Introduction

Many modern CDs don't sound as good as older ones. That's not a comment on the quality of the songs themselves but on modern mastering preferences. This page is my attempt to audit a cross section of music in terms of how well it was recorded. Please read the methodology page on how the ratings work.

Album list

60ft Dolls

yellow 1996 CD The big 3

A

yellow 1997 CD How Ace Are Buildings?
red 2002 CD Hi-Fi Serious

Alabama 3

yellow 1997 CD Exile on Coldharbour Lane
green 2003 CD Last Train to Mashville Vol.2

Autamata

red 2004 CD My Sanctuary

Babybird

green 1996 CD Ugly Beautiful

Beautiful South, The

yellow 1989 CD Welcome To The Beautiful South
green 1990 CD Choke

Belle and Sebastian

gold 1998 CD If you're feeling sinister
red 2006 CD The Life Pursuit

Bentley Rhythm Ace

green 1997 CD Bentley Rhythm Ace

Billy Joel

green 1977 CD The Stranger

Boo Radleys, The

yellow 1993 CD Giant Steps
yellow 1995 CD Wake Up!
yellow 1998 CD Kingsize

Booth And The Bad Angel

green 1996 CD Booth And The Bad Angel

Carla Lother

gold 1994 CD 100 Lovers

Dory Previn

gold 1997 CD Mythical kings and iguanas/Reflections in a mud puddle

Drugstore

green 1995 CD Drugstore

Edensong

green 2008 eMusic The Fruit Fallen

Electric Six

red 2003 CD Fire

Fluke

green 1996 CD Atom Bomb

Fratellis, The

red 2006 CD Costello Music

Girlyman

yellow 2005 CD Little Star

Go! Team, The

red 2004 CD Thunder, Lightning, Strike
red 2007 CD Proof of Youth

God Help The Girl

green 2009 CD God Help The Girl

Gorillaz

red 2001 CD Gorillaz

Green Day

green 1994 CD Basket case
red 1997 CD Nimrod

Hefner

gold 1998 CD Breaking God's heart
green 2000 CD We love the city
yellow 2001 CD Dead media

Helen Love

green 1997 CD Radio hits 2

Hella Cholla

yellow 2009 eMusic You're The Kind Of Guy

Icicles, The

red 2007 eMusic Arrivals & Departures

James

green 1990 CD Gold Mother
gold 1993 CD Laid
yellow 1997 CD Whiplash
red 1999 CD Millionaires

Jarvis Cocker

red 2006 eMusic Jarvis

Jeffrey Lewis

green 2001 CD The last time I did acid I went insane

Jeffrey Lewis & Jack Lewis

yellow 2005 CD City and Eastern songs

John Otway and the Big Band

green 2000 CD The set remains the same

Johnny Boy

red 2004 CD You are the generation that bought more shoes and you get what you deserve

Johnny Flynn

red 2008 CD A Larum

Jurassic 5

yellow 1999 CD Jurassic 5 LP

Kenickie

yellow 1997 CD At the club

Ladyhawke

red 2008 eMusic Ladyhawke

Ladytron

yellow 2004 CD 604

Lemon Jelly

yellow 2000 CD Lemonjelly.ky
red 2002 CD Lost Horizons

Lo-Fidelity Allstars

yellow 1998 CD How to operate with a blown mind

Lovers

yellow 2007 eMusic Sleep With Heat

MJ Hibbett and The Validators

yellow 2003 CD This Is Not A Library

Mando Diao

yellow 2006 eMusic Ode To Ochrasy

Noise For Pretend

yellow 2002 eMusic Happy You Near

Over The Rhine

green 2007 eMusic The Trumpet Child

Placebo

yellow 1996 CD Placebo

Pleasure

yellow 2003 CD Pleasure

Primal Scream

green 1994 CD Give out but don't give up

Pulp

yellow 1994 CD His 'n' hers
yellow 2001 CD We love life

Queens of the Stone Age

red 2000 CD Rated R

Roxette

green 1991 CD Joyride

Roxy Music

yellow 1972 CD Roxy Music

Samson and Delilah

red 2009 CD Samson and Delilah

Silent League, The

yellow 2004 CD The orchestra, sadly, has refused

Slow Club

yellow 2007 eMusic Because We're Dead
green 2007 eMusic Me And You

Solveig Slettahjell

yellow 2006 CD Good rain

Stellastarr*

yellow 2003 CD Stellastarr*
red 2006 CD Harmonies For The Haunted

Suede

yellow 1994 CD Dog man star

Sunday Driver

gold 2008 CD In the City of Dreadful Night
green 2008 CD The Gayatri Mantra & Rats

Super Furry Animals

yellow 1996 CD Fuzzy logic
yellow 1997 CD Radiator

Swing Out Sister

green 1987 CD It's Better to Travel
red 2004 eMusic Where Our Love Grows

Tara MacLean

gold 1996 CD Silence
green 2007 eMusic Signs of Life

Terrorvision

gold 1994 CD How to make friends and influence people
yellow 1996 CD Regular Urban Survivors

Tori Amos

gold 1991 CD Little Earthquakes

Willy Mason

yellow 2004 CD Where the humans eat