Some records are better than others when it comes to finding out just how good your turntable can sound. And, obviously, some records come with better songs on them. Here we have compiled a list of vinyl albums that, to us, manage the by no means common feat of ticking both boxes: great sound, great tunes. No doubt you have your own favourites, but these albums have proved invaluable in the What Hi-Fi? listening rooms over the years when reviewing countless turntables, delivering tests of detail, timing, treble, bass and more.
Frank Sinatra – In The Wee Small Hours (1955)
A failed suicide attempt, a divorce and the messy end of his most significant extra-marital affair brought Frank Sinatra to the point where only a magnificently unhappy album about loneliness, failure, isolation and depression would do. It’s possible that this is where the ‘concept album’ originated.
Lushly arranged by Nelson Riddle, In The has the sort of vocal eloquence and immediacy that can make the hair on your head stand to attention. Never has one man’s loneliness and vanishing sense of self-worth sounded so compelling or so lavish, or so at odds with the vivid orchestration from which it cries.
