I don't think you always have to like a record to appreciate the way it's been produced, for the same reasons why sometimes you might happen to like the songs but not the way they are produced.

That's the other way of thinking about it, certainly - I was trying to get at the idea that sometimes production is the most significant 'content' to a record. And that's true, for different reasons, of what you're saying above. That Metallica album - all I can find to like about that is the production (terrible, but charmingly so).

I really like Wharton Tiers
http://www.whartontiers.com/fun_city/fun-city-clients

YES to Wharton

dunno why, but I always think about music from the last decade or so when threads like this come out, but there are so many amazing "well produced" albums from the 60-70-80s too...

I like the first EP and album by Das Damen a lot.

Bob Weston because of Mission of Burma/Polvo. Exploded Drawing is one of the best sounding albums of the 90s, as is Obliterati for the subsequent decade.

Tony Visconti's work in the 70s with Bowie and that crowd was awesome.

I like Steve Albini, but there's this post-punk coldness in everything he does. When I'm not in the mood for it, it really turns me off. His recordings seem to reflect his personality.

When you listen to things Visconti produced by contrast there seems to be the complete opposite. The recordings sound warm and loving, something you can snuggle up to and feel safe in. T. Rex Electric Warrior is a prime example of this.

When Bowie and Visconti parted for the first time, one of Bowie's coldest works emerged- Hunky Dory. And I can't help but find their reunion album Low to be one of Bowie's warmest and most comforting albums, despite the subject matter.

i think albini is great when producing the right bands, e.g. the jesus lizard, zeni geva, low

I think Albini is a poor producer precisely because of that 'when he's good, he's good' thing. He did a shit job of Melt Banana, MoAM, Stooges... bands with relatively simple sounds who don't really need much. JL have a simple sound, but one to which Albini is sympathetic. That Tzadik record of Melt Banana (MxBx 10,000...) is a good example of how to produce them, and Charlie another (in a different way). In fact, making a band who seem responsive to such variation in production sound like utter shit is precisely my problem with Albini.

Unlike, say, Rick Rubin, whose production work made Reign in Blood, Licensed to Ill, Nation of Millions, The Black Album, those last Johnny Cash albums [etc] all sound great in very different ways. Ok, there's probably some shite in his discography, but I'd imagine it's shite because of the musical content (Mel C) rather than the producer.

That'll be my last 'Albini is actually shit' post for the time being (or until someone else annoys me by ignoring the fact that Albini is utterly dogshit).

I guess this is the part where someone comes and claims albini's not a producer, he's an engineer and all that shite.

Personally I don't really pay attention to production. I don't know the first thing about it, and I kind of like loud shit-fi sounds.

Andy Warhol

Just for the sake of adding a name here, I'll say Billy Anderson, for all the heavy shit he's done.