It may be that my post was a bit misleading. I was not necessarily talking about the typical “who is the best band” discussion theme, but more about those recordings that no matter how many times you hear them, they are just plain GOOD. Good quality sound, good solid songwriting, memorable hooks, all the things that allow you to get lost in the sounds. Midway through the recording you realize you have a smile on your face – like this music was created only for you to hear. I hear these types of music and wonder how much of a loss it would have been if the artists hadn’t had the chance to record them – the awesomeness of that voice, the tremolo of the single note held for a few moments, the crunch of the guitar, or perfect drum fill. The better ones are not dated – if listening for the first time you wouldn’t be able to tell if they were 2 or 20 years old.
To me, the unsung heroes of the moments I describe are the producers and engineers. I really appreciate a good mix, the way the studio techs managed to tweak a note, layer a harmony, push the drums back a little or pull the singer up. The whispered slide of the fingers on the guitar strings in Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, the slight “tick” of the drumstick on the snare rim as the song’s last breath passes over Alison Krauss’s angelic lips on the way to the microphone, or the incredible echo of the kick drum on a Led Zeppelin track – one that comes from the wood floored hallway of an old house and a couple of dry microphones and not some electronic effect in the studio. These magic moments are captured by the engineers and are forever part of that music.
So really it comes back to the power of the recorded moments – not the band necessarily.
