the worst recording's ever?

If the music is crap and badly recorded, it doesn't really matter. It's bloody frustrating when the music is good and makes your brain hurt though.

I would add anything by Peter Gabriel to your list, except may his last album, where he seems to have stumbled on the record levels on the portastudio in his shed.

I think that U2 must make it sound bad on purpose on the basis that their music is supposed to be so good it transcends production values. God forbid that they would "sell out" and pander to capitalists pigs with big rigs.

I read once that music is generally optimised to be heard over the radio while travelling at 60mph in a skoda with 7 children fighting over a Digimon in the back seat.

Another shocker is the first Coldplay. Try playing "spies" up loud and see how far you get before the blokes in the helicopter have their little red dots lined up on your forehead.

1. Radiohead 'The Bends'

2. Any Dixieland Jazz pre-1930s

On a different note, for an incredibly good recording try John Barry 'The EMI Years'. Some of the tunes are a bit 'gay' but the quality of the recording makes you want to listen to all the tracks.

I think it possible that listing PG's production as terrible has failed to notice it sounds strange, mannered and a degree unnatural as a deliberate intent, using the studio's possibilities as an instrument in themselves. This is very different to recording an instrument and making it sound like something else from doing a bad job.

You may not like it, but that doesn't make it fair to describe it as bad sound. Oasis, on the other hand, have just been badly done (and then some) AFAICT.

My U2 albums are fine. I don't think my naim stereo system is reasonaby described as a "piss poor portable". Eno has been involved, therefore do not assume guitars should sound like guitars etc., as with PG.

Pete.

It can be a real disappointment can't it.
Suede albums sound awful, which is a shame becuase I love 'em. Same for Swervedriver.
I used to be in a band, and our producer would check the final mix with a pair of tiny monitor speakers on the desk, which was supposed to emulate radio. Flatten & compress as required. Sad but true. (This was a lifetime ago - things may have improved since then).

Copper Blue by Sugar makes my ears bleed. I suspect it could be used to run tweeters in.

How about anything by Ian Brown, great songs but huge compression on the bass.

Nick

I always thought The Heartbreakers''LAMF' was the worst recording ever. It has virtually no bass and no high end, only midrange. It sounds like it has been recorded through a keyhole.

Great music though ('Born to lose' among others).

Have fun.

willem

Spiritualized albums seem to be mastered by someone wearing oven mitts, and The Strokes appear to enjoy recording using a state of the art dictaphone. The latter is undoubtedly debiberately attempting to be raw & raunchy [it fails, - it's just irritating], whereas the former is I think down to ineptitude.

throb

willem lamf the keyhole rec, i forgot that one but some great songs and we all know what l.a.m.f. stood for .

Worst recording ever was 'The New Order' by "The New Order", not the post-Joy Division band, but the Stooges spin off, without Iggy.

Dire, unlistenable. Sounded as if it recorded on a mono portable cassette recorder with the batteries running out, in the next room, with heavy traffic outside and the vocalist just about to go into hospital with a throat infection.

Truly terrible, but not in a good 'Lo-fi' way.

For 'good' bad recordings, try some of the early Germs singles.

DS

ITC - Hot Shit Sonic Mook Experiment

quote:

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Originally posted by Pete:
I think it possible that listing PG's production as terrible has failed to notice it sounds strange, mannered and a degree unnatural as a deliberate intent, using the studio's possibilities as an instrument in themselves. This is very different to recording an instrument and making it sound like something else from doing a bad job.

You may not like it, but that doesn't make it fair to describe it as bad sound. Oasis, on the other hand, have just been badly done (and then some) AFAICT.

My U2 albums are fine. I don't think my naim stereo system is reasonaby described as a "piss poor portable". Eno has been involved, therefore do not assume guitars should sound like guitars etc., as with PG.

Pete.

---

Pete, I appreciate what you are saying but it seems that Mr Gabriel may have got a bit caught up in using "the studio's possibilities as an instrument in themselves" and forgot to turn the leckie on. God knows why he went to all the trouble of having sex with Sinead O'Conner, not to mention the packet of chocolate digestives that she is reputed to have put away during the session, when her contribution to "blood of eden" sounds like a pigeon farting down a chimney.

As for U2. I'm all for "atmos" but compared to Cassandra Wilson's version of "love is blindness", the real thing sounds like it was recorded in an underwater bunker full of tomcats. Ironically, Bono seems to think that if he makes crap sounding recordings and smells funny his fans won't notice that he is turning into Sting.

LAMF - Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers

That's what I like about this forum - reminders of forgotten gems.

I am currently listening to Like a Mother Fucker - The Lost '77 Mixes, which still has no real bass extension, but seems a bit clearer than the original version.

It has some real classic tracks - 'Do you love me' 'Can't keep my eyes on you' etc.

Bags of attitude, great guitars, vocals, a real rawk record.

I must dig out those old 7" singles by them. Armageddon owners read and weep.

DS

OTD - see above

And another thing...

Whilst looking for the Heartbreakers LP, I found another old classic worth a listen..

DS

OTD - DJ Hell - Geteert & Gefedert

Molly Hatchet, No Guts - No Glory.

I thought my mid-bass drivers had died when I first played this one, and the tweeters were definately considering leaving home.

For "NO Guts - No Glory" read "No Bass - No Control". It is truly awful.

Cheers
Graeme

quote:

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I always thought The Heartbreakers''LAMF' was the worst recording ever.

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This is indeed sonically dreadful, as is D.T.K. and, well,.... is there any '70s-early '80s live punk recording that doesn't sound terrible from a recording perspective?

I can think of plenty that do involve terrible recordings; live NY Dolls ("Live in NYC '75" is dreadful), Stooges ("California Bleeding" -- awful), Dead Boys ("Liver than You'll Ever Be" -- yuck), Television ("The Blow Up" is a sonic mess), and the live Joy Division that I've heard (I mean when they were a punk band, with albums like "Behind the Line", e.g.); all a sonic disaster.*

The hard thing about these live recordings is that the sonics are terrible yet the music often great. The live Television, e.g., is edgy but controlled, and really good. D.T.K and L.A.M.F. are likewise excellent (if less controlled owing to Thunders' profoundly f*cked-up state of mind).

Oh well,
Eric


*"Warsaw" is also a sonic disaster -- incredibly harsh and hissy -- but is a studio album. A pity since much of JD's best music is on it .

"OTD - DJ Hell - Geteert & Gefedert"

Oh yeah, I recently bought "Time", which is a two-CD collection of Hell's live and studio things. Much of the studio material on the first disc is damn good, but the sonics on the live recordings, are, well, you can guess.

quote:

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Originally posted by Rasher:
It can be a real disappointment can't it.
Suede albums sound awful, which is a shame becuase I love 'em.

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Yeah - Suede/Suede is REALLY overbright - especially Animal Lover - where the synth rises right at the end, it can strip paint off the walls - even on a lo-fi system! Great album though...

Why do most of Peter Gabriel's vocals sound so "odd" - does he use the same mic for all his albums - really scratchy and sibilant.

Hmm - what about Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" - sounds like they used the vinyl mix master for the vinyl as well as CD - ie - it's really harsh and overbright - especially "Sat in your lap" - great PRaT but so blooming trebly.

Dead Kennedys are too thin as well. We'll ignore such bad music in my collection as Westworld's "Where the action is" though

Funny though - some of the acts you'd LEAST expect to sound OK include Right Said Fred's "Deeply Dippy" and Roxette's "Tourism" album - I own both of these - arrogance of youth and all that.

The Beatles' Blue and Red albums sound too clean on CD - someone's been fiddling with those - can that constitute "bad" sound - having something too clean? It's like Michael Stipe's vocals on "Star me kitten" - so crystal sharp it's actually hard to figure out what he's realy singing...

Maybe I really am just deaf though!

When the music's over turn out the lights

My penneth worth....
Peter Gabriel - sporadic but good songs. His latest is well produced but the least accessible,
U2 - similar to PG really, sporadic production but good songs. The Daniel Lanois produced material sounds the best.

quote:

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Originally posted by Pete:
I think it possible that listing PG's production as terrible has failed to notice it sounds strange, mannered and a degree unnatural as a deliberate intent, using the studio's possibilities as an instrument in themselves. This is very different to recording an instrument and making it sound like something else from doing a bad job.

Pete.

---

I agree, except for US. US seems to have been mixed by somone who thinks that any frequency over 10kHz should be excluded from the recording. The strange whining sound I heard on track one turned out to be Sinead O'Connor.

4 and 3 are wonderful, innovative recordings. However, Gabriel often mixes many (often real) instruments to produce a composite that sounds like a synthesiser, but less distinct. That's why his live versions are often superior. A pefect example is 'Signal to Noise' on UP. On record an overblown, indistinct mishmash - live a stripped down wonder of prog.

Regards

Stephen

quote:

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Flatten & compress as required. Sad but true. (This was a lifetime ago - things may have improved since then).

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No. Now they add digital Limiting to stretch the level up to 0dB and mass the energy in the midrange = overloud albums. The main culprit here is the waves L1 limiter which, because anyone can use it, everyone uses.

And they STILL use Tannoys (everything sounds smooth) and Yamaha NS10s (everything sounds crap) or huge genlecs (everything sounds loud).

Regards

Stephen

PS When mixing the first henry fool album, I wanted to have a more dynamic, '70s sound, like Can for example. However, when presented to the band, they all thought it sounded 'dull' - especially next to other modern recordings. After lots of talk and compromise (i.e. fighting) we brought the level and EQ up to a more 'modern' value, though not a block limiter levels.

I thought U2 struck me as loud and annoying because I was too old to "get it". Now I realize that U2 struck me as loud and annoying because the recordings were bad (and because they were loud and annoying). Thanks, guys.
Showing my age once again, I nominate "Best of Traffic" and "Layla" as all-time bad recordings. On "Best of Traffic", the band sound like they're buried under dirty laundry. On "Layla", they sound like they're sealed in a tin can with a microphone set on top.

I suppose all this thread goes to prove is that a comparison can be drawn between the recording/mixing process, and the playback process. What I mean is that it's all down to personal taste, isn't it? If the personal taste of the group/producer/engineer is such that they liked that type of reproduction of the track in question, then that's that really!

The recent BBC Cream anthology thing is pretty poor - have only managed to listen to half of it - man!

phew!

I'm very glad to hear I'm not the only one that thinks Peter Gabriel is virtually unlistenable. Funny since I thought it might be that I had a really bad pressing. Coincidently, I played the vinyl version again last night in the hopes that recent tweaks may have calmed the sibilance, but no go. 'In your eyes' has a few s's that just slice the top off my head - pity since I actually like the track (esp. when Youssou N'Dour kicks in near the end). 'Red Rain' isn't much better. Parts of the track with Kate Bush are OK though.

cheers

Dan

Massive Attack-Blue Lines. Man even the mens voices have stripped paint.

David Bowie-Live at the Beeb. This is a shame because its agreat album, but anything over 9 on the 52 and it sounds dire.

Also a lot of early Bowie seems like the mixer forgot to put the bass in.

FWIW I think Goldies Timeless album is a superb recording, female voices recorded really well and good hard bass whack when needed. what ever you think of the music, the production is great.