Whats your favourite track to play to the non hi-fi visitor?


Lets be clear, the uninitiated offer an opportunity to show off your hi-fi, and give them an unexpected experience. Most visitors wonder why there is laboratory equipment and Stanly Kubrick 2001 monoliths in the lounge - some even make the connection to the wall of vinyl.

Time to pull out the Matt Bianco LP ’Who’s side are you on’, after warming up the system for an hour or so.
Some people don’t get it at all, but most can be impressed - but not with extended playtime. So, its a rare person that will sit and listen, as the demo nearly always gets turned down to background music to allow conversation.

I once had a good mate over for an evening of music and the odd wine, at one point during the evening he rushed to the kitchen and came back with spoons, which he played alongside the hi-fi to everything - including Pink Floyd. Mind you after a few wines it did bizarrely become a fitting accompaniment.

Whats your ’knock them dead track’ to play to non audiophiles?
128x128surferandy
That easy. Joni Mitchell Blue side B. Start with River, then A Case of You .  I am a lonely painter
any of a selection of 78 rpm records i've digitized, cleaned up and revectored and applied the DES treatment to. 
How about some newer CDs? Melody Gardot's Sunset in The Blue, The Strokes' The Abnormal, and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio's What a Wonderful Trio in 24-bits 352.8 Hz mastering.  

Okay, the last one is more for audiophile but it is a darn great recording!
So many great options when it comes to Dire Straits and Steely Dan.

An overlooked Dire Straits track is "It Never Rains" (Love Over Gold)

+ 1 on "Babylon Sisters." I particularly like where the background vocalist suddenly comes in around the 4 minute mark.
I usually ask what they would like to listen to, if no preference then in no particular order.

Casino by Acoustic Alchemy (on Arcanum CD)
AJA by Steely Dan.  (The whistle sounds like its outside and across the                                      street)
Caravanserai by Santana (first two tracks)
Ode to Billy Joe by Patricia Barber from Cafe Blue (great rendition)

I'm sure you all could list tracks all day as could I.  The above is just what comes to mind today.  Of course now I have to play them before the day is done or they'll rattle around in my head until I do.