Great record, but not a good recording.
King’s Lead Hat by Brian Eno. Great song with a lot going on.
Fanfare for the Common Man
“Hero of the Day,” Metallica
I’ll second that. I had the pleasure of seeing the Holly Cole Trio in a small club on the tour for that album, so I know how accurately the recording duplicates the sound of these brilliant performers.
There is a tradition among audiophiles of the need to “calibrate their ears” - if they are gathered for a trade show, they’ll go out at night to a jazz or classical concert to remember what they are trying to duplicate.
Personally I don’t believe that speakers have to be “broken in”, and would like to double-blind test this with multiple pairs of speakers and an A/B/X comparator. Some pairs would be fresh out of the box and some would be “broken in” with various types of music over various periods.
Chuck Mangione.
Land of Make Believe.
Loud.
Speak to Me / Breathe – Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
(I suggest the remastered CD version found in the Shine On box set.)
Anthem by the Wildhearts because it has this unexpected sonic boom-type effect (the first one is at 1:07) that most speakers can’t reproduce for shite. I’ve only ever heard it as it was “supposed” to sound on one set of speakers at an audiophile friend’s house. And it was cooo-ooool. Too bad the rest of the album sounds like it has the 5:15 express train to Glasgow dubbed over it.
Anything by the Chili Peppers. (Preferably Dani California or maybe Storm in a Teacup.)
It has a limited vocal and dynamic range, but it covers the speaking ability and ear-worm tests:
