time, there is a lot of low-level detail on this album. Most of all it is a very emotionally moving performance.
I often play it for visitors and most have never heard it, but they leave wanting a copy. I like it best on vinyl, but the truth is that it is great on SACD or just plain old CD. It is a great album that should really move you. Last time I checked, it was still available for around $30. What a buy for two 45 rpm LPs of pure happiness!
Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat 20th Anniversary Edition
The second LP I want to put in this group is Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Rain Coat 20th Anniversary Edition. What more can be said about this album of Leonard Cohen songs? In 1986 when first released, Harry Pearson pronounced it one of the best albums ever with sound to match. It’s been one of my most-listened-to female-vocal albums since its release, and I’ve always found side one of the original release just mesmerizing. My three favorite cuts on the original album were “Bird On A Wire,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” and “Joan of Arc”.
If it weren’t for the 20th-anniversary reissue of this album it wouldn’t have been on my list. That’s not because the sound on the original was any less than great. It takes more than a great sound and three songs to make this list. So, it’s the addition of more great songs that puts it on the list. The 20th Anniversary Edition gives me four of my favorite Cohen songs, “Came So Far For Beauty,” “Ballad Of The Runaway Horse,” “If It Be Your Will,” and a live version of “Joan of Arc.” In fact, “Ballad Of The Runaway Horse” is now my favorite song on the whole three LP set.
I have to admit to being something of a Leonard Cohen junkie, so the addition of more of his music makes this one of my very favorite and one of the most emotionally-movings albums in my collection. If you find yourself listening to the sound and not caught up in the music, something is wrong with your system. The music and performances are simply that good.
So there you have it, a great album, from a great voice, with music written by a true artist, with great songs, and exceptional sound.
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis
The third LP on this list is the album, Ella & Louis. I prefer the APO 45 rpm reissue. I don’t know what can be said about this album. It’s just about as good as jazz gets. Be sure to get a mono version as the stereo version is just bad. Still, this album is all about great music, fun, and just getting the chance to relive some incredible music.
When listening to “Isn’t This a Lovely Day,” you should hear the beauty and lushness of Ella and the gravely power of Satchmo. The voices should sound alive and right there in the room with you. On a really good system in a really good room set up, you should hear Satchmo’s horn get really live without breaking up or sounding the least bit strained.
Joan Baez, From Every Stage
The last album in this list is Joan Baez’s From Every Stage. This is a live double album recorded by Joan Baez on tour in the summer of 1975. The first half of the album is acoustic with Baez accompanying herself on her guitar, and the second half features electric backup. It has been one of my favorites since its release.
On a really properly setup system, you should be moved by the emotions and the comedy of her conversation with the crowd. Her version of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” is simply alive and dripping with emotions. Another very emotionally moving song is “Natalya.”
Sides three and four are just loaded with great music and great sound. You have Dylan’s “Forever Young,” Baez’s own “Diamonds & Rust,” Emmylou Harris’ ”Boulder to Birmingham,” a very moving edition of the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and a sing-along version of “Amazing Grace” which is both moving and puts you in the audience.
There are many great female vocal albums, but these are the four I listen to most often. Whether you are setting up your system or just listening, they are just great performances.
