Oustandingly Produced/Mastered Reggae Albums

All Things Music
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I would create a single thread as sadly I could count those with my fingers (17000 songs library).

1.- Gondwana - Resiliente The most impressive so far. Same or better dynamics as Random Access Memories, impressive 3D soundstage, tons of finesse in its production & mix.

Gondwana is a Chilean Reggae band dating back to 1987.

Always loved this album, but it was yesterday after fixing my DDDAC 1543mkII -> Darkvoice -> HD6XX when I was blasted with a hugely wide soundstage and all the finesse, details, 3D effects… A gem. Will be testing any DACs with it.

Organic, engaging, but really polished sound.

2.- Bob Marley’s One Love comes next.

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Thank you @pukkita for starting this thread. I’ll have to go back through my memories and albums. Recently, I have been listening to Alpha Blondy, who fuses Jamaica, New York, Paris, and his native Ivory Coast. I’ve not gone through all of his albums, but I should point out

Which is done with a light, almost spare hand. I particularly like the use of African drums, Derbuka, Djembe, and Bendir, and the French Bagpipes (on the cover of Wish You Were Here).

Percussion is masterful on track 4, Ne Tirez Pas Sur l’Ambulance

Although my affinity to Reggae comes by way of Latin Invasion and Calypso that my parents used to play when I was a child, the album that started me listening to modern Reggae was

A 1973 album that I bought after reading a Stereo Review writeup that praised not only the writing but the sonic quality. It does hold up.

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One of my favourite albums across all genres, love production, mix… the percussion and strings, and both artists & recording engineers job is outstanding.

Not single-genre on this album, closest to reggae (as per the thread) being “Excuse Me Mr.” and relatedly “Burn One Down”.

Got to have a listen to a 24/192 Vinil-rip and definitely gear used were tuned, a pro job. Original Redbook is really good.

This album is my reference, to instantly spot if a given gear chain is brighter to my ears than should be for me to stand it, and where it puts the bar regarding dynamics and pace.

On tracks like Fight for Your Mind hi-hat, cymbals, even the snare attack, will instantly tell… should be just riiight on the spot, without losing detail or “bite”, nor getting harsh; neither “losing” focus on big transients, i.e. when toms and kick overlay on cymbal hits.

Excuse Me Mr. is equally useful to “gauge” gear: the rim/hi-hat fill that leads the intro should be as equally well detailed, without ever sounding aggressive the slightest, same goes with the overhead crashes.

This song is a great showoff of nicely recorded and produced percussion instruments and effects, with incredibly good taste in solo spacing: lots of really good uncluttered passages to easily analyze instruments in isolation & compare plus more overlapped or busy parts, which will tell us how good in dynamics the chain is, and what are its pace qualities.

Drums in this album sound outstanding.

Bass work too. Usually subtly blended in the low end, but keeping plucking/slide detail, never “one-note”.

A good system should shine through this album, which looks like Gold to Me. :smile:

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Listened to one of my old favorites. The music is, as it should be, outstanding. ROON has a nice write up, but I bought the CD when it came out, and Roon was just matching my own rip of it. I should probably re-rip it, but I see that they have come out with a 2010 remix, Dubber Side, so I will listen to that first.

And I note that they have treated some other material I will have to explore like Radiodread, Lonely Hearts Dub Band, and Thrillah

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Listened to the remake, Dubber Side of the Moon. I think it’s better, but it is different. The Lunatic track is very catchy, halfway through, I realized it’s also a very good headphone evaluation track.

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Keep it going! Love Reggae (and Pink Floyd!) … listening to Dub Side…

“Evaluating” HE-560v3 I just received :smile:

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