Music suggestions that impress positively on your system

eugene65

I thought it would be fun and at the same time helpful for fellow forum members to tell us about the music and or movies that really shine when played on their systems. All types of music is welcome, but what led me to post this thread, was that I heard a Jazz tune with acoustic bass and horn playing through some Vienna Acoustic speakers, and I wish I knew who it was. I’m not a jazz fan, but would love to try this demo on my Lsi 15's. You could hear the smacking on the reed of the horn and also the slam of the acoustic bass strings sounded awesome. So help me out here.... all types of music are welcome. Thanks

VR3

Dave Matthews - Gravedigger

Tatu - Malchik **** (Soundstage Depth)

Tatu - 30 Minutes (High End Extention, Dynamics)

Eva Cassidy - Every Song - High End Extention, Female Vocals

Nathan Wesley Smith - (Forgot song name - basically his whole CD) - Acoustic Guitar, Vocal Weight

Sister Hazel - Champaigne High

Patricia Barber - The Thrill Is Gone (Excellent acoustics and vocals)

Paul Brown - Phat City (amazing smooth jazz song)

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Choctaw Hayride (excellent banjo and geetar!)

Linkin Park - Reanimation (CD Name) - Crawling - Soundstage depth and bass response.

Disturbed - 10,000 Fists (New CD) - Bass response (accuracy), and dynamics

This is just a few off the top of my head...

MacLeod

I have a ton of em but lately Im really liking Garbage. The lead singer has a great voice and she does everything from singing high notes to speaking. Also they have stuff going on at all points of the soundstage so it really gives your imaging a workout. Great bass and crystal clear production as well. Their first 3 albums are great but I like their 3rd, "Beautiful" as it seems to have the best production.

John K.

Gene, my own listening is almost entirely classical and among the more colorful items that are especially impressive on good equipment are The Planets, Symphonic Poems , and Hungarian Dances.

aaharvel

REM In Time: DVD-A

the DTS mix, not the Dvd-**** version. Spectacular!

aaharvel

MacLeod wrote:

I have a ton of em but lately Im really liking Garbage. The lead singer has a great voice and she does everything from singing high notes to speaking. Also they have stuff going on at all points of the soundstage so it really gives your imaging a workout. Great bass and crystal clear production as well. Their first 3 albums are great but I like their 3rd, "Beautiful" as it seems to have the best production.

Garbage freaking rocks! My Ex burned me a CD of their best cuts last xmas. Best gift she ever gave me. :cool:

Holydoc

Aaharvel,

So your ex gave you garbage? Sounds like the story of my life. All I ever got from my ex was garbage too.

mhardy6647

"Way Down Deep" from Jennifer Warnes' CD "The Hunter"
"Charlie Byrd" (eponymous 45rpm 12" direct to disc on Crystal Clear Records, on white vinyl)

Pablo

I don't have a large SACD selection yet, but Al DiMeola's Mediterranean Sundance on Friday Night in San Francisco really jams (acoustic tune with Paco Delucia & John McLaughlin). It's recorded live and it really makes you feel it.

Normanality

John K. wrote:

Gene, my own listening is almost entirely classical and among the more colorful items that are especially impressive on good equipment are The Planets, Symphonic Poems , and Hungarian Dances.

Been looking for some decent classical to try on my LSi 15's. Thanks!
I heard a track by Jarre Live in Warsaw that was primarily male vocals
singing what sounded like an old Russian/Polish perhaps song. I believe
the title was "Tribute to Mury". The vocals and harmonies were inspiring!
I wish I could find more like it.

Driver

has any one heard peter gabrile's play (dvd), i mean this has one of the best 5.1 (in dts) mixes i have listened to in a long time, im not a real big fan but this really sounds outstanding and its worth a listen:) im sure it will sound good on any system

cmy330go

aaharvel wrote:

Garbage freaking rocks! My Ex burned me a CD of their best cuts last xmas. Best gift she ever gave me. :cool:

Holydoc wrote:

Aaharvel,

So your ex gave you garbage? Sounds like the story of my life. All I ever got from my ex was garbage too.

Looks like your still one up Holydoc. Aaharvel got BURNED garbage!

John K.

Right, Norm, there's a whole world of great music(I have about a thousand classical CDs)waiting for us out there if we just give a listen. I just listed a few inexpensive but high quality items(free shipping if over $20 from Tower)which should have wide appeal; of course there's lots more .

eugene65

Excellent, I am really getting some really good advise from this thread. Thanks everyone. Ok i have one for you guys, Sonny Boy Williamson More Real folk blues series. The harmonica gives your tweeters a workout and sounds great. This series could be at your public library. It was at mine. Also a new one, Katie Melua Piece by Piece sounds pretty darn good on my system.She does a cover of a Cure song, with a Jazz band. I like the production on the Garbage cd, have it on now.

Driver

if you guys like a bit of jazz, steely dan's two against nature (dvd) has a full range of sound, the music has been recorded live at one of the sony studio stages,(i think) anyway who cares where is been recorded as these guys are soooooooo tight. they dont miss a beat. the only annoynig thing though is that they talk between tracks, but you can always hit the ff button.

heiney9

These are just off the top.....

Jewel-Spirit great vocals that can really test the coloration of mid-range on system. It seems hard to get her voice to sound just right.

J.Mclaughlin/A.DiMeola/P.DeLucia-One Night In San Francisco This disc is awesome just for the playing. Three acoustic guitars dueling each other in an unplugged live environment. The spatial cues and soundstage cues from this cd are breath taking if your system is up to it. The playing is beyond phenomenal.

Talking Heads-Stop Making Sense great analog to digital transfer; want to know what the terms sense of rhythm and pace mean? listen to this cd; very open and dynamic;i t shows what can be done with a top notch analog recording if the engineers leave their damn hands off twiddle knobs!

GRP-Live in Session some great jazz musicians from an all digital label that cared to get it right. This is a group of the label musicians live in the studio. The 1:45 drum workout is fantastic. Maybe not the most realistic recording in that toms pan left to right, an obvious studio trick that would not happen in real life. But the impact of the drums should make the hair on the back of your head stand-up. The tone and timbre of each tom should be distinct and different.

Erin McKeown-Grand her music is described as folksy pop or quirky folk. I first heard her on NPR. She is a young singer/song writer with unusual pop/folk sensibilities that touch on country/pop/folk/bluegrass and occasionally big band era influences. Top notch production and a very pretty voice make this a great listen every time.

Dave Brubeck-Time Out Classic in every sense of the word. Unique time signatures, great production and timeless music. Every system I've owned/auditioned has had this played on it. Get it period.

Billy Cobham-Spectrum Generally acclaimed as fusion’s best drummer. Has explosive technique, amazing dexterity, jazz complexity with r-n-r aggression. generally high-quality compositions make this fusion set a standout, a strong mixture of rock-ish rhythms and jazz improvising. Great fun!

Holly Cole Trio-Best Of Acoustic bass, light drum rhythms and a spectacular jazz voice. Great listening and can be very demanding of a system. The simplicity is deceptive and a lesser system will falter.

The Who-Live at Leeds Three words….Drums….Drums….Drums. Great dynamics and elements of the rock opera style the Who did so well in the early days. Turned up it should be like you are right there!

Led Zeppelin-In Through The Out Door A production masterpiece giving glimpses of where the band may have been heading. Top notch recording listen for the songs All Of My Love and Fool In The Rain.

H9

Tritonman

Any Cafe Del Mar cd.

Driver

i was just wondering if you guys could put me in the right direction for some really good electronica music, not the cheezy sort, more on the lines kraftwerk, and tangerine dream, i would appreciate any suggestions thanks:)

PolknPepsi

Driver wrote:

really good electronica music

Animusic
It is computer/synthesizer music and comes as a music cd or dvd, cool stuff.
www.animusic.com

mhardy6647

That kind of thing is not my bag, baby, but Tool's "Lateralus" is pretty cool sounding on the big hi-fi at our house. My son's CD, not mine, you see...

eugene65

For electronic music, check out stuff by Jean Jarre also Aphex Twins.

cmy330go

Not into electronica but you might try www.cdbaby.com they have a lot of cool independant artists. Plus they are great to deal with!

Edit: On most albums you can actually listen to a full 2 minute clip of each song!

Driver

thanks guys for the suggestions, i'll try some out. cheers:)

scottnbnj

if you haven't done anything with crosstalk cancelation yet, in addition to hardware like polk, carver and lexicon, there are recordings. i have a few that use qsound:

http://www.qsound.com/2002/spotlight/main2a-2.asp

the strongest of the qsounds i own is mars laser "the eleventh hour". for imaging qualities, there's just nothing in my music collection that comes close to this one.

)

markmarc

Dan Fogelberg- River of Souls: A very cleanly layered recording, instrument placement is outstanding.

James Taylor- October Road: Intimate, smooth and sweet.

Supertramp- Even in the Quietest Moments: Underrated, and superbly recorded for the time.

Joe Jackson: Body and Soul: Recorded "live" on an actual stage, the imaging is near breath-taking.

Bonnie Raitt: Nick of Time: Soulful, a great album for monitors

_______________________________________________________________________
Audio Listening:
Adcom 535 amp
HK AVR75 used as a preamp
HK FL8450 CD Player
Infinity Kappa 200

Home Theater:
HK AVR 75 Receiver
Polk RTi35 L, R, & Center

sda2mike

my favorite, for now SDA recording: Mark Knopfler...Sailing to Philadelphia
the layering of the instruments as far as their physical space is truly a trip. also, the background vocals are so clear, you can almost picture a trio of singers in front of the mic...a masterpiece recording, imo

SWFalken

The opening track on Wynton Marsalis' album Blue Interlude is very revealing. The upright bass will show how good or how lacking your low end definition is and the trumpet later in the cut is very resonant and will show you how much breakup or cohesion you have in your upper mid-range. And it's just a really good album to sit back and enjoy if you like good long form acoustic jazz.

Holydoc

I just bought the Blue Man Group Audio DVD after the recommendations of the Outlaw Audio forum (http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000045).

I am not typically too thrilled about men painting up their faces and banging on PVC pipes, but I have to admit this DVD is amazing. Not only does it splendidly show off the surround around effect of your system but there are some drum sounds that basically shake your house from the LFE.

reeltrouble1

Jonatha Brooke--either the DVD-A or the CD

Great artist

mhardy6647

ooh, I like Jonatha Brooke/The Story.... Jennifer Kimball (her former singing partner), too!

reeltrouble1

oops, I have Jonatha Brooke--Steady Pull, she definetely has it going on, great musician, she plays several instruments, her band grooves and well she has a tush that just doesn't quit.

RT1