When you audition equipment, what albums do you bring?


Some of what I bring (in no particular order) are,

Diana Krall, The Girl In The Other Room.
Weather Report, Heavy Weather.
Alan Parsons, I Robot.
Steely Dan, Aja.
Miles Davis, The Essential.
Prince, Greatest Hits.
Peter Green, Man Of The World

JD
128x128curiousjim
Crime of The Century .. Supertramp
Little Queen .. Heart
Radio KAOS ... Roger Waters
Crest of a Knave ... Jethro Tull

For starters anyways.
uberwaltz, 
I have the first three in my collection,  and used to have "Knave". Not quite sure what happened to it. Hmmm.

Thanks for answering. 

JD 
Could be that people do not bother with bring albums for demo any longer, maybe a USB stick with hirez files on it might be the normal now!
@uberwaltz,

We've discussed this before but...have you sought out JT "Catfish Rising"? The second lp is cut at 45rpm...it's pretty special.
@slaw 

I only have catfish rising saved in my Tidal albums.

So the original vinyl is cut at 45rpm or is that a special remastered release that is cut at 45rpm?
OP
Aja is definitely a great test album for sure, I have it too, a fairly decent copy.

I have heard that the I robot by alan parsons is good but I have not heard it yet, on my todo list!
I did find catfish rising by JT on Discogs only for the 45rpm version.

$46.50 shipped cheapest.

Is it a worthy contender for a great audition album and all round great l.p.?
I bring Dr John, In A Sentimental Mood on album and John Lee Hooker, The Healer on cd.
uberwaltz,  I will definitely check out Catfish Rising. And you should check out I Robot. And I am slowly filling a 64 gig Sandisk with .wav files.

tooblue, I forgot about Dr. John.  I do have the LP. Thanks for reminding me.

JD
Nice selections- Guys.add- Van Halen S/T         The Doors S/T         Journey - Greatest Hits
I just remembered an album that has excellent sound and interesting music (at least I think so), one that never gets mentioned. It’s the 1975 debut album by Old & In The Way, a group consisting of Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan (from Seatrain), Vassar Clements playing fiddle, and John Kahn on standup bass. It’s real Bluegrass music, and was recorded in excellent sound and released on an audiophile label, Acoustic Disc. It's not a "SONIC SPECTACULAR!", it's acoustic music with natural sound. Lifelike instrumental and vocal timbre, no studio "sweetening" (reverb, echo, eq, etc.). Very "in the room" sound, not larger than life.
Pet Sounds is great (really great!) musically, but sonically mediocre. Give the Sunflower album a listen. Also musically great, but in better sound.
curiousjim
Add- Diana Krall "Live in Paris" to your list.  What is your fave song by Prince?
Happy Listening!
jafant,

My favorite Prince song isn’t on that album, The Undertaker is probably my favorite Price song.  There are several versions out there. Some are good and some aren’t.  From the album it’s Probably Controversy. It’s a tune to play loud unlike DK that’s played at a much softer.

JD
I've never auditioned audio equipment. But if I did I would probably only need one album: Steely Dan "Two Against Nature". If I carried a second it would be Mark Knopfler's "Tracker".

If I was selling audio equipment "Two Against Nature" would be in constant play.
n80,

Two Against Nature is a wonderful album.
I have two Knopfler albums, but I don’t have Tracker.  Is it newer?  Rag Pickers was the last one I bought.

JD
My feeling is a culmination of any music lover's expertise/musical memory would be more than necessary.
curiousjim, I've been a Dire Straits fan from the beginning but I'm just now getting into Knopfler's solo work, but yes, Tracker was released in 2015. He is very prolific and has 10 solo studio albums. Sailing to Philadelphia did not appeal to me and I've done some cursory listening to some of his other work and it hasn't drawn me in. I need to do more serious listening. Privateering (2012, double CD) is on the way to my house now. Look forward to that. Down the Road Wherever is due for release the 16th of this month.