David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive
Steely Dan - Gaucho/Aja
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue
Roxy Music - Avalon
Jellyfish - Spilt Milk
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
all 10/10ers
any more?
Japan - Tin Drum
1 Like
the first rage against the machine album captures them brilliantly
7 Likes
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Tears For Fears - The Seeds of Love
1 Like
Masters Of Reality - The Blue Garden (Rick Rubin).
Also, Slayer - Reign In Blood (Rick Rubin).
2 Likes
funny because I think that Donald Fagen record is literally the worst and most unlistenable album ever made.
production is a funny thing really because I like a bit of grit and grain and the sense of labour, a sense that some people did some work and it came together in a real space (or, if made virtually, a real enhancement of that plastic quality).
here’s five I really love, feel free to rip:
Autechre - Confield
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Smog - Red Apple Falls
13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere
Meat Puppets - II
3 Likes
you don’t have to like an album to admire the production
sure I guess not, but in this case the smug self-adoration of the songs is met perfectly with the wettest cocaine sick gloss production imaginable.
2 Likes
No idea how he did it but even keeping in all the scratches and string squeaks Elliott Smith make XO and Either/Or sound so detailed and lush. And authentically 60s somehow.
5 Likes
Graceland - Paul Simon - Roy Halee did such an amazing job with all that source material
obv:
So - Peter Gabriel
and also U2’s Unforgettable Fire
Daniel Lanois is such a master of sound
7 Likes
DONALD FAGEN THE NIGHTFLY
5 Likes
AND I DONT EVEN DO COCAINE
5 Likes
another nom (or two):
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing & Living My Life
Sly & Robbie, Alex Sadkin, Wally Badarou, Chris Blackwell exec producing, Compass Point Studios… does it get any better than this? Not really
2 Likes
sorry Matt
1 Like
Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
8 Likes
Metallica - St. Anger - seriously that drum sound is sick, so nasty and bleak
5 Likes
Add
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
and
Thomas Dolby - Aliens ate My Buick
to the list
3 Likes
is this the one with She Blinded Me With Science on it?
SCIENCE! I love that song
she blinded me with science! 
Related to ^this, The Downward Spiral is the one Nine Inch Nails album I never listen to anymore as I think the lyrics are horrible teenage angst laughable. That said, it is possibly the best produced album I can think of - so much detail in the sound. 10 year anniversary re-issue upgraded it to Dolby 5.1…
4 Likes