Songs you use when auditioning gear

LP unless otherwise indicated. The list has grown over the years, but the constants are:

Dire Straits - "Ride Across the River" - Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits - "Telegraph Road" - Love Over Gold

Pink Floyd - "Time" - Dark Side of the Moon (Harvest)

Yello - "Oh Yeah" - Stella

Muddy Waters - "Long Distance" - Folk Singer

Grateful Dead - "Ripple" -  American Beauty

Ricky Skaggs - "Country Boy" - Country Boy

Ismael Lo - "Nafantav" - Jammu Africa (CD)

Patricia Barber - "Bye, Bye Blackbird" - Night Club

Harry Connick, Jr - "Don’t Get Around Much Anymore" - When Harry Met Sally OST

The Buffalo Bills - "Sincere" - The Music Man OST

KD Lang - "Halleluiah" - Hymns of the 49th Parallel

Disturbed - "The Sounds of Silence" - Immortalized

Robert Shaw & Atlanta Symphony - Orff: "O, Fortuna" - Carmina Burana

John Williams - "Theme from Superman" - Superman, The Movie

Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony - Handel: "Halleluiah Chorus" - The Messiah

Trevor Pinnock - "Alla Hornpipe" - Handel: Water Music, Suite in D/G Major

George Solti, LA Philharmonic - "Jupiter" Holst, The Planets

Vanska, Minnesota Orchestra - "Ode to Joy" - Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (SACD)

 

This list allows me to hear every type of music. Not all systems play all types of music well, but since I literally listen to everything, this list represents the best sounding songs I have for each genre, plus, they are really solid songs!

 

 

Here is a short list of tracks I use when auditioning gear. Hopefully you use at least CD quality to get the full impact of these tracks. Enjoy!

Steve Gadd Band - 70 Strong CD - Blues for..., Desu, Sly Boots, Dukes Anthem.

Michael Hedges - Strings of Steel CD - Ragamuffin.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't Stand the Weather CD - Tin Pan Alley

I have three. School/Bloody Well Right from Crime of the Century by Supertramp on MoFi vinyl to check for inner detail and turntable isolation, Temptation from Girl in the Other Room by Diana Krall on vinyl to check for small group ensemble cleanliness, soundstaging, upright bass, female vocals, and turntable speed, and Sexy M.F. by Prince on CD to check the digital side, instrument separation, and funk level.   :-)

GREAT post. Got a bunch of recommendations for music to listen to. Loved the thoughts of Simonmoon. Interesting some mentioned a good system would calm some recordings. I thought a good system would reveal recordings, with all it’s warts. 
For me, original vinyl recordings by Cat Stevens… particularly 18th avenue, with its both dynamic and soft passages, was one of my go to’s. Then Maynard Ferguson’s MacArther Park. And as several mentioned Aja. 

Since I previously talked about what I look for in a good recording, and why; here are a few examples.

These first few are mid to late 20th and 21st century classical, and tend to be atonal, angular, and kind of "thorny" sounding, so musically, YMMV. But the recordings have a soundstage that you can easily imagine, you can walk into among the musicians. 

Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic (there is also a fairly recent digital recording of this piece by the Cleveland Chamber orchestra, that is also great). 

 

Charles Wuorinen and Donald Martino

 

 

Einar Torfi Einarsson - Quanta

But I could list almost anything on the Kairos classical label. Everything I've bought on Kairos has been great sounding. Quite avant-garde stuff.

Here are some great recordings on the ECM jazz label. 

ECM has always been known for their great sounding jazz recordings, from their dead quiet vinyl, to their current releases on CD.

Expect to hear each musician occupying their own space in the acoustic space, and the air around them.

Some people say ECM's 80's output had too much echo on percussion. 

The nice thing is, that since they've always had the reputation among audio enthusiasts of good sound, their albums tended to be collected by people who took care of them, so finding good sounding copies in used stores is not that tough. 

Gallery - S/T / wonderful chamber-jazz, with open 3d soundstage.

 

Azimuth with ralph Towner - Depart

Great ensemble playing, with the wonderful wordless vocals by Norma Winstone.

 

Craig Taborn - Daylight Ghosts