The Role of Production in Great Albums

[Mr. Shankly]

I was thinking about the albums as possible soundtracks for movies thread, and this thought occurred to me: What role and how big a a role does production play in your enjoyment of an album? Can album production make or break an album? Let's say the album is full of great songs, performed well, but overall, the album is really lo-fi, fuzzy, and hissy-sounding or alternatively, sounds really slick and overproduced. How does this affect your overall enjoyment of the album? Can an otherwise mediocre album be raised to a level of greatness by strong production? What are some examples? What is under produced to you? What is overproduced? What are some example of well-produced albums and badly-produced albums? Can producers develop their own identities like movie directors where if they produce an album, it will make you more curious to hear that album? Is anyone a fan of a producer or producers? How important is production to albums? Discuss.

[CellarDoor]

Take note, I'm the first to mention Steve Albini.
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[CellarDoor]

So yeah, I love his rough "live sounding" recordings. A production work almost as iconic as the music itself. So many of those classic albums ("Goat", "In Utero", "Rid of Me", "Ocean Songs"...) owe to his production job.

And I dig lo-fi. I find it usually more powerful when trying to convey emotions. Highly subjective though. A good test is Daniel Johnston. He's a talented songwriter with a bunch of classic albums. Take "Songs of Pain" : some of the best songs I've ever heard, and one of the worst recordings ever too (from tape). But I love it all the same.
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[bcaie16]

Well, songwriting is paramount in my view. It's kind of like refereeing, you notice when they make a mistake, but if they are excellent they are hardly there. There are exceptions, where a producer leaves a noticeable or trademark stamp on an album. Like when you listen to a Daniel Lanois or Brian Eno, they leave an indelible mark on the music. Its kind of situational.

[albummaster]

Got to mention Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds, a work of genius.

Let's also not forget that entire genres have been invented in the studio e.g. dub and electronica.

[Guest]

Well primarily I love hip-hop, in which the role of 'producer' is far more visible. They create the whole backing track, and choose who should rap over it. And in rock music, I prefer a lo-fi sound, whereby a producer isn't necessarily necessary. But maybe I'm just an oddball.