What Makes a Great Recording?

I've listened to music critically for most of my life. First, as a teenage music fan, I would sit with headphones on poring over masterpieces by Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Yes, the Beach Boys, King Crimson, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, and so many others in the late '70s. Soon after, I began recording friends for fun and creating weird electronic music on my own. I would wonder what the artists I liked did to make their records feel so good, and I'd compare sounds between different LPs and guess at what was going on in those magical "recording studios." In college I became a radio DJ, playing records that caught my eye. I was lucky enough to hear new music all the time; I eventually became a music director and got to sort through the hundreds of LPs that would arrive at our post office box. I started contributing to 'zines from all over the states around this same time, and would get sent a box of LPs, 7-inches, and cassettes in exchange for my writing.