# Andy's Demo Suggestions



## 14642

OK, someone suggested I do this in another thread, so here are some demo recommendations from me. I tend to use music that I'm connected to for evaluation, rather than what I consider to be soulless audiophile recordings. Anyway, If you asked me to listen to your car, I'd probably choose some of these:

1. Nightingale, Norah Jones
2. Chocolate Jesus, Tom Waits
3. The Incident, Porcupine Tree
4. Slave Called Shiver, Porcupine Tree
5. Ancient Highway, Van Morrison
6. Days of Rock and Roll, Van Morrison
7. Piety Street, John Scofield--I recommend the entire album
8. Big Blue Ball, Big Blue Ball
9. I will Rise Up, Lyle Lovett
10. Ode to Billy Joe, Patricia Barber
11. Flyin' Shoes, Lyle Lovett
12. Grooveyard, Freekbass (this is another entire album recommendation)
13. Norwegian Wood, Kurt Elling
14. New Boss, Bernie Worrell
15. Bass on the Line, Bernie Worrell
16. River; The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock (the entire album)
17. Chitlins Con Carne, Stevie Ray Vaughn
18. Beau Jocque Makes You Jump, Beau Jocque
19. Old Love (Unplugged), Eric Clapton
20. Can't Find My Way Home, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden

Maybe that'll get you started. I'll add more as I think of them.


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## injunwiz

I use Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe. LOTS of ranges: base, piano, acoustic guitar, cymbals, crisp vocals even a gong! Check out a clip from Youtube just to hear the ranges... they only made one album.


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## evilspoons

I've never "evaluated" a car stereo, but when I was auditioning living room speakers (before settling on my Totem Rainmakers) I used:

Radiohead - In Rainbows (can't remember the exact tracks)
Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits (Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Say You Love Me)
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (Blue Rondo a la Turk, Take Five)
Junior Boys - It's All True (Second Chance, ep)

In spite of being mostly awful, Nickelback's All the Right Reasons is refreshingly well-recorded.


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## oca123

19. Old Love (Unplugged), Eric Clapton
20. Can't Find My Way Home, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden

YES.
I have a friend (who doesn't go online much) who uses the Eagles a lot for demos.


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## Bayboy

1. Natty Stick- Andy Narrell

2. Iguana- Ray Obedio

3. Tribute To Art- Will Calhoun

4. Winter Creeper- Paul Mccandless

5. Hemisphere- Reso


Lots of others I use to audition with, but those are the mainstays.


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## DAT

Come on Andy, i have all of those- give me something new to go out and buy...


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## ou812

+1 for Porcupine Tree. Steve Wilson's solo work is great as well.


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## bbfoto

Andy,

This is AWESOME! Thank you for taking the time to post these for me and everyone here.


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## 07azhhr

DAT said:


> Come on Andy, i have all of those- give me something new to go out and buy...


 
And here I was thinking "wow...I have never heard any of those knowingly". There are maybe 3 that I think I have heard at one time or another but never had a clue who they were lol.


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## Thumper26

Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. I got chills listening to it yesterday.

I discovered 'Lady Marmalade' from Moulon Rouge Soundtrack is a great track too. Lots of dynamics, multiple good vocals, etc.

Alice in Chains unplugged is good.

Any of the old Dave Matthews Band albums were done really well, Crash, Under the table, Before These Crowded Streets. I like BTCS bc Alanis Morrisette does vocals with Dave on Don't Drink the Water.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's album 'Howl' is great. I love 'Devi's Awaitin'. Just male vocal and acoustic guitar.

If you have a copy of Ozzy's Tribute album, listen to 'Dee'. It's a studio outtake of Randy recording an instrumental piece in the studio. Lots of detail, and is really pretty. If your system is together, you can hear and understand what the guy in the sound booth is saying when he talks to Randy.

Great choice on Nora Jones, I'm a big fan of hers. Her album 'Featuring...' is her doing duets with a ton of different people on there, Willy Nelson, Ray Charles, Outkast, etc.


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## sirbOOm

If a stereo can't play Lana Del Rey songs (especially Blue Jeans, Summertime Sadness, and Cola), then it's trash, in my mind. This woman's voice and the tone of the music behind her requires a level of consistency in the mid-range that has taxed the most expensive home audio equipment I've tested. Different environment, no doubt, but she's my test mule (and, let's face it, my ideal woman -- assuming she's not a huge bizach in real life!). I'd also suggest Amel Larrieux. She is great for testing the overall range of a system - bass through highs - and her voice will expose tweeters that are too harsh as her voice is extremely airy at times... you want to hear this, not be annoyed by it. Finally, and I hate to say this, but if I'm going to test a stereo for its ability to give me a jam session (though I would not listen to this song during such), it'd be Nickelback's "Something in Your Mouth". I look to this song to see if I can distort the whole set up playing low-tone guitars, raspy sounds, and heavy bass while still clearly reproducing the backgound vocals, which, IMO, were recorded with too little gain - hard to hear on the average set-up at times. Give those a try and let me know why I'm nuts!


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## Sonus

Harry Connick Junior - Here comes the big parade
Morphine
Tool
Jennifer Warnes - The hunter
Peter Gabriel


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## jpeezy

Tabla beat science, lot of different instruments, high to low, another two discs that are cool,if you can find them (amazon) is by the Telarc label, the group is spies, the first one was"music for espionage" and the second was "by way of the world" the second one has a lot of panning left to right, and the first track you have to turn up fairly high to hear the really low level detail that is hidden, you also be treated to I think pretty close to single digit low frequencies, it is only for a few seconds but wow it is cool, there are alot of systems that might not pick it up if they are not very efficient at the very bottom of the scale.


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## pjhabit

Nice list! Great to see Tom Waits on there...he has quite a few nice recordings.


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## ccapil

My few songs that sound really good:

Michael Jackson - Man in the mirror
Mariah Carey - love takes time
Beyonce - Halo

Just the first few that I played on my new setup. All songs mentioned are recorded very well and have good bass and instruments. You will fond most older songs have high crest factor and are very dynamic.


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## _Nomad_

Stuart Smith - "When The Blues Catch Up To You"


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