Very nice, fellas. The copy of Supertramp that I have is the Mobile Fidelity version, also, and it's awefully good. Very complex. A lot of thinking went into this release.

Davey- Wow! What a fantastic reply.

And Roy- I've read good things about Nickle Creek and will check out some samples at Amazon for musical content. It's always a huge bonus when the recording is good.

From the sophisticated arrangements and production of Supertramp, going the other way to simplicity, I like the garage band sound of PJ Harvey's first produced by Steve Albini and for the same kind of take only with more microphones and a closer perspective, Up Up Up and Away by Ana DiFranco. I suppose these don't really qualify as popular music but for those of us who like them they get a lot of play in our rooms. And Cowboy Junkies whose music I'm not crazy about but whose production is highly thought of albeit the setting is too reverberent for my tastes.

Bruce Cockburn's recording In The Falling Dark is excellent all around. And a personal favorite for both music and production (really excellent bass with more timbre than I bet you're used to) is David Crosby's If Only I Could Remember My Name on Classic Records. This record has guest artists from the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, et all. If I had one record to demonstrate the west coast music of the day this would be it. It's a bloody anthem!

Think I'll start the same kind of thread for jazz. Here's a hint . . Mapleshade. Everybody should have at least one for the most direct, least processed sound around.