Best recordings?

[walker]

I have a confession, some times I listen to the system, not the music. This is often the case when assessing equipment for purchase or repair. When I do this there are some recordings that I often use. They tend to require the speakers to perform acoutic gymnastics to reproduce the music accurately.
Some of my favourite recordings for this are;
Country, the movie soundtrack, (Bmg/Windham Hill; ASIN: B000000NG7),track 11 seperates the men from the boys.

Ricky Lee Jones, Pirates, (Wea/Warner Bros.; ASIN: B000002KL7), track 1 well recorded and very dynamic.

Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms, (Wea/Warner Bros.; ASIN: B00004Y6NP), particularly The Mans Too Strong.

I'm interested in quality recordings that others take along to speaker/system auditions?
Regards WALKER

PS Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits.

 

[surfsun&sound]

My Fav Recordings

Here is my first CD through any system

Celine Dion - All The Way - Epic/550 Australian Version(yes the North American version is different) tracks 6, 12 & 16 - some of these tracks contain low drums rolls that will seperate the good from the bad - good you can pick out each note cleanly, the bad the notes just slide together. Also you obviously have a female vocal on this CD which is a good barometer of the quality of any system.

For vinyl I always pull out my Eagles - Hotel California - a bad system will flatten the emotion a good one will have you practically jumping.

Since I maintain residences in both the US and Australia, my preferred recordings depend a bit on where I am. Since I in OZ at the moment and my music collection here is much smaller, I do not have some of my favorites at my finger tips.

Interesting thread walker, is this forum all about music?

Keep spinning the vinyl or turning the prism.

Surf, Sun & Sound

 

[Paul Butterfield]

Hi, here are some the music selections used by the Central Florida Audio Society for similar listening sessions:

Back O’ Town Blues/Treme Brass Band; Arhoolie-CD 417
My Drag/Squirrel Nut Zippers-Katharine Whalen; Mammoth Recording Co.
Got My Mojo Workin’/Big Jo Maher; Mapleshade-02352
My God Called Me This Morning/Fairfield Four; Warner Bros.- 9 26945-2
Jail House Blues/Ella Fitzgerald; Verve- 829 536-2
Johhny & the Devil/Hans Theessink; Flying Fish-FF 70545
My Love Is/Diana Krall; GRP 233
Grinning in Your Face/Hans Theessink; Flying Fish-FF 70545
Viola Lee Blues/Ry Cooder; Warner Bros. Crossroads Soundtrack
Photograph/Kendra Shank; Mapleshade- 02132
Paris Bossa/Kendra Shank; Mapleshade- 02132
Jesus and Elvis/Greg Brown; Red House Records- RHR CD 68
Standing in My Shoes/Leo Kottke; Private Music/BMG- 0100582146-2
Goin’ Up The Country/Canned Heat Blues Band; RUF/Polygram- 51416 1416 2
Trouble in Mind/Ella Fitzgerald; Verve- 829 536-2
Candyass/Brother Love Canal; R.A.P. CD in Blue
Mary Magdalene/Patty Larkin; High Street/BMG- 7290210335 2
Tower of Song/Leonard Cohen; Columbia- CK44191
Fine Artiste Blues/R.Crumb&Cheapsuit Serenaders; Shananachie- 6002
And, Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, recorded live @24/48 with DPA stereo pair.

Hope this helps, Paul B

 

[Lisandro_P]

Pink Floyd does the trick for me... specially some of their more "studio" recordings, like "Wish you where here", "The Division Bell", "Dark side of the moon" and the like.

 

[Super]

May sound silly, but I'm a fan of the Antz and Chicken Run soundtracks. The music for both are composed by John Powell and Harry-Gregson Williams.

Not only do the albums sound good/have good music (the important part, duh!), but I've got to give credit to any man or woman alike who can successfully integrate the use of kazoos into orchestral music.

 

[JoeBob]

To hear bass use techno, I know it's the worlds worst music, but it usually has repetitive low sounds constantly throughout the tracks, so you can see how the lows sound.

 

[vdi_nenna]

I just got a copy of Cowboy Junkies- The Trinity Session
Recorded live in a Toronto chapel w/ Calrec ambisonic mic and an r-dat. Very mellow listening, but a purist. Great female vocals.

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert King Live. Great blues recording. Great sense of space and well recorded.

Madonna, Ray of Light Excellent recording. Listen to track 13. On second 2nd verse, she is in the room! Creepy.

Metallica, "Black" album. Very dynamic. Great recording.

 

[M_Anker]

My favorite test recording is "Amused to Death" by Roger Waters. This recording was mastered in Q-sound which allows a stereo set of speakers to have spacial properties (it even sounds better than 5.1 surround). This recording is amazing and is great for detecting if anything is out of phase. The recording has elements from all frequencies and volumes; therefore, I found it to be a great test CD.

http://home1.gte.net/res0f2t3/index.htm

 

[Ignite]

Here is my attempt at a wide selection of styles I like and music that really requires a good system to sound right.

Orbital - In-Sides
Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
Tool - Aenima
"The Matrix" Original Score

 

[Ignite]

To hear bass use techno, I know it's the worlds worst music, but it usually has repetitive low sounds constantly throughout the tracks, so you can see how the lows sound.

Ignorance++

 

[Mach_Y]

Try the soundtrack to City of Angels. Awesome selection from the first track on. Has both subtle and strong sounds, male and female vocals, and a range of recording locations. To top it off, the CD is an HDCD HTH

 

[Thatch_Ear]

Great Recording

First off I am not a great fan of opera but I heard this watching that great Vampire movie "The Hunger". The tune is the Flower Duet from the opera "Lakme" by Delibes. The best recording is on Naxos 8.551164 "Opera At The Movies" which cost me a whopping $6 at Tower Records. The rest of the CD pretty much bites but this recording is superlative and if your system is good enough you can hear the air going between the gal on audience left's teeth when she inhales. Great for testing female vocals with orchestra. Think I will listen to it now!