Your one test track, benchmark..

[Aric M L]

I know this is a tough question but given an audio set up you are excited to hear, what would be that one first track you'd have to pop in and hear over what you hope will be a "blow you away system". The absolute first I'd play on a broken in system would be Max-o-man" By Fourplay. That track has grown to be my benchmark track by which i compare systems to each other initially. Actually this weekend I listened to it over some Watt/Puppys and it blew me away.

[JoeE SP9]

It's a toss up between Jacintha; Our Love Is Here To Stay from Here's To Ben and Holly Cole; Heatwave from Shade. Both CD's are demo quality.

[Dave_G]

Do those speakers do justice to rock music?

Never heard them but have always wanted to...

But if I had the chance I'd spin "The Chicken Farmer Song" by the Flower Kings.

Dave

[kexodusc]

Hmmm, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon SACD always comes to mind, so does Yes's Fragile DVD-A.

[richmon]

I'd go with the song I Robot off Alan Parson's I Robot album. It starts with a low growling synthisizer note, builds to a wall of swirling, rumbling, tumbling sound. Even some female vocals in here for a bit. The former Beatles/Pink Floyd engineer did a good job on the recording quality of this album. 2nd place to the last song on the album, something about Genesis/chapter/verse.

[E-Stat]

I know this is a tough question but given an audio set up you are excited to hear, what would be that one first track you'd have to pop in and hear over what you hope will be a "blow you away system".
At the expense of sounding like an old fart, my listening habits and preferences have changed considerably since I began this journey over thirty years ago. I was 15 when Fragile came out and have fond memories of cranking it on my Crown powered Double Advents. Likewise, I got DSOM when it came out one year later. Similarly, I was a big Alan Parsons Project fan starting in the 80s and have almost all his albums. Still have all of these on the original vinyl. I can play back the "I Robot" instrumental in my head having listened to it a bazillion times. I liked it's "crisp" sound that showed off fast and clean amps and speakers. The problem with all of these recordings is that they are flat as a board. There is zero depth whatsoever to any of them. Don't get me wrong - I listen to quite a bit of multitracked pop music. I just don't find them especially useful for evaluating the leading edge of audio gear.

Today, I favor more natural recordings devoid of compression, EQ, and multi-miking if I am critically evaluating gear. I listen for the subtleties of being placed in the musical venue. Windham Hill has some fine recordings of solo piano and guitar. Two favorites comes to mind: Liz Story's Wedding Rain and MIchael Hedge's Aerial Boundaries. They are staggeringly good at reproducing the event in full 3D holography. Both artists are virtuosos in their own regard. I have never heard anyone else play a guitar like Hedges. For real power music, it is difficult to compete with classical. (I got started with Emerson, Lake, & Palmer's first album) Take Carl Orff's Carmina Burana by the ASO on Telarc. It is a large scale symphonic piece with a 200 voice chorus. Wanna startle the hell out of yourself and raise the hairs on your arms with zero to 95 db dynamics? Be transformed into an enormous space of both depth and width where the walls of your room disappear? That's what blows me away today.

rw

[daigoro]

The best thing to listen to when auditioning is the stuff you listen to most of the time. First off, you know what it normally sounds like on a variety of systems. Second, it is what you will be playing most of the time on your new system unless you start getting audiophile disease and start cherry picking recordings to give your new rig a workout.

That said, I would recommend the following for good clean recordings: Dead Can Dance, Jackson Brown, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Steely Dan, Massive Attack, Diana Krall, Ray Lynch, and XTC.

[J*E*Cole]

I like a few cuts off of Pink Floyd's "The Division Bell", especially "High Hopes" for the killer 5 plus minute slide guitar solo at the end with alot of highs and lows and almost any Mark Knopfler album will do just fine, but "Sailing To Philadelphia" and it's "Speedway In Nazerath" is probably my favorite test track...

[JoeE SP9]

Do those speakers do justice to rock music?

Never heard them but have always wanted to...

But if I had the chance I'd spin "The Chicken Farmer Song" by the Flower Kings.

Dave I'm not sure if the question is directed toward me. If so I can say, I think my current rig does justice to everything. Right now I'm listening to The Allman Brothers Live At Filmore East on vinyl. Whipping Post makes me want to get up and play air guitar. I think I will.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

I know this is a tough question but given an audio set up you are excited to hear, what would be that one first track you'd have to pop in and hear over what you hope will be a "blow you away system". The absolute first I'd play on a broken in system would be Max-o-man" By Fourplay. That track has grown to be my benchmark track by which i compare systems to each other initially. Actually this weekend I listened to it over some Watt/Puppys and it blew me away.

The one I reach for first is usually "Church" by Lyle Lovett off of Joshua Judges Ruth, mostly for the soundstage specificity. Female vocals, would be "Cry Me A River" by Ella Fitzgerald from Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie, for dynamics, I like "Dooji Wooji" from Bill Hyman's From The Age of Swing, acoustic guitar (and dynamics) Doug MacLeod "Since I Left St-Louis" from Come to Find, and good ole rock & roll...the title track from Janis Ian's Breaking Silence, is the best (rock) recording I've yet heard...

[Dusty Chalk]

Well...just this past weekend, I was using the opening track to Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days, "Darkest Day". It starts out all nice and gentle-like (well, relatively), then blasts you like a brickwall coming at you at 60 MPH. The only problem is, it's HDCD, and there wasn't an HDCD decoder to be found...oh, well...

I also like "Rainbow" and "Desire" from Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden. Some nice pure tones with instruments like woodwinds, brass, harmonium, etc., but then some nice rock'n'roll distortions, like a harmonica through a guitar amp. They both have relatively sparse sections and relatively busy sections.

I'm seriously considering bumping this up to my all-time #3 spot (which is funny, because it's not even my favourite Talk Talk album...or perhaps it is?). But I rarely listen to side two. Perhaps I should?

[DiscoRage]

I know this is a tough question but given an audio set up you are excited to hear, what would be that one first track you'd have to pop in and hear over what you hope will be a "blow you away system". The absolute first I'd play on a broken in system would be Max-o-man" By Fourplay. That track has grown to be my benchmark track by which i compare systems to each other initially. Actually this weekend I listened to it over some Watt/Puppys and it blew me away.

For mids, "Over The Falls" or "Shake Hands With Beef" from Primus' Brown Album are two of my favourites. This album has such a warm sound to it, recorded in analog, and mastered so well - I'm really hoping they remaster it on SACD. "Ghost In The Machine" on SACD by The Police is also great.

For highs, I like "The Magical Flute" by Mozart. Can't really say much about it, just check it out :)

"The Package" from Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle is a must. The bass on this track is so deep and rich. When I bought my Studio 60s, it was the first thing I put on, and I'm glad I did. Because of this track, I noticed a mid in one of my new speakers was shot. There was a very distinct buzzing sound at high volume. AND it only took two months for my local Paradigm dealer to replace it :) First they ordered a Studio 60 V.3 bass driver, then they ordered a Studio 60 V.2 midrange. Two months after I bought them I received the appropriate replacement.

[C-Z]

My first cut these days is always:
Mary Black - Columbus. Great recording, excellent female vocals, sparse with lots of different instruments to key in on and easily follow (piano, upright bass, cymbals, cello, etc.), hits the whole freq. spectrum. And I never get sick of it no matter how many times I listen to it. Not sure why I like the song so much, but for some unexplained reason besides the sonics, I just do.

Lyle Lovett She's Already Changed Her Mind and North Dakota
Steve Tibbets from his album Yr

Lots of others, but this thread is entitled "...ONE test track ...", and I am over the limit already.

C-Z