[Closed] Tell me about albums with staggering production quality

Relationship of Command by At The Drive In.
Every Doves record.

Yes, Quincy Jones was brilliant.

Primal Scream, Screamadelica

It's superbly done. Weatherall. Everything feels exactly just like it is about to fall apart, consistently, right throughout. Messy, but, brilliant controlled, like having exactly the right amount of distortion on a pedal.

Ultravox, Vienna.

Connie Plank was amazing. Every sound has it's own space. Precise. Syncopation. Diametric opposite to Screamadelica.

Dark Side of the Moon.

I know exactly what you mean, I went to see The Eagles and Rod Stewart with the gaffer because she was a big fan. Wasn't looking forward to either of them but the production values were absolutely first class.
Using the same criteria, Prince was an absolute legend. One of those artists I wish I'd paid more attention to, a very talented man who produced some great albums.

hotstuff - I saw the The Eagles 6 years ago as I bought tickets for my mum.
I liked their 'best of' stuff anyway but was absolutely blown away with their tight, crisp sound. Much more respect for them after that.

Any New Order album

Steely Dan's 'Aja' is famously well produced, and features some incredible musicians too.

ABC - The Look Of Love
Prince - Sign O' the Times...in fact anything by Prince really.
Radiohead - OK Computer. Nigel Godrich is a bit of a genius.

Nirvana nevermind. Produced by someone well known but alas I do not know who.sounds great.

Bizarrely I was listening to a vinyl pressing of tone Loc - Loc'd After Dark on my turntable and auditioning a Cyrus Phono Signature phono stage and the production on that is just immense. The amount of subtle layers to each mix is incredible and no background noise at all.

Dr Octagon - Dr Octagonologyst is another supreme hip hop mastering as well.

More mainstream - Sophie Zelmani - Sing & Dance is an excellent production.

Pharaoh Sanders: Thembi.
Another Bill Szymczyk production (he worked with The Eagles and others)

in fact, pretty much anything Rick Rubin's done

Nirvana nevermind. Produced by someone well known but alas I do not know who.sounds great.

Produced by Butch Vig, went on to form Garbage with Shirley Manson & Duke Erikson.

I have a stunning pressing of ‘Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section’ on 180g vinyl that is unbelievably good, if I play it to people their jaw hits the floor but on Tidal streaming it’s pedestrian and dull.

Probably the most ‘in the room’ recording I own.

Def Leppard - Hysteria

Mutt Langes finest hour

How about The Alan Parsons Project.

Or anything by Wreckless Eric...

Depeche Mode - Violator is one that always stood out for me.

Am lucky enough to work for a hi-fi company, so I've "tested" some of my favourite stuff at obscene volumes on some decent kit. Absolute stand out was Sigur Ros - track 8 from (). Anyone who knows it will know it's a pretty dense recording when it kicks off. Equally, anyone who knows the difference active amplification can make when things get complex... **** me, without a doubt the best thing I have ever heard in my entire life.

Al Stewart, year of the cat.
Donald Fagin, the nightfly

Oh dear. I must be some sort of pariah! I have no idea what good "production values" looks or sounds like.

Any explanations welcome.

I just listen to a song and either like or not. Dont look any deeper.

I do have very varied tastes, but not very technical.

Neon Handshake by Hell Is For Heroes- produced by one of Refused, and it was forever delayed by the record company so they re-recorded and reworked it until there was nothing left to improve.

The first album by Boston. Even more impressive when you realise that it waas recorded in a basement home studio (without the record company realising). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(album)

Al Stewart, year of the cat.

Oof. Beat me to it.

OMD. Architecture and Morality

Anything by Frankie goes to Hollywood.

Ah yes Butch Vig. The Garbage albums do sound really good. I would add QOTSA and "Welcome to the Pleasuredome". Lots of classical albums too, particularly on the BIS label with very minimal recording techniques.

Oh and let's not forget "When a Child is Born" by Johnny Mathis.

The first album by Boston.

Aye, but then Scholz started taking it too far.

My favourites are - and I know this is subjective, and for me production that just works for the artist concerned.

Previously mentioned: Weatherall 1 Screamadelica

- Eno/Lanois/Flood - Achtung Baby
- Stephen Street - Parklife
- Steve Lillywhite - Boy
- Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
- Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full
- George Martin - Sgt Pepper
- Steve Hillage - Up to Our Hips
- Rick Rubin/John Carter Cash - American IV

Yeah, I was going to suggest the Rick Rubin 'American Recordings' series with Johnny Cash. To that I'll add 'Train a'Comin' by Steve Earle.

Sometimes less is more.

Dire Straits Brothers in Arms is about the best quality CD I've ever heard.

Propaganda - A Secret Wish
Pet Shop Boys - Introspective
Lee Perry - just about anything, but maybe start with Megaton Dub vol 1
Scientist - ... Rids the World of the Curse of the Evil Vampires
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

Find a Phil Spector 'Best of ...' and marvel at what he achieved: He's A Rebel; You've Lost That Loving Feeling; River Deep, Mountain High

Screaming Trees - Dust
Monster Magnet - Dopes to Infinity
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow and Imani
Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer

@Mary Hinge
(terrible name, by the way)

I just listen to a song and either like or not. Dont look any deeper.

Thats the best way to do it.

Sometimes, though, I might like a song just because of the way the snare drum sounds, and that's usually down to the production.

Joy Division - Closer (along with the single love will tear us apart and Atmosphere)
the Jam - All Mod Cons
Simon And Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
Red Hot Chili peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Fat Boy Slim - Halfway between the gutter and the stars

this https://awvfts.bandcamp.com/

G.N.R - Use your illusion II

Mary Hinge +1
Not really sure what a producer 'does'. That smooth distortion on Lemmy's Rickenbacker is signature - is that the producer, or Lemmy?

I only notice production when it's rubbish (got a few Pistols bootlegs on rizla thin vinyl).
I know someone like Phil Spector has a distinctive sound on his 60s stuff and can hear his influence. But without knowing it was he who produced, say, End of the Century, I wouldn't be able to tell.

Or, the Scientist record mentioned above - amazingly distinctive sound but I'd be unable to say why it's distinctive. Slightly farty bass sound is the best I can do. Going to dig it out for a spin now.
The Who Live at Leeds - amazing sound (especially the bass) - is that the production or just how they played?

Sheffield Steel - Joe Cocker. Not heard from him in a while.

New Order & Joy Division
Early Pet Shop Boys
Screamadelica even though Weatherall thought it was full of mistakes.
Massive attack and anything by Coldcut

Dire Straits Brothers in Arms is about the best quality CD I’ve ever heard.

Love over Gold.

@ IHN , 'Train a comin' great shout . Favouite album ever! Closely followed by 'I feel alright' but still a fair bit out front.

Oh and let’s not forget “When a Child is Born” by Johnny Mathis.

Have you been eating the daffodils again?

Back OT many of the Linn Label albums have really good production. Claire Martin singing Man Who Sold The World is very well done.

Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

theres a clip of George Martin at the mixing desk with Brian Wilson, George starts to play with the levels on the original 8 track recording.... Brian Wilson "it already sounds better!"

"Oh dear. I must be some sort of pariah! I have no idea what good “production values” looks or sounds like."

Not a producer, so this will be crude and probably wrong...

A producer will take the sound of each instrument on a song and mix all of these together.
He has tools available to him which help to enhance each of these strands.
He has other tools available to him which help him to blend together or separate these strands.

If you go to a gig, and the lead guitarist has turned his amp up to 11, so you can't hear the vocalist... It's bloody annoying, and in a recording studio, that would be bad production.

In the example I gave, the Sigur Ros song is massively dynamic, there's 2 drummers and one of them sounds like he's literally beating his snare to death. When I'm listening to that, I can feel the power of it, but I can also hear the emotion in the singers voice and the soaring sound of a guitar being played with a bow. I can focus on and enjoy any of those elements separately, but also how they complement each other. For me, that's a great recording.

perchypanther
Member
Def Leppard – Hysteria

+1

The Beatles, Abbey Road

Boston.

There's a subtle difference between best production and best production values, isn't there?

So Screamadelica has some of the best, most creative production ever, but the "production values" might be way beneath whichever Coldplay or U2 snoozefest you'd care to pick.

Anyway, how come nobody had mentioned MBV's loveless yet? Probably wins in both categories.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Soundgarden - Superunknown

and changing tack completely

Daft Punk - Random Access Memory

Seals first album produced by Trevor Horn iirc.

UNKLE-War Stories
Belle and Sebastian-dear Catastrophe waitress
The Black Keys-El Camino

Crikey, I know that New Order has been mentioned but I'll go one further - check out Martin Hannett's production during the late 70s and early 80s.

And +1 for Ultravox's Vienna - a fave of mine.

no mention for Dr. Dre yet either!

For electronic stuff (where often the artist and the producer are the same), for me the sign of quality was knowing within a bar or two who'd produced something. Daft Punk and Autechre are two examples that spring to mind.

I love El Camino but there's a really annoying fret buzz with the acoustic guitar on Little Black Submarine.

David Sylvian is pretty much spot on to me.

I know the Eagles have been mentioned and I've always thought Hotel California was beautifully produced.

On Sky Arts there are some great documentaries on Great Albums - interviews with the bands, producers, engineers, session musicians and so on. Great songs and musicianship will get so far but add in the perfect mix of production and innovation too, layering multiple tracks and overdubs and you get real magic.

Screamadelica is not on it for some reason, but it is on Youtube in parts

Daft punk is a great example, fantastic production values... but the tracks are mostly a bit bland.

For anyone that's a fan of production and how a song is put together, I can't recommend Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great" YouTube videos enough. He breaks songs done by all the elements and his insight is fantastic

A Deeper Understanding - The War on Drugs

Copper Blue by Sugar is great. As good a noise as anyone has managed to get Bob’s pure rage-filled guitar sound.

Happy Mondays: Pills n’ Thrills n’ Bellyaches. Martyn Hannet & I think Paul Oakenfold. They took a rag tag assemblage of lunatics and made them sound brilliant. Loose Fit, especially the extended version, is wonderfully detailed.

Chic’s first album Chic. There’s a great BBC documentary series called The Producers which went into the details of how that was produced using the original multi tracks. Nile Rodgers is a genius.

If you want an example of an extremely well produced individual track, (now bear with me here) Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t stop the feeling” is technically superb. You can listen to it at any volume and everything is crystal clear, nothing overpowers anything else so there’s always great separation across the volume range.

The Black album by Metallica is one that springs to mind, it’s so crisp and clean sounded especially compared to their previous album.

Another is Dirty by Sonic Youth, with this and Nevermind Butch Vig could do no wrong in 92.

I think maybe Brian Wilson was being polite there.

Songs in the key of life by Stevie Wonder.

Officium by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard ensemble

I met George Martin once and he said that Apocalypse by the Mahavishinu orchestra and the LSO was the most complex recording challenge he ever had bit one of the best results. The story he told was that he had the Mahavishinu in one room in the studio (crazy volume) and the entire LSO in the other with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting with headphones and a video link and the control room trying to balance it all without the loud stuff bleeding across rooms into the orchestra mics ! He said orchestra overdub would be easier for anyone trying similar 😉

I love El Camino but there’s a really annoying fret buzz with the acoustic guitar on Little Black Submarine

That’s my favourite track on the album, however for me, the production on it does not match the brilliance of Thickfreakness...

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus
Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

How about mobys play and fat boy slim you've come a long way baby.
Also I think the way the acoustic is played on little black submarines sounding that way is deliberate. The electric part of that song is also pretty raw and live sounding.
Agree on thickfreakness too!

Lou Reed - Transformer (producers to die for David Bowie & Mick Ronson)

Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

The boundaries were massively pushed on what you could do with studio production in the 80’s by the competition between Martin Hannet* at Factory and Trevor Horn at ZTT.

Apparently they were both utter perfectionists and an absolute nightmare to work with. But if you listen to any New Order or Frankie 12”s then that was the benchmark for studio production

* ‘Inside New Order’ by Hooky is a fantastic book. It goes into real geeky technical detail about recording in the pre-digital age and the tyranny of being in the studio with Martin Hannet. A great read

Agree on thickfreakness too!

Me too! That album is the best scuzzy sounding album. Brendan O’Brien produced some great albums in the 90’s and his reworking of PJ’s Ten (redux) is far better than the original.

Anything produced or remixed by Steven Wilson.

I thought his own music production was absolutely perfect, until I heard his recent remixes of some classic Yes and Jethro Tull albums. I know those are certainly an acquired taste, even for me and I like prog, but what he's done to them can only be described as epic.

Marillion albums are always well made.

 if you listen to any New Order or Frankie 12”s then that was the benchmark for studio production

I have a small collection of 12" singles (including Frankie). Almost without exception the quality is amazing. I've no idea why, it just seems there is more "space" for the sound to inhabit. I'm assuming there is some proper technical thing going on.

That reminds me - Diana Ross, Chain Reaction - Bee Gees.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Mentioned above but another vote for Closer by Joy Division.
Martin Hannett produced.
The Peter Hook book on Joy Division is really good for a breakdown of the tracks!

Genius.

Thank you for the explanations.

Resonates with why I like some tracks more than others.

Stuff that sounds good and plays well IMO

Erykah Badu - Baduizm
Metallica - Black Album (although a lot of people think it's too clean)
Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi
Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley Shoals (spelling might be off)
Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance (especially Clean My Wounds)
Therapy? - Infernal Love
Black Crowes - Southern Harmony & Musical Companion
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
Sugababes - Angels with Dirty Faces

Probably loads more if I have a bit more of a think...

don't particularly like it and it's not been mentioned yet (Not that i've seen so apologies if it has) and it has some merit in this thread

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

I'm really surprised by some of the suggestions above. I'm not trying to start an argument - each to their own and all that - but I always thought Elvis Costello albums had dreadful production. Good songs, good musicians, etc, but the sounds was always a bit muddy and tinny to me. I'd also say the same about Transformer - I think it's a good album, but I never liked the 'feel' of it.
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love, as suggested above, has great production.

Transformer is on that Classic Albums series.

Boardin Bob - that's a great find!  I'm lost in that already,

Anything produced by Steve Albini