I’m a huge Rickie Lee Jones fan and know every inch of that record... so I was pleasantly surprised when I read your post! I was even at the live show supporting that album; so I think I may know where you’re coming from... I own and have listened to 95% of all the standards mentioned in this thread... Norah, Patricia B, Holly Cole, etc... many excellent choices... and yes, I have a hi-fi system worth two or three brand new SUVs I could have parked in the driveway instead.
Given this; My favorite all time female vocal track for CD (non-high res) is:
*Barbra Steisand’s Send In The Clowns (track 8) ’Broadway Album’ ... it’s an older recording, but just an astonishing track - both musically, vocally, emotionally and sonically. I even own the vinyl (for the day I go that route!)
Important to know; My system is is based on hi res SACD, Pure Blu-Ray Audio and DVD-A spec. The next track is going to surprise a lot of people:
*Dolly Parton’s In The Sweet By And By from her ’Little Sparrow’ SACD release (Track 13).The entire album sonically is a masterpiece... conceived, recorded, mixed and mastered from the studio mics to your D/A ENTIRELY in DSD. Few pop albums can claim this. It’s not remastered from low or even hi res digital masters or analog tapes; rather, it is the purest of the pure - like Chesky SACDs/DVD-As releases. IMHO this is an example of how good hi-fi content gets. I’m a musician and recording engineer. I have very little consumer gear in my hi fi setup. The heart is a 6-ch Emm Labs mastering DAC, dedicated DSD transport and 6-ch transparent pre. I challenge anyone to find a finer recording than this on VINYL or otherwise. I have heard 100’s and 100’s of great hi-fi albums on vinyl that simply can’t touch this recording... same with other hi res discs (I have a sizable collection). Although sweet sounding, the physical properties of vinyl are severely limiting. Ie: (S/N and dynamic range). Add to this the required encode-decode RIAA eq curve in your preamp to compensate for all this and it just won’t allow vinyl to do what this hi-res recording does... STUNNING 5.1 clarity and an emotional performance that will blow you away. I have played this as my reference recording for almost a decade. I have left friends and dozens of crazed vinyl-heads audiophiles speechless; jaws on the floor. If you don’t have an SACD (spec) setup w a good DAC this recording alone would be the enough reason to make the plunge.
Honorable mentions:
CD:
Eva Cassidy, Fields of Gold
Sarah McLachlan, Angel, (if you have a player with the HDCD chip, get the ’Angel’ album soundtrack version vs the standard ’Surfacing’ album CD version).
SACD:
*Sarah McLachlan, Answer, album ’Afterglow’ (a relatively new release!)
*Alison Krauss, Ghost In This House, album ’Forget About It’
*Rickie Lee Jones, Stewart’s Coat, album Traffic In Paradise
Enjoy your journey!
ps.. there is track 'Little Sparrow REPRISE' after the Dolly track 13 I mentioned feom
the same same album that demonstrates how good dobro and guitars can get on a hi fi system, so let the disc run and get treated to a reference STRING track as well! Note: these are recordings you can really crank up, so highly suggested, do it and you'll be amazed.
