Good call on the VH1 Mesh.

Songs...
 
I've always liked Low Rider by WAR. At one time it was the song I would use to check out a new stereo.
 
AJA
 
I agree with what's been said.
 
For live I think LIVE/DEAD (considering the year) is an amazing live recording) as is A Band of Gypsies, The Mothers Live at The Fillmore East June, 1971, and of course the ABB at The Fillmore East.
The Mothers: We're Only in it For the Money is very well done for the time (for any time) especially considering all the stuff going on. I wore that album out when I was a teenager.
 
Most all the Pink Floyd albums are well done. DSOTM is my personal favorite.
 
I'm sure everyone already knows that Boston's first album was almost all recorded or mixed by Scholz in his basement studio. If you haven't read the story it is pretty cool.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(album)
 
IMO, Fleetwood Mac's "Mystery To Me" is a good sounding album too. Bare Trees isn't too bad either. Not over compressed, well done.
I always enjoy the sound of Counting Crows albums but I'm usually not doing critical listening because I enjoy the performance so much. I think they might be the best band around right now in an intimate setting. Of course that is completely subjective.
 
The first CSN album was very well done. It has probably been remastered like everything else but I don't think it needed to be.
 
The Band self titled album is well done.
Hendrix: Electric LadyLand is another well done album.
Abbey Road ain't bad.
Most of that stuff has been remixed today but the vinly albums are sometimes shockingly good when played on a good, powerful stereo. Something like a Pioneer SX-1010 with good speakers. It all works well together somehow.
 
Alice Cooper's Killer is a well mixed album IMO. (played loud).
 
At the end of the day I guess it comes back to Steely Dan for me and probably to AJA, though I do love the song Don't Take Me Alive from The Royal Scam. AJA sounds good at any volume, on most any system.
 
Some of The Doobie Brothers albums sound really good. The Captain and Me and the prior album, I forget the name were well done.
 
An album I used to think sounded good but recently when I played it I thought, "eh" (The songs are good but the production is pretty bad IMO is The Marshall Tucker Band (self titled first album). They killed live, I know I saw them a few times but IDK, that album just lacks something. Paul Hornsby produced it. Maybe I got ahold of a bad remix, I think it is a CD I have but it sounds thin.
 
I don't think I've heard any album produced by Tom Dowd that I didn't like the sound of.
 
Yes: Fragile and everything after (that I've heard) is well done.
 
Good thread.
J

Mesh
Van Halen 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTOskJha8c
The "brown sound" Eddie got on this album was simply amazing and was never really duplicated on other albums. IMO, VH 1 was the best mixed album.

 
Yeah I really like the sound of that album as well, even if the reverb is a bit much for my tastes. I'd definitely tone that down maybe 25% or so. 

 
 
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon - 
 
Mix is perfect - Everything was recorded perfect and the drums have the EXACT tone just right for the song -- it is just a perfectly recorded master piece on the Technology side 
 
as a song it just sits with me as "Good" - But as a recorded engineering product - it is king of all!!! 

I'm really excited about the response to this post.  I've been listening to everything you guys have listed: you have great ears!!  Thanks!!

One of my favorite groups to listen to is Celtic Woman. The YouTube video below is from a live performance, but the sound is just remarkable. The song is "Níl Sé'n Lá" and starts with a single drummer (bodhran), then you add in a fiddle player who is 'bouncing' across the stage, then add in some audience participation, then the main singers come in (who are dancing and moving across the stage) and singing using 'cowboy' mics. It is one thing to do a recording in a studio, it is completely different to do it live with moving players. To me, they have nailed not only the music production, but more importantly the feel of the performance.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Akaz43fgY
 

Oh... forgot The Pogues. Pretty much all their stuff sounds great but let's just go with Rum, Sodomy and the Lash (for those who are finding and listening to these recordings).

Hi,
 
It's so weird to see people discussing the quality of recording in pop/rock music ... the fact is that classical music was doing DSOTM's way before rock music realized that they wanted to improve their recordings. Folks like George Martin helped that detail, a lot more than we give them credit for, but ... it is sad, because classical music had DSOTM quality easily ten years before DSOTM and many pop/rock standards.
 
It's even sadder to see this discussion, and not realize how much was spent to get Nillson/Tebaldi recorded in "Turandot" to ensure that the strength and ability in their voices stood out in their duet, for example, which was on top of an orchestra! Or to ensure that Maria Callas did not blow out an orchestra!
 
It's just such a disparity ... like we don't believe the world exists on the dark side of the world/moon ... and we kiss ash to something that is not even original! It goes way back to cartoons, Walt Disney and Stokowski in "Fantasia", the stories of the recording and the sync being insane and make the break down needed for recording totally clear (cartoons could have up to 48 frames per second at the time!!!!!!), and adjusting likewise. Rock music can't even fathom 48 frames/ticks per second!
 
Music and its technical side, has been a revelation and one of the most important things in the 20th century ... but all we can look at is a pop song!
 
Bizarre! I know I'm nutz and crazy, but this thread is worse! It's taken too many pills and visited Nurse Ratchet a few times too many!

Oh Moshie...
 
The reason classical music recordings have always had such high quality is because the music is already "mixed" before it even hits the microphones. Orchestral seating arrangements were developed specifically to squeeze every last note out of the composition naturally. Also the halls in which they are played are designed to amplify this setup in the most desirable way.
 
Recording it well really just requires good mics, positioned properly through good recording gear and someone who's reasonably competent to keep an eye on it all.
 
Also since the music was around since well before the creation of recording devices it was of course some of the first music to hit wax. Therefore the the technical aspects of recording it were worked out WELL before more contemporary styles of music.

Beepster
 
... The reason classical music recordings have always had such high quality is because the music is already "mixed" before it even hits the microphones. Orchestral seating arrangements were developed specifically to squeeze every last note out of the composition naturally. Also the halls in which they are played are designed to amplify this setup in the most desirable way. ...

 
Now you are suggesting that rock musicians are too stupid to do something similar and not able to adjust their own, so to create different feelings and experiences! I suppose a DAW really shows how simple and un-creative recording can become all of a sudden!
 

Beepster ... Recording it well really just requires good mics, positioned properly through good recording gear and someone who's reasonably competent to keep an eye on it all. ...

 
I get it ... so rock musicians wouldn't know this because all they know is loud and louder and who cares, so an audience thinks they are good!   You're being taken by "advertising" and "top of the pops" mentality, and not discussing the music itself, otherwise, you would have seen that recording many of these things is not even a challenge for most folks that do orchestras ... and your reasoning on placement in the orchestra was designed over 250 years ago, so some instruments would not get buried and could still be heard by folks sitting in front of them. The Stokowski example on FANTASIA was slightly different ... Stokowski realized immediately that all of a sudden he could get different emphasis on different parts of the music by moving the microphone, or grouping instruments differently (which led indirectly to Bernard Herrmann and his Sci-Fi soundtracks and Hitchcock) ... for a very specific feeling and effect.
 
The rock music stuff, is dumb. I can see a "cleaner" recording and such, but the majority of folks doing rock music have no sense of appreciation for different sounds and settings at all ... and folks like SW is a perfect example ... all the sounds are in the same bathroom! Smelling great with some fragrance ... and because most people have never heard anything else in music at all ... it sounds great!
 
It ain't! It has no ambience whatsoever!