Best Sounding Album?

Great thread, Smileyman. Seriously, I thought Tracks had the best production and sound. Specifically, disk two.

Post deleted by sawyer

Porbeagle, please don't attack in General. It's a no-no. I'm just looking out for ya.

Oops!

I'm actually being serious with this question. There are lots of Magic haters out there, so I thought it fair to ask them if they'd rather Bruce spend two years in the studio to produce a perfect sounding album, or release one quickly so that we can actually enjoy it.

I've always loved the sound of "Wild and Innocent"

The Rising is pretty good too.

Darkness and The River are in desperate need of remix and remastering.

Tracks is well done.

The live albums are mostly OK.

I was horribly dissapointed with the surround mix on D&D.

All in all, not a very good track record.

I'm actually being serious, too.

Bruce's best sounding record is Wild And Innocent. Next best is Tunnel and Ghost Of Tom Joad. Everything else has a problem.

Greetings- Muddy
BTR- Muddier
Darkness- Muddy
The River- Too Thin Sounding
Nebraska- Tape fuzz all over the place
BITUSA- Sounded good at the time, but is now dated by 80's synth and drum sounds
Human Touch- Too Overproduced
Lucky Town- Too Underproduced
Rising- Muddy in a different way
Devils and Dust- WTF? Half the tracks sound like they're bootleg mp3s. Drums on All The Way Home sounds like they're coming out of a casio.
Magic- MUDDY

You really think Born to Run is muddy? Wow.

I think that The River's sound comes from the songs mostly being done in one take, with all band members present in one room (at least that's how it's always sounded to me).

I haven't listened to Human Touch/Lucky Town in years so I couldn't fairly comment on them. I didn't exactly like the production on The Rising, but I didn't hate it either. Mostly it was bland to me.

I actually love the sound on Magic. I think that those of you complaining about the muddiness are missing the point of the production. I think Bruce was trying to go after a more "authentic" sound. To me it sounds like a garage-band, all fast and furious. In fact, I would not be surprised if we learn that Steve had a big hand in the production sound of Magic. This seems like the kind of sound that he would like.

Hey man, do you believe in traveling through different dimensions and landing on another board?

Flush.....

Great post, smileyman. It's good to get things into a real perspective. Interesting point about the Magic production, particualrly the one about Steve might liking it, I'm going to dig it up again and give it a second chamce.

Also, very interesting point about the Rising production. I didn't exactly like it either, nor did I exactly hate it. It's the kind of production you neither like nor hate. What's your comment on the TGOTJ production?

The River is Springsteen's best *sounding* studio album. Born in the USA is a very close second but the synths undeniably date the production. Wild and Innocent sounds great too, despite what Dave Marsh would have you believe.

I must say that Tracks is best CD release, and Darkness is best vinyl release.

I always felt that Nebraska best achieved in sound what Springsteen has in mind. I have always had difficulty buying the demo released story. There a so many subtle touches on the album there have had to have been over dubs and production work on them.

Born to Run is another that comes to mind. The blood sweat and tears that went into that album really paid off.

The River and Magic are production wise twin records almost. They do an excellent job of capturing a sixties inspired sound. Both albums sound best when played over transistor or cheap car stereo speakers and I'm under the impression that both were produced to sound that way.

I think it sounds like it's mixed very quiet. To me the instruments sound like they're pushed back in the mix while Bruce's voice is way up front. I suspect that Bruce was trying to replicate the sound of Nebraska, but it's tough to get that kind of raw, authentic sound with modern digital equipment.

The best is the half speed master Born to Run on vinyl.


For CDs, Tracks.

I wish they would let Steve remaster Darkness. In an interview, he even said that he'd like to do it.

Ah thanks for the deep, original and unique perspective, you fucking birdbrain. You'll always be a lightweight, birdbrain, you're just too stupid to see it.

Schizophrenic much?

Jesus. Even the concept of irony is above you.

I never listen to Darkness/original BTR simply because they're unbelievably awful. Darkness has the worst mixing ever and BTR is just muddy.
Thankfully they remastered BTR but I expected even more from that, it has so many instruments they could've mixed some of them higher in the remaster (and yes, opinions are like blahblah).

Both Magic and BTR are intended to sound muddy I think. Just compare them to the great Phil Spector productions or the early Motown singles. Muddy as hell, no instrument separation at all, yet they sound fantastic. It is that sound Springsteen has been trying to recreate with the ESB through out his career, with some degree of success on the two mentioned albums.

Tha River. Clean, bright and tinny.

I can't believe you people like the production on Tracks. It has no personality...it's too clean and buffed-up sounding.

Compare loose ends on "ties that binds" bootleg to the tracks-version.

Bootleg - Tracks
1-0

I disagree, Tracks was produced the best way possible, in a trailer on Bruce's property. He had quite a bit of time to work on it and he enhanced the original recordings immensely. CD two is a standout among his produced work.

ok, maybe. Same thing with Back in your arms, the bootleg version is better. But..I still stand by the work as a whole and it sounds great. As a test, play any other song from Tracks against another recording.

He's never released an album without at least one glaring production problem.

If I had to pick the best sounding, I'd go with TOL.

We should keep in mind that the bootleg "The Ties That Bind" is hardly a normal "bootleg", as it was mixed and mastered for commercial release. I prefer the sound on "The Ties That Bind" to the production on "The River."

Problem when making compilations is that the overall sound must be pretty much the same. I think Tracks is nicely made, as each CD has it's own sound.

I'm gonna get railed for this, but I can't help thinking that some of the rockers on Tracks would sound awesome if O'Brien got his hands on them -- My Love, Don't Look Back, Roulette, Take 'Em...

railed or shot?

He would have compressed the hell out of all of those songs. Of course, Alex seems to believe muddy is good, so who knows?

Can someone google an artist that actually said they were searching for that muddy sound?

Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Carpathian Forest, Darkthrone etc, etc, etc.

I said artist!

Easy, TOL.

What do you guys like specifically about the TOL production?

I'm going to see Santa with the kid and spend less than ten dollars on my mother at Big Lots, but I'll make up some reason and post it later.

Seeger Sessions sounds wonderful to me.

Then I'd go with The River and Darkness.

This always surprises me. Thematically, it may be his strongest record. But I disliked the sound from day 1. The syrupy synthesizers, drum machines, etc. just sound icky to me.

Evidently, he recorded TOL in a room above his garage. It sounds that way.