Your personal "reference" recordings?

[Les Adams]

We all have our own “reference" recordings I guess. These are the records or CD’s we pull out every time we make an adjustment or buy something new for our systems. We also reach for them when we want to impress guests - or simply to remind ourselves of how sweet our system sounds and yes, it WAS worth spending all that money! These are the recordings that we already know sound great but wonder if they hold anything else deep down in the mix that a new set of cables or a tweak here and there might reveal!


My “reference" recordings are:

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Endangered Species (CD)
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill (Acoustic) (CD)
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me (CD)
Eric Clapton – Unplugged (CD)
Julia Fordham – Porcelain (CD)
Paul Simon – Graceland (Vinyl / CD)
Dianne Reeves – Never Too Far (Vinyl)
Michael Jackson – Thriller / Off The Wall (Vinyl)

The awesome close-miked Lynyrd Skynrd album is my favourite of all for both performance and recording - I love the stunningly intimate (if a bit high in the mix sometimes) vocal sound on the Nora Jones recording - I also enjoy the excellent and detailed Eric Clapton live performance (where a slight buzz on Eric’s guitar amp adds to the atmosphere just like you are in the front row) and then there are brilliant but complex mixes on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” that can sound muddy and confused on lesser systems but awesomely detailed when you get it right! For me, these recordings are representative of producers and sound engineers who are masters of their craft. Let's celebrate great producers and sound engineers by sharing our favorites!

Whilst I suggest that these are all excellent recordings IMHO, it is not intended to be a list of the "best recordings of all time!"... merely the ones that I use for reference and sound great on my system.

So what are your “reference” recordings?