Top 3 songs to evaluate a system

I can barely pick just three just to evaluate bass.

Frazey Ford  U Kin B the sun  Purple and Brown 
Deep Bass 

Soul Coughing Soft Serve
Feel in chest impact and power

Woong San Round Midnight
Realistic string bass

I'll stop... but it's just scratching the surface

1.  Concordia Viols - Crye by Concordia Viols (2001-10-02) - Amazon.com Music  The gorgeous sound of the consort of viols will tell you everything you need to know about a speaker's midrange.

2.  John O'Conor - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 (Moonlight, Pathetique, Appassionata) - Amazon.com Music  Well-recorded piano music tells you a lot about a speaker.

3.  Samuel Barber, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, Gil Shaham - Barber: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra, Op. 14 / Korngold: Much Ado about Nothing Suite, Op. 11 - Amazon.com Music  Here's a real litmus test.  On speakers that are tipped up or otherwise too bright, the violin tone will be edgy or astringent.  On good speakers it will be just right.  As for bass extension, there are bass figures here that are not loud but should be audible; listen to hear how clear they are.

Rick Wakeman - Jane Seymour from The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
The pipe organ at St. Giles takes you right into the church and the Moog piece takes it to another dimension.

Jeff Beck Group - Goin Down from the S/T Orange album.
The separation of the instruments in the left and right channels and right out of the center. The beautiful tone and resonance of Max Middleton’s piano. And of course Jeff Beck squeezes just about every note that you could get out of a guitar. Close your eyes and you can feel the strings bending. The whole album is just fantastic.

Santana - Waiting from the S/T first album.
The soundstage and spaciousness comes at you from every direction in the room. The music just floats.

And one more.
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - Why Worry from Real Live Roadrunning. Emmylou sounds like an angel. Oh wait, she is an angel.

Exile on Main Street. Any system that can make that awful recording sound decent wins.

1.  Nasty by Vincent Ingala
2.  Choolate by The 1975
3,  Maybe You're The Reason by The Japanese House ( extremely high 
     quality recording)
4.  Little Person by Michael Wollny

A lot of GREAT SONGS and choices: not necessarily in this order:
Elton John: Funeral for a friendMetallica; Nothing else matters/Fade to BlackAC/DC  Thunderstruck

This is my quick list:
David Byrne Lazy - it will test what you are looking at more than anything I know of.  The highs and the lows.  Be sure and put the volume to 11. 

Peter Gabriel - Blood of Eden, there is a bass note that not everything can hit. 

Beach Boys - Our Prayer / Gee pure vocal and total mid-range push.  It should really "sing" on a great system. 

Dave Brubeck - Take Five - you have to listen to some piano and how well that is reproduced.  Also do all the instruments represent or does one sound overpowering to the rest. 

Steely Dan. Aja. Black Cow. For layers and bass

Joni Mitchell. Court and Spark. Free Man in Paris. For layers, female vocals and acoustic guitar in a mix. 

Nick Drake. Pink Moon. Free Ride. Pure acoustic goodness. 

Listening for soundstage and detail retrieval I use music I know inside and out.

Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love -  Fantastic 3D soundstage.  It will wrap completely around you, 360° if the system is capable.

Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath/Fat Man -There's a definite "buzz" after bass note hits on Locomotive Breath.  After Fat Man ends there'e a "hunphhh" from Ian Anderson.   If these are easily discernible, the system is pulling out some detail.

TELARC - 1812 Overture -  What can I say?  First you have to keep the needle in the groove if it's on vinyl.

Honorable Mentions: About anything by Pink Floyd, E. Power Briggs, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, or any well recorded aorchestral pieces. 

More

Zappa / Joe’s Garage / Little Green Rosetta.
Great for soundstage, layering, inner detail, color of voices.

Joan Baez / Diamonds and Rust / title track.
Crystal clear recording with fast transients.

Suzanne Vega / Solitude Standing / Calypso.
Clear recording, delicacy, close mic vocals, air, space, speed.

I would agree with the anything by Steely Dan. They use a wide variety of instruments. An old song but Do You Know What I Mean by Lee Michael’s. And for good guitar licks, the band America.

Sad Old Red - Simply Red
Tom's Diner - Suzanne Vega
Thinkin' About Your Body - Bobby McFerrin

It's not so much particular music you are looking for, it's WELL-RECORDED music.  Some is good some is bad, some is excellent even in CD format.

If you want to evaluate a system see out only excellent recordings, whatever the music.
They are much better to listen to as well and can make lesser systems sound greater.

So...choosing only well-recorded music saves you money on upgrading your system.  Which will still sound poor with poor recordings.  Silk purses, sow's ears and all that.

London Grammar, Hey Now
Zero 7, Destiny
Incubus, Vitamin  from the album Science which is recorded great.

Wow, so many to choose from.   In no particular order…

Nils Lofgren, Keith Don’t Go (live)
Return to Forever, The Romantic Warrior (Instrumental)
Supertramp, School
Michael Hedges, Aerial Boundaries
Peter Gabriel, Biko
Jenn Adams, Mozambique is Burning

and I know I can’t count, but they are all so good!

Any song on "Styles" by Ben Liebrand. The entire album is great.
+1 for Tin Pan Alley by SRV.
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. These siblings do some great stuff, all recorded on old analogue gear and played on vintage instruments.
As mentioned, I could pick 3 a minute lol

Some fine suggestions here that I will follow.
First being: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/top-3-songs-to-evaluate-a-system?utm_source=sendgrid&utm_...)  Rainmaker is my cable, cap, resistor, tube, tester. :-)


In fact, I'm off to try it right now.

The Best of Greig  1995 Eclipse Music Group, DDD all metal single CD box.  Morning Mood is the name of the piece.

Steely Dan  2000 MCA, Babylon Sisters from Gaucho.
Vocals have air and space, especially the chorus.

Rockin Roots  The Rounder Subcompact Disc Volume 2. AAD
A very well recorded disc of 5 Zydeco bands.  Sounds live.

So many possible recordings but these come up time and again.

Loudon Wainwright - Love Songs / Hard Day on the Planet.
Finger snaps, piano.

Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat / title track.
You'll know when you hear it.

Doc Evans – At The Gas Light / Skat De Dat.
Great 1962 recording of whistling 

1. Supertramp, Crime Of The Century - School => Bloody Well Right
OK, that's two songs, but you really can't stop after "School," especially when playing vinyl.

2. Patricia Barber, Cafe Blue UN-mastered - Nardis

3. The Sheffield Drum Record, Side A - Improvisations By Jim Keltner

@ papyneau   The tribute album to Jimi Hendrix called Stone Free.  Fabulous musicians from Clapton to Seal & Jeff Beck.  Violinist Nigel Kennedy does an outstanding rendition of Fire.  The Cure does a take on Purple Haze that I actually prefer to the original.  Yet for all this talent, the recording lacks any real depth in the sound.   I would love to hear the system that brings this LP to life.  

Tin Pan Alley by Stevie Ray Vaughn
Pulling The Pin - Run The Jewels
then something live like Spanish Moon from the Waiting For Columbus live Little Feat album or something from Widespread Panic's Live In The Classic City or maybe the opening tracks of the Grateful Dead's One From The Vault or their Playing In The Band from Sunshine Daydream Veneta, OR 1972.

3 songs:

1.  Everything Counts (Oliver Huntemann & Stephan Bozdin Dub):  Depeche mode is very experimental and this has dynamic sound across the frequency range.  

2.  Let's Dance by David Bowie:  The song has some very busy and relatively quiet sections in the beginning of the song there a horn starts playing in the background - you can tell its a horn by the initial peak otherwise it could be confused with a keyboard/synthesizer.

3.  Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan...excellent recording with a variety of sounds and 'musical density'.

 

Nearly anything that was done by Steely Dan, James Taylor, Eva Cassidy and Patricia Barber. Every other minute I can give you 4-5 more excellent choices. So many fantastic artists through the  years!

I'd say any system that could make Yoko Ono sound OK, is one heck of a system. Anything she has EVER done as far as singing sounds BAD.

As far as a business women, she ain't no dummy, but she was always hard to look at.. My mom would say "Back that one in Son, park her close to the door". :-)

Highwayman by Johnny Cash
Rainmaker by Strunz & Farah
Da Club by 50 cent or Havana by Camila Cabello

They tell me what ever I'm going to listen to is going to sound good or NOT.

Rainmaker is my cable, cap, resistor, tube, tester. :-)

Regards

@papyneau Nordic 2L is pretty easy to find -- take a look here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/78zkF5WPgizHwoeGmPawy5

They also have free downloads

@bigtwin makes an *excellent* point. I'd say doing both (audiophile and flat recordings) is a good idea.

Thanks @hilde45 for being the first. I should have added a double bonus to have song easily available.. like Spotify. I can't find two of the thee pieces proposed. But Shelby Lynne is great and it's really my style of music!

@bigtwin - Excellent point, and is indicate that your strategy is to use "flat music" to evaluate a system. Really something to think about. But which flat song do you use?

I might suggest a slightly different approach to this question.  It's easy to list great sounding music.  The problem being those picks tend to make most every system sound good.  I would suggest using music that has always seemed flat (for want of a better term) on one system and ask does the next system improve the sound?  Would that not better show the difference?  Just a thought.

Fantastic topic, especially because you're asking for specifics

I'll start:

Ives, Overture & March "1776" Nordic 2L recording
Highlight: At least first 1/2 of song. High quality recording with a lot going on; great test of soundstage depth, width, instrument separation, and the ability of a system to deal with very complex transients and dynamics across the entire frequency spectrum.
https://www.discogs.com/release/4195543-Various-The-Nordic-Sound-2L-Audiophile-Reference-Recordings

Shelby Lynne -- Just a Little Lovin' (other tunes from this album also excellent)
Highlight - Thump of bass drum at beginning should shake your room, will test bass response and dynamics from the get go. Instruments have a lot of space, are very well recorded; vocals have a tremendous amount of texture. 

Keith Greeninger & Dayan Kai, Looking for a Home (Blue Coast Collection - The E.S.E. Sessions)
Highlight: Male vocals, acoustic guitar and steel guitar; startlingly lifelike recording, extraordinarily precise soundstage locations for both singers and instruments.