Recommendations for really well-recorded music for high-end audio system demo

Back in the '90s when I was being exposed to new stuff via a public radio station (91.3 WYEP) I bought Lloyd Cole's Love Story for Like Lovers Do (which is still my favorite track on that).  (I probably enjoys vocals more than all else.)  Anyway, a few years ago I broke it back out and was impressed with the sonic quality/presentation of the entire CD, but to suggest a specific track, I'd go with Like Lovers Do.

I especially enjoy two Cowboy Junkies Cds that made it to SACD, but I assume you are streaming. The Trinity Sessions (the SACD was Analogue Productions) and although their cover of Sweet Jane (off that disc) is what turned me on to the CJ, I suppose I’d say start with the opening track (Mining For Gold) and stay with it as it transitions into Misguided Angel. I am not as crazy about the MFSL SACD of Whites Off Earth Now (also by CJ) as I am about Trinity, but I think it may actually have a bit better of a sound--almost holographic to my poor abused ears. Maybe try their covers of Me And The Devil or Decoration Day?  They also cover Mr. State Trooper on that CD, which is a song I really like, and I like the way they covered it, but maybe it doesn't have as many sonic attributes as some of the other material.

I guess the whole thing about both of those CDs is how they were single miked when recorded .

. . . since I bought a SACD player, I have found some of the Dire Straits SACDs to sound fantastic, and I assume that by streaming you are listening to at least the same quality DSD if not better? From Love Over Gold, Telegraph Road about took my breath away the first time I heard the SACD version. The self titled Dire Straits is one I’d probably play to show some one the best of my SACDs, and although Sultans Of Swing is what originally turned me on to Dire Straits way way way back when, I’d say that Six Blade Knife or Down To The Waterline or Water Of Love would probably be what I’d play.

@soix , I spent five more hours with those Revels I have been auditioning/breaking in, and this was one of those sessions where I was thinking that they are really starting to open up and shine (but with that typed, I may not feel that way next time I listen to them). Regardless, that is not the reason I am revisiting your thread--I finished off listening to a track that might meet your criteria. The CD I have it on is"My Disc" The Sheffield/A2TB Test Disc but it is originally on Speaking In Melodies/Michael Ruff and the track is Wishing Well. Doug Sax says, and I’ll paraphrase, that "Sheffield’s preamps and line level mics really shine through" that part really was not a paraphrase, and Sax goes on to suggest taking note of the clarity of the piano, natural but extended cymbals and the clarity and warmth of the vocals. Personally, I truly enjoy the way it seems to step out of the speakers and into the room, and I love the sound of a good saxophone recording and that is another reason I like this track.

Last night when I finished up I did some major speaker repositioning and I just got finished with six hours plus of delicious break-in/auditioning of those Revel speakers. Because of that, I thought of three more tracks that might meet your criteria.

From that test disc I alluded to in a previous post ("My Disc" The Sheffield/A2TB Test Disc) is Dish Rag which was originally on I’ve Got The Music In Me/Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker. It never hit me until tonight how good it sounds, and particularly the sound of the trombone stuck with me tonight. (I listened to it twice.) The blurb on the CD insert says to pay attention to the voices of the two keyboards and the "vertical lift in the entire sound as the horns come in over the keys." Hmmm, and they also noted the "fat sound" of the trombone that I liked.

On the Chesky CD The Raven by Rebecca Pigeon, she does what I would consider an almost ethereal cover of Spanish Harlem. That is one of those CDs that Chesky brags about the great job they did of micing it and not manipulating it any further. It struck me that Rebecca Pigeon played a non musical role in that movie with Al Pacino starring as Phil Spector. She played the role of an assistant to his defense team.

Back sometime back in the ’90s I bought the self titled CD by a group called Once Blue (lead vocalist, Rebecca Martin) because I really liked the nuances and inflections of her vocals. The track I suggest is Trumansburg. (Which I believe is a town somewhere in NY.) Besides what I can pick up on her vocals, on that track I used to hear (I don’t know much about music, so bear with me) this distinct "shoomp" sound (I remember thinking that it sounded real) when whoever was playing the cymbals stepped on that pedal thing that made them compress real distinctly. I haven’t been able to hear that "distinct "shoomp" nearly as clearly for quite some time, and I tried it again tonight, but either it made a bigger impact on me back then because I was new to better-end stuff, or I have lost the frequency that I was hearing that so clearly on, or the room I moved all my stuff into several years ago is flawed to the point that the sound I remember is not reproduced as well. But regardless, the CD is probably what would be considered cut a bit hot and up front, and I find the stuff in her vocals subtle and neat to hear.

@jastralfu  , based on that, I may put The Immaculate Collection on my own list.