NicholasP

iTrader: (1)

Michael Jackson - PYT

dc23

Anything at all by Dead Can Dance. In fact just about anything on 4AD Records. DCD, This Mortal Coil, The Hope Blister, Cocteau Twins...fabulous, involving, moving, jarring, hauntingly beautiful...Ivo Watts-Russel's iconoclastic label is a feast of auditory delights, in motion and otherwise.

STEvil

Black Label Society - Fear

The Tube Doctor

For visceral impact & subwoofer torture tests, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum is a superbly recorded CD. It WILL let you hear how well (or poorly) damped your woofer system is. Bass articulation or lack thereof will be immediately obvious.
Track 5 (Jewe) has some body percussion that has to be heard to be believed.

For staging and image stability, Crosby,Still & Nash's Daylight Again, with the title track being the standout. In a well designed system, you should be able to pick out the placement of the three vocalists in a very well-defined space. Three voices were sharing one mic in the studio. And Stephen Still's dropped-tuning on the Martin acoustic guitar should have convincing depth, sustain and resonance.

Musicfirst

Hi

I am a high end home audio guy who tries to pay for his obsession by selling audio gear. I recently put a new car audio system in my 03 Matrix.
I demonstrate at audio shows in Vegas and Montreal fairly often.

Here are some of my go to music for these shows:

Paricia Barber: Cafe Blue - jazz
Nils Lofgren: Live acoustic - acoustic rock
Reference Recordings: Tutti - classical sampler

Thats all I can think of this early in the morning...

I'll post more later

Car: Kenwood KDC X994 Deck
Focal 165 KRX2 Speakers

Home APL NWO 4.0 DVD/CD player
Nuforce 9.0SE V2 amplifiers
Jamo Reference R909 Speakers
(possibly the best speakers on the planet)

Kerry

Musicfirst

I second the DCD recommendation. If you want to pick just one to start with, I would suggest 'Into the Labyrinth' for a studio album or 'Toward the Within' for a Live album of their best music.

Good recommendation on the 4AD records angle. I'll have to pick up some other artists on this label.

Kerry

Musicfirst

OK I've read the entire thread. Sorry for the dup recs but I still stand by them 100%

Others: (mainstream) Clapton Slowhand MoFi Gold (OP)
SRV Couldn,t stand the weather MoFi (OP) esp Tinpan
Alley

I have lots of outstanding OP esoteric stuff that I don't normally divulge (to win best of show at audio shows, your best weapons are music that no one else has!) Not to be a tease, but I will exchange some of these software recommendations privately for good SQ advice from the SQ pros.

One can get really crazy with comparing CD releases of outstanding music. If you want another great website that deals with this in great detail, check out the forums on www.stevehoffman.tv

dc23

Also "Spiritchaser". An incredible album and sadly DCD's last before Lisa Gerrard and Brenda Perry decided to go their separate ways. Some wonderful low bass on this album--along with a whole lot of, well, just wonderful. And Musicfirst, gotta point out that if you like DCD, you will absolutely adore This Mortal Coil. Only 3 albums between 1984 and 1991--each one incredible. I'd start with the final one, "Blood".

And for Floyd fans who feel incomplete--pretty sure that would be most of us--after Waters and Gilmour let their giant egos put an end to the greatest band ever: Check out Waters' 1992 solo album "Amused to Death". Absolutely stunning album sonically and every other which way. The album they would have made had Gilmour been able to just shut up, play his guitar and sing what Roger told him to--and had Waters not gotten all pissy and decided to take his ball and go home. I think of it as "The Great Lost Pink Floyd Album". No Gilmour--but Jeff Beck seems to manage. Some wonderful background vocals from Rita Coolidge. Thematically a logical progression from "Animals", "The Wall", and "The Final Cut (really the first Waters solo album)"--and almost as good as my personal favourite album of all time, "Wish You Were Here".

Musicfirst

Speaking of great advice from the pros. Thanks Julian

Kerry

Musicfirst

The Wall live 'Is There Anybody Out There?', while not perfect, has some great cuts as well.
However, I may be a little bit biased as this is my favorite album, perhaps of all time from a music perspective.

Kerry