Ok, I'll bite. In jazz, try something with Garbarek and Jarrett (the blues connection can be heard in the distance). Another thought is David Sylvian whose movement from popular styles to the avantgarde is fascinating to trace. In classical there's the Kronos Quartet for all sorts of interesting material. It's a big world out there! 

Joe,

It's probably  just a passing phase.

When I get fed up,  I turn the radio on. Listen to RP or Radio 6, 3WK  and even Naim radio despite the limited playlist. Loads on internet stations to search for new stuff and others you might have forgotten all about.. But you'll end up going back to the good old stuff. Just have a break!

Try the Goldberg Variations (Bach solo piano).  Always a palette cleanser. Great new version by Jeremy Denk, and there's 2 classic versions by Glenn Gould.

This is probably how i got into 'world' music! Try salif keita 'soro' and then some ali farka toure and then explore sideways from there. Lots of stuff on world circuit records or peter gabriels label too. 

Try some Cake - e.g. Fashion Nugget or Comfort Eagle.

I suspect your taste will return joerand. Meanwhile, and for something completely different I'd recommend this chap:

Or if you fancy some beautiful female vocals, this lady never disappoints

Joe,

Even with 2-3000 LPs I sometimes wonder what to play. It's like TV with all those channels and nothing you fancy watching. It doesn't last long. When in that situation I sometimes do a lucky dip and pick one with my eyes closed. Often one LP will lead you to another and off you go again.

Good luck.

Steve

An LP12 ?

G

Sorry can't do the picture thing with LP covers, but as someone who grew up listening to mainly rock music in the 70s and 80s I'd agree with the Sylvian recommendation and also people who have collaborated with him (Jon Hassell, Bill Nelson, Harold Budd etc).

For Rock music I found The Damage Manual, Rammstein, Wire and Rollins Band energising.

Into the electronic / avantgarde try Autechre (my all time no1!) Pan Sonic, Biosphere, Murcof etc.

20th century classical: Part, Honneger, Ligety.

More relaxed stuff? Rumer.

Ambient soundscapes? Haxan Cloak, Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana, False Mirror.

Dear Joe,

Definitely consider the Bach Brandenburg Concertos.

There is as much intrigue and interest in this most accessible classic l music as anything and if you never broaden out from it, the music will cleanse your Rock pallet occasionally and completely!

The current thread, linked here may give some ideas about which recording to get:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...randenburg-concertos

ATB from George

PS: The Goldbergs are superb also, but go for a great recording for the instrument it was designed for. Pierre Hantii on earlier  Opus 111 issue [not the later recording though]. Look on amazon. under Goldberg Variations Pierre Hantaii. the older and better recording is not at the top of the listing these days.

This is the most beautiful recording on the intended instrument and an absolute revelation after the attempts made to force the music onto the piano. No one would attempt Debussy [piano music] on the Harpsichord, and nobody should attempt the Goldbergs on the Grand Piano. It transforms the music and leads to excessively slow speeds because of the piano's much longer sustain. 75 minutes of music is frequently made to last 90 on the piano, and it can seem funereal in parts, which is not the intention! It is performances on the wrong instruments that have made many music lovers less tha nhappy with the glorious music of Bach ...

ATB from George

Interesting, George. I'm going to look into that. We have the Brandenburg Concertos on traditional instruments...this one...

But our Goldbergs are all piano.

Dear Winki,

Try the Hantaii as suggested, or with a less beautiful recording but even more compelling performance, try the Helmut Walcha harpsichord recording on EMI. Recorded in 1960 and still in the catalogue on EMI France.

That is less beautifully recorded, and more musically stimulating!

The Pinnock is an excellent middle of the road recording of the Brandenburgs, though I prefer the HM Linde set myself. I tend to recommend the Pinnock as less of an absolute challenge, and easier to get on first listen. It is a bit less musically stern, but ultimately softer.

ATB from George

Whilst George is quite right to point out that the Goldbergs were written for harpsichord (we know this from Bach's own handwritten title page) and that listening to them played on that instrument is worthwhile for that reason alone, to suggest that piano versions are somehow wrong or invalid is a step too far for me. Andras Schiff's early digital recording on Decca is an absolute delight - for me, the instrument disappears behind Schiff's total engagement with Bach's music. I have listened to harpsichord versions (in fact, I have the Hantai version George recommends) but I still return to piano versions as my first choice. I'm sure George will say I'm wrong to do so, but my personal response to the music won't be changed by historical arguments. Certainly I cannot agree with his last sentence - great music can transcend orchestration, which brings me to my next point.

The point about Debussy on the harpsichord is a thought-provoking one - Tomita performed Debussy on synthesizers, as did Wendy/Walter Carlos with Bach. I think both are interesting and valid artistic statements.

Mark

I was listening to Tomita's version when I read you comment (and I agree with you by the way)

Cake is (are?) wonderful?  My wife and I have seen them live 3 or 4 times over the past 7 years.  They get lots of play time in the car.

Dear Mark [Ebor],

As it happens i am delighted that people can approach Bach from pianistic performances of his keyboard music. But it is not quite right to call it the prime way for all that. I have no harpsichord music of his played on the piano except for the one Concerto for Two Harpsichords performed by Schnabel with his son Carl on the second piano, recorded in 1936, and strangely they play the play the pianos exactly like harpsichords and the very tight 78 recording assists in this impression as well. On this CD were a number of Harpsichord Toccatas recorded between 1932 and 1948. These I find fascinating, and not really to my taste preferring Hanaii's Virgin/EMI recording [on the harpsichord] of the music. In the concerto for two harpsichords I have Pinnock and it is in every single way finer than the old Schnabel recording, but there is a fascination in the revival of Bach's more out of the way music [at least it was out of the way in the first half of the twentieth century] that a recording like Schnabel's does demonstrate. So much is quite stylish, if ultimately the piano gets in the way, by requiring a larger orchestra than intended to balance the much louder tones of the modern instrument. Instead of it being a chamber concerto with mainly solo instruments or single pairs, it is massed up to something on the scale of Mozart, and the composition does not really allow for clarity to be maintained as a natural consequence. 

As for the later suggestions of electronic synthesiser presentations of music written for natural keyboards, I am invariably appalled by them. Fun for a single listen, but not something to indulge in twice!

Wendy Carlos plays Bach in a fashion that I cannot get on with at all! Some may enjoy it of course, but it is not Bach's best advert for sure.

ATB from George

If you like rock, might I suggest some more contemporary cousins ?

Muse - Showbiz

Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose

Radiohead - OK Computer

Arcade Fire - Suburbs

Sound City - Real to Reel (also check out the back story to how this album came about)

There is lots of good advice above, with some interesting directions that the OP could take his listening. One that hasn't been suggested yet is film soundtracks. Lots of fabulous music, a lot of which is great to play loud, just like the rest of his collection of rock. Try these:

Danny Elfman

Mission Impossible (1996), Batman (1989)

Ennio Morricone

The Dollars Trilogy (1960s)

Hans Zimmer

Crimson Tide (1995), Broken Arrow (1996)

Isaac Hayes

Shaft (1971)

John Williams

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Star Wars Trilogy (1977-83)

Howard Shore

Lord of the Rings (early 2000s)

Not all of these are equally easily available, but enough should be to make a start.

Mark

Mark,

You are absolutely right re. the Goldbergs on piano. But, may I recommend this :

Music to die for .

What about this ? Maybe different to what you usually listen to.

Includes a truly stunning version of Bach's Chaconne, brilliantly transcribed for guitar (George has just had an heart-attack ). Platino, by the way, was a pupil of the great Manuel Barrueco.

Dear Woy,

I have the Chaconne in D Minor played by Segovia on the guitar. Lovely performance, and I enjoy it! I would not put it ahead of Grumiaux, or Holloway playing the original on the violin though!

ATB from George

Nice one, George  . I see you don't mind having your leg pulled a little

.

If you get chance, grab a copy of the Franco Platino disc - truly stunning. Regards.

The best of two worlds, a magnificent jazz rendition of classical pieces, especially if you like piano music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn6RQoYe_qU

It's interesting that the OP Joe hasn't responded. He must have found some music to satisfy his listening habits, although knowing his musical tastes, probably not from the above suggestions.