Paul Simon consistently puts out albums that are very well engineered. He seems to take great pains in presenting excellent sound quality.

My other vote goes to Emmy Lou Harris.

One of the WORST I've heard is "What Is Life" offa George Harrison's otherwise excellent "All Things Must Pass" album. Song sounds like it was recorded at the end of a tunnel. Helluva shame, I think it's a very good song.-Sandy G.

its all in the recording and mastering. emmy lou used Daniel Lanois to get that sound, a year later Bob Dylan used him for Time Out of Mind and one a grammy too. other good sound engineers: Mark Levinson, Tom Dowd, Steve Hoffman, lables like Audioquest, Chesky, Classic Records, MFSL, Sheffield, and many more i cant remember! seems like people least interested in selling a million LPs/CDs and more interested in good music put out better recordings.

Chris Isaak
Dan Hicks with "Beatin' The Heat"
Lyle Lovett
Los Lonely Boys

This is a subject I really enjoy discussing. Sometimes, songs that I really like, I have a tough time ever playing because the recording quality is awful. Other times, I will listen to something JUST because of high sound quality...not because I really love it. I think Pink Floyd was way ahead of their time in the studio. It's terribly vexing that many of the pop bands today have such bad recording quality. It sounds like sloppy mush on good systems. Garbage in, garbage out?

I know that Lou Reed was always a few steps ahead of the game in terms of recording technology. If you can bear the actual "music," listen to his early/mid-80's output and you'll definitely hear it was a VERY well-engineered product.

He has always been sort of a techie. He was really into binaural sound in the 70's as well.

I've been jammin' to some off the mainstream Santana stuff tonight, very well done. Amigos, and Havana Moon, the amigos album is one of the best rock albums I've ever heard.