What Are Your Best Sounding 45S ?

[philmch]

In purely audiophile terms, what are your best 45s in terms of sound and pressing quality ? Here's mine:
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They are:
1. Anna Kashfi - Lakeside Call (Stolenwine 2004)
2. Rattlebus - Freak Heirs (Pink Moon 2006)
3. Voice Of The Seven Woods - An Hour Before Dawn (Twisted Nerve 2005)

[prt1969]

I have a lot of old stuff, but the best I have is probably Mayor of Simpleton by XTC.

[mysticfred]

^^ Never heard of any of those Phil, modern singles generally reflect the same quality of their LP counterparts, though some of the oldies can hold their own for quality - here are a few that are outstanding...

Elvis Presley early Sun and RCA recordings - very nicely balanced, clear and great bass!

Anthony Newley - Do You Mind - fabulous recording from Decca, pity they couldn't have transferred the sound quality of this standard to the Stones, though a few of their early singles including "Stoned" are pretty good.

The Beatles and Cliff/Shadows Abbey Road recordings on Parlophone and Columbia were state of the art in their day thanks to the skill of George Martin, near mint copies sound stunning!

Thunderclap Newman "Something in the Air" was a nice surprise, a full sounding nicely balanced Track gem.


.

[Terry Robinson]

I don't have many 45 r.p.m. gramophone recordings, but easily the best is the theme from the B.B.C. television series "Doctor Who" as played by Peter Howell and the B.B.C. Radiophonic Workshop. It is on a 1980 U.K. pressing. We have it here also on a B.B.C. Lp but the sound there is not nearly as "forceful".

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Cheers,

Terry.

[kamisama]

The Kinks - Lola on Reprise 1972 GRE 0743

Not a very complex recording and probably not the best sounding single there is, but it's one you can listen to and not deny the people involved in recording knew what they were doing.

It's also a direct US import which makes it fairly rare where I live, in the US probably not so much.

[LicoricePizza]

Some of the best sounding 45s I have are on the Apple label and are in stereo. Mary Hopkins, Badfinger, Jackie Lomax and, of course, the Beatles all sound really good.

[tdat7192]

Best sounding, would have to be a 12" Sex Pistol's 45 of Anarchy in the UK.
The recording is crystal clear and it did not get a tremendous amount of play so it has fared well.

[KentT]

Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" and "13 Women" leaps out of your speakers. And those Elvis singles have nice big sound.

[Mark E Smith's Dentist]

This answers both this question and "What's your favourite B side?":

Rollercoaster by the Sea by the Modern Lovers - the B side to Egyptian Reggae. The sound quality is just divine, it sounds like it was recorded live with one mic. It sounds good on the LP but the 7" is even better.


JT

[mysticfred]

Rock'n'Roll !


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvHBx5fBcR0

[Spyes]

Fred - that sounds really cool even for YouTube quality! Sounds kinda like they recorded it in a garage, but with really good equipment!

[zyzzy]

I don't have very many 45s, since thrift shops and used record stores typically don't put their 7" discs in any semblance of order, making it hard to browse. However, I bought a copy of Steely Dan's "FM (No Static at All)" for something like 50¢ or 3/$1 last year, and it sounds excellent. There's so much depth in the recording to my ears. The film FM's soundtrack LP won the 1979 Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-classical; I imagine that the title track's sound may have had a significant influence on that decision.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a 7" single of the Star Wars theme and the "Cantina Band" music that sounds pretty bad. It sounds like they compressed both tracks to near-garbage to make them pop out of the jukebox. (I'm trying to imagine any bar where "Cantina Band" would fit…outside of Mos Eisley, of course.)

[jmailand]

I have many of the original Everly Brothers singles on Cadence. The ones that aren't abused sound wonderful, with that classic mono, late 50's, tube sound.

[eddie edirol]

Definitely Beatles 45's sound great, but surprisingly, my Ray Charles "Leave my Woman Alone" on Atlantic, which was, what 1955? Sounds incredible. I got a mint one and I cant believe it sounds so good for a mono record. If anyone has "mess Around", ill buy it off ya.