We all know that Axioms can be demanding of source material in that they allow you to hear every flaw in a poorly mixed or engineered source. I've often thought that an ongoing thread regarding the Sound Quality of recordings (not the actual artsts' performance) would prove helpful to many. I know that in my case, I've purchased discs with high expectations only to be disappointed in the quality of the recording. Maybe, being able to search this forum for a band name could have saved me from buying the disc.
So... in the interest of getting things started:
If you're a Deep Purple fan, the 2CD 25th Anniversary edition of Machine Head
Amazon Link sounds fantastic! An absolute testament as to why a person shouldn't be afraid of older recordings. The lack of compression (i.e., the dynamic range) in the disc is awesome…far, far better than most recent rock recordings and it literally sounds good enough to be considered a reference / demo disc.
(I did not hyperlink the text "Machine Head" because I'm not sure if that precludes it from being searchable!)
