[jefemeister]

I'm compiling songs for demonstrating our system at CES this year. I have a pretty good list going already, but I would like to hear 2-3 recommendations from as many people here as possible. Above all else, the music has to be recorded beautifully. Of course it has to be a sweet performance too. Also, try not to pick anything that's really obscure (a little bit is OK, but it's best if patrons have heard the song at least once before.) Also, don't pick anything like "Hotel California" from Hell Freezes Over since that was played to death a few years back. You get the idea. Thanks!

[EDIT: ADD] No SACD/DVD-A or vinyl. We're only demonstrating redbook.

 

[Oliver :)]

Uhm, just tracks? Difficult. What about nice albums?
Just yesterday Peter Gabriel's "So" *SACD* blew me away again, especially concerning the bass. One album that I always hated for sounding so uneven and hectical from my old source is Joan Osborne's "Righteous Love"; but with the right source this disc just... shines.

 

[chadbang]

Quote:

Also, don't pick anything like "Hotel California" from Hell Freezes Over since that was played to death a few years back.

Brrrrrr. I get the cold shivers just thinking about that audition piece. Even here in Thailand every dealer, small and large, was blaring that song. oh man, talk about torture.

 

[LeasingGuy]

1. Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture [SOUNDTRACK], The Battle
2. Steely Dan: Kid Charlemagne, Godwhacker or Jack of Speed
3. Hummel:Bassoon Concerto in F major, Introduction, Theme And Variations In F Major, Op. 102, For Oboe And Orchestra: Theme And Variations: Allegretto, Naxos - #554280

 

[2 channel]

1. Anything from The Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions

2. "UB Jesus" or "Like Humans Do"
from David Byrne Look Into the Eyeball.

3. "New York City"
from Peter Malick featuring Norah Jones from New York City

Number 3 would be cool because most people have heard Norah Jones but not this CD...Everyone will wonder when the new Norah Jones CD came out

 

[blessingx]

Hem's I'm Talking With My Mouth EP
Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso's Music From "The Screens"
Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours

 

[aerius]

Sarah McLachlan - "I Will Remember You" (Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff)

Tori Amos - "In the Springtime of his Voodoo" (Boys for Pele)

Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Little Wing" (The Sky is Crying)

The live (Mirrorball) version of "I will remember you" got played to death on the radio here in Canada a few years back so it should be familiar. I like the original more though.

 

[episiarch]

Fragile by Sting (album Nothing Like the Sun) -- I never really appreciated this song until I heard it in an IMAX theater, then wow.

Dubuque by George Winston (album Plains) -- a solo piano piece that can be extraordinary on good equipment

Sombre de Ti by Shakira (album Shakira: MTV Unplugged) -- a great vocal, this version is much more soulful than the one on her album Donde Estan los Ladrones, which more people will have heard. So it will have that "familiar, yet different" thing going, at least for people who've heard Shakira.

----------------
A couple additional recommendations:

Aqui No Ma by Up, Bustle and Out (album One Colour Just Reflects Another) -- somewhat more obscure, but great percussion, and very catchy

Black Water by The Doobie Brothers (album Best of the Doobies) -- excellent soundstage, and there are some very light bells that show how well you handle subtleties. Does it qualify as "beautifully recorded?" I'm not sure.

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

radiohead "paranoid android"
"karma police"

pink floyd "echoes"

sigur ros track #1 from ()

 

[Snake]

Questions like that bring back fond memories.

Hmmm. For quiet, personal-level auditions my current "tasty song" is Natalie Cole's "Calling You" from Ask a Woman Who Knows.

Yeah, it's a shame that Eagles Hell Freezes Over is so overplayed because it is excellent.

 

[Mr.PD]

Anything off of the Steely Dan album A Decade of Steely Dan. This is a very well recorded CD.
My favorite tracks are FM and Deacon Blues

I remember reading a story about some $50,000 speakers where the demo booth guy played AC/DC Back in Black. The reviewer wondered what kind of nut played that music to demonstrate speakers. Then he noticed how good the speakers were because of the music. He said the music breathed coming from those speakers. Of course that may be stretch in your case if you are demoing players and don't have a pair of $50,000 speakers. I wish I could remember the name of speaker now.

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr.PD Anything off of the Steely Dan album A Decade of Steely Dan. I remember reading a story about some $50,000 speakers where the demo booth guy played AC/DC Back in Black. The reviewer wondered what kind of nut played that music to demonstrate speakers. Then he noticed how good the speakers were because of the music.

The fond memories racket album was Anita Baker's Rapture. It kinda does the same thing as above but too bad it was recorded so poorly (oversaturated tape master in spots - or, have they finally fixed that?)

 

[Carlos3]

Tool - Lateralis ("Parabol" + "Parabola")

Emerson String Quartet - 2nd or 3rd movement of Shostakovich String Quartet #8 (available as a cd single)

 

[Andrew Pielet]

Anything from Buena Vista Social Club, Anything from Grisman & Garcia.

 

[markl]

I bet tracks off the new Beatles Let It Be Naked would go over well.