Test Tracks

Black Muddy River - Norma Waterson (separation of mother and daughter's vocals, Richard Thompson's guitar)

He was Despised - Kathleen Ferrier (hairs on back of neck should be standing up)

Well you needn't - Thelonious Monk Septet (Monk's intro for Coltrane and Art Blakey bashing the hell out of his kit)

Huwge, I found all your tracks.

Wat, had to substitute a different track from Shirley + Dolly (chose Gilderoy) and found the other two you recommend.

Thanks for contributing.

Jeff A

1st - Killer from Seal's first album - complex, multi-layering is a real test of the system's ability to resolve the detail and present it coherently

2nd - No Frontiers from Mary Black's album of the same name - Mary's voice can easily be too much for some systems making it sound hard.     

3rd - Money from Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon - again, lots of detail is quite a test and the change of rhythm during the song is a good challenge of a system's ability to 'time' well.

Thanks MDS, added to the list.

Playlist now stands at 18 tracks with a 1 hour 57 min play time (inflated by Dark Star).

Jeff A

Excellent idea. 

1. Everybody knows. Leonard Cohen. I'm your Man (for the clarity of the Oud).

2. And he shall purify. Messiah. Dunedin Consort. Purity and separation of voices. 

3. Rock 'n Roll. From same album. Lou Reed. Pure energy. 

I spent days in the demo room last year, these tracks were amongst many constants.

Atoms for Peace - Reverse Running (from AMOK) - bass / music complexity / timing

Anything from Pink Floyd - DSoTM, Money has gone so I'll go for - Time - soundstaging

Joni Mitchell - Song For Sharon (Hejira) - female vocals, subtlety of Jaco's fretless bass 

Thanks R.K. and Rob, appreciate the contributions.

R.K. - Can't find he shall purify so chose "Hallelujah", they only have three tracks from that artist on messiah.

Rob - Can't find Atoms For Peace, have another choice ?

Jeff A

Cheers Jeff.  A really good topic this, the playlist should be very interesting. 

Edit... No Atoms for Peace on Spotty?? 

Ok...  let me have a think.

Spotify Premium (US)

They have one track:

artist: Part Of Atoms For Peace   track:  Shepherd Boy

nothing under Atoms For Peace

Jeff A

Ok, how about one for detail.... hearing the squeak of Bonzo's bass drum (or hi-hat) pedal on

Since I've Been Loving You on Led Zeppelin III

The squeaking might have been remastered out by now (maybe not audible on Spotty) and I have only the original vinyl to go on, but keep the selection in for one of Pagey's best guitar solos.

Rob

Thanks

1. Diana Krall - A Case of You from Live in Paris: How to create an intimate setting in a large venue. The soft hammertones of the piano, the odd cough in the audience and of course, Ms Krall's marvelous rendition.

2. The Ray Brown Trio - Summertime from Bassics: Pure virtuosity from Gene Harris, not only on the piano but also how he plays the audience. Spellbinding.

3. Mel Torme (& George Shearing) - New York, New York Medley from A Vintage Year: Whether or not you would consider this a technical hi fi track is moot but in terms of performance, it is a masterpiece. Listen to this and I dare you not to smile. 

That track always brings a tear to my eye.

Maybe not tears but I know what you mean.

Dave

I can't find fault with this. The original and the best.

I have been known to take all sorts of stuff to demos. I just take music that I like rather than music that might sound impressive.

Questioningly - The Ramones

59 - 1990s

All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor

Thanks Richard D and Bananahead, appreciate the contributions, they have been added.

Jeff A

we're only allowed three !!!

how about Norah Jones' cover of Day is Done (percussion is fabulous)

Angus and Julia Stone : For you (quirky vocals but nice bass)

Dead Can Dance : Yulunga (nice test of scale) 

.....tempted to suggest Knights of Cydonia because the recording is dreadful - good to have some rubbish recordings to test whether the system you're auditioning still sounds good with the day to day stuff (audio equivalent of removing the make up?)

I always use Tender Blue by Everything But The Girl and Billy Bragg's Levi Stubb's Tears, plus Kraftwerk's Radioactivity from the Minimum Maximum live album.

Thanks Martin and HH.

Anita Baker - No More Tears - Album  The Songstress.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Tin Pan Alley - Album  Couldn't Stand The Weather.

Van Morrison - Ain't NothingYou Can Do - Album It's To Late To Stop Now. 

Graham.

Only three..

Pearls - Sade Adu

Tatters - Lou Reed (RIP)

Two Against Nature - Steely Dan

Thanks Quad 33 and Hal.

Couldn't find the Van Morrison track so substituted "He Ain't Give You None" by Van.

Jeff A

That's a good one, Rob.  The bass-lines on Since I've Been Loving You go really low.  It's only in the past couple of years that I've got my system to a level to master them.  Previously John Paul Jones seemed to cause my system to go weak at the knees with this song! 

Yes, to me, it is a good tester track for so many reasons.

I think JPJ played the bass for this track using the bass pedals on a Hammond organ, that is probably why the bass lines seem so low.

Edited (after a google) to add a link about the track:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=320