Try Fun Loving Criminals, and you will see your wife melting :)
Music Your Wife Will Really LISTEN To with you ?
It seems that many of us would like to have their wives/girlfriends/"significant others" more involved in the audiophile experience. To that end, I thought it might be interesting to compare notes on what pieces / types of music that we find they will actually sit back and REALLY LISTEN to in an "audiophile" kind of way. Maybe we can seduce our wives to come sit with us on the couch and listen a little bit more. And who knows where that could lead...
Here's a few that I recall my wife being wowed by, and some NOT wowed by, in no particular order:
Glenn Gould - Moonlight, Appassionata sonatas - but NOT Goldberg Variations.
Pink Floyd - The Wall (not all 4 sides at once) but NOT Dark Side of the Moon.
Carlos Kleiber conducting of Beethoven's Fifth
Supertramp - Crime of the Century, Side 1
Ry Cooder - Jazz
HOFFERT Concerto for Contemporary Violin - Steven Staryk on Ultrafi Records
Joe Sample - Swing Street Cafe
Living Presence lp's more than Living Stereo lp's
Elton John - Funeral For a Friend from Yellow Brick Road (played loud with lights down).
Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythms - Clive Lythgoe
Glenn Miller - In A Digital Mood
Joan Baez - The First Ten Years
Nancy Griffith - Other Voices, Other Rooms
Bizet/Shchedrin: Carmen Ballet conducted by Arthur Fiedler
Well that's a start anyway. I'd like to hear your success stories.
Here's a few that I recall my wife being wowed by, and some NOT wowed by, in no particular order:
Glenn Gould - Moonlight, Appassionata sonatas - but NOT Goldberg Variations.
Pink Floyd - The Wall (not all 4 sides at once) but NOT Dark Side of the Moon.
Carlos Kleiber conducting of Beethoven's Fifth
Supertramp - Crime of the Century, Side 1
Ry Cooder - Jazz
HOFFERT Concerto for Contemporary Violin - Steven Staryk on Ultrafi Records
Joe Sample - Swing Street Cafe
Living Presence lp's more than Living Stereo lp's
Elton John - Funeral For a Friend from Yellow Brick Road (played loud with lights down).
Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythms - Clive Lythgoe
Glenn Miller - In A Digital Mood
Joan Baez - The First Ten Years
Nancy Griffith - Other Voices, Other Rooms
Bizet/Shchedrin: Carmen Ballet conducted by Arthur Fiedler
Well that's a start anyway. I'd like to hear your success stories.
37 responses Add your response
Chadnliz, I've kept your post above in the back of my mind for several months. My wife is also a foot rub junkie! So tonight, I rubbed her feet while we listened to the stereo with the candles lit. I told her about your post how it gave me the idea to offer her a foot rub (which she accepted--of course!). It wasn't even Enya this time....Sirius radio thru the satellite dish via an optical cable to the Dodson DAC. Very nice indeed. |
Marty, I will let you know. It's on order now -- cool cover. Do you play the instrument? Zinfan2 is an old email address of mine (as you guessed, zinfan was taken). Funny thing is, I don't like zins all that much these days--they've become too high in extract and alcohol for my tastes. Happily, I continue to enjoy nebbiolo, syrah, tempranillo, sangiovese, cab, and mouvedre... almost as much as music. |
Zinfan, If you're looking for interesting French Horn recordings, you may want to check out Richard Todd "With A Twist". Rick runs the horn department at USC and is an amazing player who put together a great jazz group for this session. Disclosure: I am identified on the CD as "co-executive producer", which means I co-funded the project. Please know, however, that cash flow on such a deal is one way, and my recommendation is not based on potential returns (gross potential return = $0). Enjoy, Marty |
My girlfriend (age 21) Thinks Diana Krall sounds like a man, loves Ella, likes most good chamber music, orchestral music makes her a little crazy in the head as she is a perfect pitched musical genius and can't help stressing out about key signitures and harmonic complexities (she was a preemee) , she likes the maiden-voyage style herbie hancock and other jazz |
My wife was a music composition major in college and is a decent horn player and pretty good singer. She also has the uncanny ability to detect tweaks and new additions to my system, and the decency not to ask (too often) what they cost. She'll drop whatever she's doing to listen when I play French horn music, John Fahey's guitar music, Miles Davis, Arvo Part (a recent interest of hers), Bach or Ravel, but she completely blocks out Bob Dylan. Ah well, you can't have everything; at least she doesn't ask me to take him off. |
My wife listens to every CD in our collection, from Soundgarden to Tomasz Stanko, from Jordi Savall to Tool. Lots of contemporary jazz/eclectic music as well: Toe 2000, Todd Sickafoose, Scott Hill, Modest Mouse, Sun Kil Moon, American Music Club, etc.... Her favorites are King's X & Charles Mingus. The ONLY music we have that she doesn't care for are the happier songs from XTC. Oh, and if she hears Diana Krall's version of "Temptation" one more time, she's gonna scream! |
My wife adoress classical, particularly big symphonic works and violin and cello solo works. She also shares my love of big band and 50's-60's pop vocalists like Sinatra and Bennett. She draws the line, however, at my prog rock. If I pull out Yes or ELP or Genesis, she gently reminds me that I should listen to it when she's not home. That's why Trick of the Tail is on right now... :-) |
Norah Jones, Rebecca Pidgeon, Kenny G, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, older rock/pop from late 80s to early 90s. She likes certain Jazz CDs, but I have not told her that it is Jazz - lest she stops listening with me :-) She just ignores me when I put on the Living Presence or Living Stereo or hardcore Jazz. |
First off, I should state that my wife is into music more than most women, especially women her age, which shall we say is middle aged. (I guess I won't get castrated for saying that! I hope anyway!) She is particularly fond of: The Dave Matthews Band. Mostly the older stuff, but even the newer stuff she likes quite a bit. (Actually, she has pretty much told me she would run away with him if he asked her too. Guess he's a favorite, either that or she is a floozy!) Coldplay Death Cab for Cutie And of course, most of the popular women singers, including Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, The Holly Cole Trio, etc.. Music she hates though includes: Anything by Supertramp, America or any heavy metal type of music. (No accounting for taste I guess.) |
The musical tastes of "wives" will vary as much as the mucical tastes of any male audiofile. Look at the variability within these threads. Trying to figure out what a "wife" will listen to as an audiofile is similar to trying to figure out what she likes to eat. Unless you observe and remember, you will never know. and even if it is music that she likes, listening "as an audiofile" is also an acquired taste. I know what my wife likes (e.g., Santana, classical guitar, Kenny G, some baroque, and some pop) and I make a point of playing that sort of music when she is around. I even have explored her musical tastes to expand beyond one or two CDs (e.g., we now have a number of classical guitar CDs, and while she appreciates some of the newer stuff I've purchased, she still tends to listen to the standby CDs.) I have no expectation that she will ever listen in an "audiofile" sort of way. It simply is not her interest. We will dance to what is beong played, sing along, and go to concerts, but it is unlikely that she will sit in the front and centre of the speakers, close her eyes and listen to a CD from start to finish. |
Most recently: Tinsley Ellis - Lost Highwayman Barbara Morrison - Live at the Dakota Joe Sample - Soul Shadows Fontalla Bass - No Way Tired Spirit - Tweleve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus Monty Alexander - Live at Montreux Linus of Hollywood - Your Favorite Record She loves most rock/pop/blues based stuff and is OK with some Jazz. |
My wife and I both enjoy the Norah Jones SACD "come away with me," but that's about it. Well, she'll listen to Kate Schrock, too, but put on some Chris Potter, Coltrane, Dulfer, Marcus Miller, Charlie Hunter, Scofield, perhaps Cyrus Chestnut, ... well, anyone but the two or three she likes, and it's lights out, se acabó la guerra. I don't fight it. So, because much of my work can be done at home while my wife is at work, I ramp-out on MWFs. I don't shake walls, but I do like some vigor when called for ... while my wife doesn't, OF COURSE! |
Anything with a christmas title, but I really like the GRP christmas disks. Jazziz also puts out a nice compilation disk every December. Kenny Loggins - Leap of Faith Foreplay - (the early albums) Sometimes she surprises me and comments favorably on some of the world music I play from time to time. Almost any acoustic guitar album I might play. Even something like Strunz & Farah, but not if I play it for long - too intense, gives her a headache after a while. Some of the old 70's vinyl that I pull out from time to time for nostalgia's sake. Enjoy, Bob |
