10 "alternative" audiophile recordings?

[RunOutGroove]

So, Tracy Chapman "Fast Cars" is the best apparently.

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The question I was asking in my original post here was about what music do people really enjoy that sounds great to them on their system. I was really trying to buck the whole idea of certain music as a means to "test" one's system. I guess that there must be some audiophiles who simply collect music that's the common stuff which has been blessed by the audiophile community to test their gear with, but I'm really asking about music that's outside of that, stuff that people actually enjoy listening to rather simply what they've been fed with claims of some kind of perfect production that's going to show off how great (or how weak) their expensive gear is.

 

[Mr Boochie]

But I'm really asking about music that's outside of that, stuff that people actually enjoy listening to rather simply what they've been fed with claims of some kind of perfect production that's going to show off how great (or how weak) their expensive gear is.

I agree. Several of these "test the equipment sessions," which I've been to, have a pattern. Impressive setups in an environment not even close to my home.

Then the guys are talking for several minutes about how great this is going to sound. Kind of shaping what you should be hearing, before you hear it. Pre-biasing you. You know, "listen for the tight bass and the brilliant high notes of the flute."

They play something most listeners are not familiar with. Afterward, the hosts will tell you why you should like it. Using all kinds of fancy terms. You almost feel like you have to agree, or look dumb.

The best sessions are the ones where you can take your own LPs or CDs to play.

I don't attend these things anymore.

 

[RunOutGroove]

I agree. Several of these "test the equipment sessions," which I've been to, have a pattern. Impressive setups in an environment not even close to my home.

Then the guys are talking for several minutes about how great this is going to sound. Kind of shaping what you should be hearing, before you hear it. Pre-biasing you. You know, "listen for the tight bass and the brilliant high notes of the flute."

They play something most listeners are not familiar with. Afterward, the hosts will tell you why you should like it. Using all kinds of fancy terms. You almost feel like you have to agree, or look dumb.

The best sessions are the ones where you can take your own LPs or CDs to play.

I don't attend these things anymore.

For me (and I have to qualify that, as everyone comes to this from a different place) the gear is really all about making my music collection sound great. Music for me is a whole world that I step into and isn't simply a means for testing my gear, but more that gear exists for it. I was trying to get a feel of people's personal taste, rather than what they simply feel has amazing sonic properties to test their gear with. I do understand that if the task at hand is testing gear that it might be useful to have some kind of "standard audiophile music" that most people know in order to have a basis to work from. I'm not talking about that kind of thing though, I'm asking about after you've done the testing, what music you put on to actually enjoy, that you feel some connection to the artist beyond simply being a vehicle to test gear.

 

[No Money]

The question I was asking in my original post here was about what music do people really enjoy that sounds great to them on their system. I was really trying to buck the whole idea of certain music as a means to "test" one's system. I guess that there must be some audiophiles who simply collect music that's the common stuff which has been blessed by the audiophile community to test their gear with, but I'm really asking about music that's outside of that, stuff that people actually enjoy listening to rather simply what they've been fed with claims of some kind of perfect production that's going to show off how great (or how weak) their expensive gear is.

I agree with you. I take music I like and know well when I test out stuff. A lot of the standard stuff people recomend is music I don't much like.
Jazz at the Pawn Shop? Nah, not for me. Queen? Nope.
Tracy Chapman, I do like and I suspect it going to get added to my list which goes from Bach to the Butthole Surfers via John Coltrane and Moondog among others. I thougt it was interesting the explanation why Fast Cars was such a good example. There are other songs with a similar vibe that likely do as well.

An experiance with audio snobery, I was buying some gear once and the guy in the shop told me I was listening to rubbish that was an insult to the system. I still bought the gear, (a set of Rega speakers), just elsewhere.

 

[RunOutGroove]

I agree with you. I take music I like and know well when I test out stuff. A lot of the standard stuff people recomend is music I don't much like.
Jazz at the Pawn Shop? Nah, not for me. Queen? Nope.
Tracy Chapman, I do like and I suspect it going to get added to my list which goes from Bach to the Butthole Surfers via John Coltrane and Moondog among others. I thougt it was interesting the explanation why Fast Cars was such a good example. There are other songs with a similar vibe that likely do as well.

An experiance with audio snobery, I was buying some gear once and the guy in the shop told me I was listening to rubbish that was an insult to the system. I still bought the gear, (a set of Rega speakers), just elsewhere.

My point is that there's just so much much out that that's not only great art, but is recorded really well too. Enough that the idea that there should be some kind of short list of "greatest recorded music" seems silly to me. One ought to be able to find really great recordings that have that "wow factor" in just about any genre of music that they have a connection to.

I don't know if the guy at this stereo shop was objecting to your musical taste or the recording quality of the music you brought along. It shouldn't matter though as buying audio gear is really all about choosing something that you like the sound of when playing the music that you care about. I would argue that even lesser well recorded stuff is worth demoing because you might own a lot of music like that and if a system doesn't sound decent with that stuff, it's not worth buying, I certainly enjoy listening to music that's been really well recorded and produced, which has a really wide spacial quality to it, but I also enjoy lots of records that have a rougher recording quality. I wouldn't want to miss out on otherwise great music just because it wasn't recorded in some really expensive studio and sounds like it could compete with DSOTM...

 

[Mr Boochie]

Sounds like it could compete with DSOTM...

You know, because a certain annoying guy I knew played that album all the time, talked about it all the time, and said it was the Holy Grail of ALL records... I have never listened to it in 30 years.

This is the other one he played to death. Never again.

 

[Dudeman7]

Pretty much every Tool album.

Pretty much every Mark Knopfler album.

Pretty much every Radiohead album.

Some artists have the ability to make an entire album seem like one cohesive piece of music, rather than an assortment of different songs. Those artists also tend to have a good ear for fidelity, in my experience.

Also, Tracy Chapman is incredible!

 

[No Money]

My point is that there's just so much much out that that's not only great art, but is recorded really well too. Enough that the idea that there should be some kind of short list of "greatest recorded music" seems silly to me. One ought to be able to find really great recordings that have that "wow factor" in just about any genre of music that they have a connection to.

I don't know if the guy at this stereo shop was objecting to your musical taste or the recording quality of the music you brought along. It shouldn't matter though as buying audio gear is really all about choosing something that you like the sound of when playing the music that you care about. I would argue that even lesser well recorded stuff is worth demoing because you might own a lot of music like that and if a system doesn't sound decent with that stuff, it's not worth buying, I certainly enjoy listening to music that's been really well recorded and produced, which has a really wide spacial quality to it, but I also enjoy lots of records that have a rougher recording quality. I wouldn't want to miss out on otherwise great music just because it wasn't recorded in some really expensive studio and sounds like it could compete with DSOTM...

Yes, and yes.

I love a lot of stuff on the Flying Nun label, often recorded in peoples front rooms on a four track, or Arnie van Bussel's very basic 16 track studio. Boring Side of the, opps, sorry DSOTM it aint. I know a great recording isn't the be all and end all, but I do wish some Sun Ra recordings didn't sound like a microphone at the far end of an airplane hanger ...

As to the guy in the stereo shop, he objected to some of the albums I bought in for not being what people who "know anything about music" would listen to. Surprisingly his shop lasted about four years.

 

[afx80]

So, Tracy Chapman "Fast Cars" is the best apparently.

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That is a great sounding album as this song also demonstrates well.

 

[Gigantic]

My point is that there's just so much much out that that's not only great art, but is recorded really well too. Enough that the idea that there should be some kind of short list of "greatest recorded music" seems silly to me. One ought to be able to find really great recordings that have that "wow factor" in just about any genre of music that they have a connection to.

I don't know if the guy at this stereo shop was objecting to your musical taste or the recording quality of the music you brought along. It shouldn't matter though as buying audio gear is really all about choosing something that you like the sound of when playing the music that you care about. I would argue that even lesser well recorded stuff is worth demoing because you might own a lot of music like that and if a system doesn't sound decent with that stuff, it's not worth buying, I certainly enjoy listening to music that's been really well recorded and produced, which has a really wide spacial quality to it, but I also enjoy lots of records that have a rougher recording quality. I wouldn't want to miss out on otherwise great music just because it wasn't recorded in some really expensive studio and sounds like it could compete with DSOTM...

yeah, my list more or less fits this rubric. I like it, it's recorded very well and that combination of familiarity, enjoyment and fidelity, I find more compelling than many of the standard audiophile test tracks. Don't get me wrong, I love Steely Dan's Aja, but I just can't get into Dianna Krall. If I wanted to hear an middle of the road artist who was talented, but came from a well-off upbringing and never experienced any suffering to inform her art, I'd just call up my ex wife and let her prattle on. A selection of music that reflects my personal taste and experience just hits better, even if it wasn't produced by Alan Parsons or Gary Katz; more contemporary engineers and producers like John McEntire, Steve Albini, Brad Wood and Jim O'Rourke take a different approach that in many cases hits harder than the more clinical production from the 70's that older audiophiles gravitate to.

 

[RVT1K]

Although I only have the digital album that I downloaded, I think Mettavolution by Rodrigo y Gabriela was very well done. It's one of those recordings that makes my stereo sound fantastic.

 

[JyriK]

I test the gear with music that I enjoy. What's the point of doing otherwise?

 

[GlamrLama]

I test the gear with music that I enjoy. What's the point of doing otherwise?

Yup. The songs I test any new setup of mine or of friends are all songs that I have heard 100s if not 1000s of times.

 

[KeninDC]

Donald Fagen's Nightfly. I kid because this is on every audiophile's list.

The only audiophile Stones album is Black and Blue. Original US LP sounds best. On digital, the latest Steven Wilson remaster is sweet.

I recently picked up an original Coyote Records LP of The Feelies' The Good Earth. Great sound.

 

[bhairavi]

I just have a couple go to tracks, because I'm most interested in tone/frequency response.

Weezer - Say it Aint So shows me how much separation there is and what the mid/upper bass is like
Cloudkicker - YHWH shows me how smooth it can sound with something relatively busy

 

[justin_r_23]

Off-the-beaten path:

Art of Noise, “In Visible Silence” - the non-Max Headroom version of “Paranoimia” has some lovely odd bits in it.
Art of Noise, “The Seduction of Claude DeBussy”
Juno Reactor, “Beyond the Infinite” — “Razorback” has a high-frequency tone in it that used to drive me nuts, but now I can barely hear it.
Juno Reactor, “Bible of Dreams” - “Children of the Night”
Front 242, “Tyranny < For You >”
Skinny Puppy, “The Process”
Orbital, “In Sides” - “The Girl with the Sun in Her Head” (panning heartbeats to start, swoon)
Underworld, “Second Toughest in the Infants”
Mono (Japan), “One Step More and You Die”
Mono (Japan), “Oath”

 

[GlamrLama]

Off-the-beaten path:

Art of Noise, “In Visible Silence” - the non-Max Headroom version of “Paranoimia” has some lovely odd bits in it.
Art of Noise, “The Seduction of Claude DeBussy”
Juno Reactor, “Beyond the Infinite” — “Razorback” has a high-frequency tone in it that used to drive me nuts, but now I can barely hear it.
Juno Reactor, “Bible of Dreams” - “Children of the Night”
Front 242, “Tyranny < For You >”
Skinny Puppy, “The Process”
Orbital, “In Sides” - “The Girl with the Sun in Her Head” (panning heartbeats to start, swoon)
Underworld, “Second Toughest in the Infants”
Mono (Japan), “One Step More and You Die”
Mono (Japan), “Oath”

The r_23 in your username tells me you might have more Skinny Puppy recordings in your off the beaten path collection. Brap on!

 

[RunOutGroove]

You know, because a certain annoying guy I knew played that album all the time, talked about it all the time, and said it was the Holy Grail of ALL records... I have never listened to it in 30 years.

This is the other one he played to death. Never again.

I do like DSOTM but that album is unfortunately so overplayed that I don't need to hear it again. I don't like The Wall at all though and have really been getting into the band's pre-DSOTM stuff, which had a very different kind of vibe to the stuff that got mega-popular later, at least to my ears. I get the whole thing of being told that something is great by far too many people. That was really my experience with Rush. They were really at the height of their popularity growing up and as someone who was just starting out on drums at that time, I got sick of hearing Neil Peart's name every time anyone learned that I played drums. I went after a very different kind of thing than Peart, though these days I can recognize his genius and appreciate the band a bit, but not enough to have ever picked up any their records. Even as a kid, I was attracted to more odd, obscure kinds of things...

Yes, and yes.

I love a lot of stuff on the Flying Nun label, often recorded in peoples front rooms on a four track, or Arnie van Bussel's very basic 16 track studio. Boring Side of the, opps, sorry DSOTM it aint. I know a great recording isn't the be all and end all, but I do wish some Sun Ra recordings didn't sound like a microphone at the far end of an airplane hanger ...

As to the guy in the stereo shop, he objected to some of the albums I bought in for not being what people who "know anything about music" would listen to. Surprisingly his shop lasted about four years.

I have just a few things from that NZ scene, but all pretty good stuff: a Flying Nun comp and some albums by The Chills, The Clean and David Kligour. I Like the vibe of this stuff, but really need to spend more time with it. The first I heard of any of it was seeing David Kligour open up for Yo La Tengo (one of my favorites) some years ago and I really dug the kind of thing that he does.

yeah, my list more or less fits this rubric. I like it, it's recorded very well and that combination of familiarity, enjoyment and fidelity, I find more compelling than many of the standard audiophile test tracks. Don't get me wrong, I love Steely Dan's Aja, but I just can't get into Dianna Krall. If I wanted to hear an middle of the road artist who was talented, but came from a well-off upbringing and never experienced any suffering to inform her art, I'd just call up my ex wife and let her prattle on. A selection of music that reflects my personal taste and experience just hits better, even if it wasn't produced by Alan Parsons or Gary Katz; more contemporary engineers and producers like John McEntire, Steve Albini, Brad Wood and Jim O'Rourke take a different approach that in many cases hits harder than the more clinical production from the 70's that older audiophiles gravitate to.

I'm with you on Diana Krall and other stuff of that ilk. Well recorded and very well performed music, but there's something about it that's a bit too safe for me. Alan Parsons to my mind was that kind of music back the 80s. I had friends who dug it, but I never understood the appeal. I do like some albums he produced for Pink Floyd, though even then, those aren't the ones that I listen to most. I really enjoy some records that John McEntire and Jim O'Rourke have been involved with. In fact, I recently saw a show of Tortoise, with John McEntire and it reminded me of why I like that band so much. I discovered them back in the 90s and got really into them as well as other stuff from that scene, mostly on the Thrill Jockey label. I wasn't someone who was much into grunge or the whole Alt-rock thing, but I liked the fact that there were other scenes apart from the big one in Seattle that were making music which seemed like a whole different world.

 

[Mr Boochie]

The only Pink Floyd I play on the table these days is "Meddle." I like One Of These Days.

 

[mcgjohn]

If a person looks beyond the shores of the US, there are tons of audiophile options released in Japan that were not offered anywhere else. Extra hot lacquer cuts, lacquers cut at 45 RPM, direct to disc recordings.