Reference CD's from Classic Rock to Current Rock/Pop/Electronic (1 Viewer)

paulBAW · May 24, 2003

Just wondering what people used? I'm not looking for Jazz or classical, I'm looking for some well recorded music that is in tune with my tastes. Classic Rock, Current rock/pop/electronic. Some good CD's i've heard over the years include some very unfamiluar tittles. Coldplay's first CD is excellent. FatBoySlims "Better Living through Chemistry" is quite nice as well. Sigor Ros plays well on my two channel setup. Pink Floyds Darkside of the Moon is a very nice find on SACD. The New Police stuff on SACD is light years ahead of their old poor quality released cd's. I even Liked some of Hole's stuff on cd. Love her or Hate her, Courntey Love's voice comes through well on most of her recordings.

Wondering if anybody else had some favorites that weren't Jazz, classical oriented.

Kip Lackey · May 24, 2003

Some favs I like the sound of:

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms. Very clean and concise.
Lynyrd Skynryd - One More From the Road. Great live sound.
Van Halen - Just about any will do because Eddie's guitar
makes my speakers scream.
AC/DC - Back in Black (Remaster).
Credence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle
Boston - Third Stage
Def Leppard - Pyromania or Hysteria both rock and sound
great.

Rob Rodier · May 24, 2003

Rolling Stones on SACD

-rob

ernie.bin · May 24, 2003

this is interesting.

I took a friend to check out some studio20s and 40s today and other than one of his jazz discs, most of his electronic music sounded like crap. Everything sounded compressed, with little in the way of dynamics. Drums sounded dull and lifeless.

I own a pair of studio 60s, so I'm familar with what they can do with good music, so I wish I had brought some of my own demo discs (red hot chilli peppers - blood sugar sex magik, radiohead - ok computer) to show him how good the speakers could actually sound with some good material.

Jon_Welker · May 25, 2003

Paul,

When I was shopping for seakers a few months ago, here is the list of CD's I used:

311-311 (Down in particular)
Lenny Kravitz - 5 (Fly Away and American Woman)
The Cult - Pure Cult (greatest hits cd; She Sells Sanctuary and Fire Woman are amazing demo songs along with pretty much the entire CD)
The Chemical Brothers - Come With Us (if you really want a song that will stretch speakers in a way you never thought imagineable try the title song "Come With Us")
Marc Cohn - CD with "Walking in Memphis" on it.
BT - Movement in Still Life (Never Gonna Come Back Down)
POD - Boom (Crystal Method remix)
Morphine - Cure for Pain

Out of all of these, I'm telling you buy the Chemical Brothers cd, and test every set of speakers you listen to with the Come With Us song. It's mindbending what this song does to speakers, and the rest of the album is outstanding as well. Followed by that, definitely try The Cult CD and 311 and Marc Cohn. BTW, I ended up with some NHT T5's, with Paradigm Studio 60/100's second on my short list and B&W CDM 7NT's third.

Jon_Welker · May 25, 2003

I re-read your post, Ernie, and am getting the impression that you don't care too much for electronic music.

Lynn Little · May 25, 2003

"Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms. Very clean and concise."

Superb choice!

ernie.bin · May 25, 2003

that's not true, I just found most of the electronic music he brought to sound like crap.

It's an effect found in a lot of modern rock as well. Everything is compressed to hell and sounds it on any decent speakers.

Chris isaak's baja sessions sounds great, but his latest album just sounds like pure crap.

I am referring mainly to the audio quality and not to whether I like the music or not.

ChrisDixon · May 25, 2003

A few of my reference CDs (and what I use them to measure). All of these are great recordings:

Steely Dan: A Decade of Steely Dan (for brightness... especially the cymbals at the beginning of Hey Nineteen).

Roger Waters: Amused to Death (for imaging and sound stage - this Q sound recording is unmatched in my listening experience for room-filling 3D sound from 2 channel stereo. Listen to track three and you'll swear you have it in surround mode). Sting's Soul Cages is another good Q sound recording.

Marillion: Afraid of Sunlight Remaster (for taming boomy bass - this is a fantastic CD with lots of moody mellow tracks, but the bass on the remaster is overcooked and can especially challenge slower subs).

Dream Theater: Awake (for heavy, crunch guitar and pounding drums)

Blackmore's Night: Under a Violet Moon (for acoustic instruments and delicate female vocals - you can really hear the acoustic guitar strings pluck and bend on this one). Before you ask, yes this is Richie Blackmore of Rainbow and Deep Purple, but this group plays acoustic Renaissance folk music.

Manhattan Transfer: The Offbeat of Avenues (for vocal clarity: male, female, and harmonies).

Porcupine Tree: Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun, or In Absentia (for the whole package - these are some of the best recorded CDs in my collection).

Radiohead: Kid A and Amnesiac (for electronica stuff and imaging).

I'm sure that there are plenty more, but this is what comes to mind right now. I love music, and these kinds of threads are great. They really do belong in a hardware forum because they help to audition gear.

Chris

Jon_Welker · May 25, 2003

Ernie,

That's cool, I agree with you regarding a lot of new cd recordings. U2, for example, could do a little better job. If you want a good electronic cd, try some of the Chemical Brothers cd's, they always sound full range and vibrant. Happy listening, and have a good weekend.

Mike Fenech · May 25, 2003

Kip Lackey,

Try Skynyrd's "Endangered Species" CD. Will shock the hell out of you.

paulBAW · May 25, 2003

Hey Jon,

I listened to Chemical Brothers I come with us...your right. Its a musical explosion, although it sounded a bit bright on the Polk Audio RTi70's I had them playing on. I think I'll pickup the CD though, I like a few other songs on it. I'm still waiting on word for my Veritas or LSi9's. I hope to sink my teeth into one of those speakers very very soon...

I had totally forgotten about RadioHead, all of their stuff is well recorded. Ernie, good call with The Chilli Peppers, blood sugar sex magik. U2 has had just rancid recordings since the very early days. I have no idea what they are thinking. Maybe they don't care. I actually know people that love U2 and see them live but are audio snobs and would never buy their cd's. Anybody like FatBoySlims stuff? I like his tunes and how they sound on my current PSB's...pretty dynamic and wide stage presense. They don't sound like they are simply coming out of an MDF box. Hope to hear some more suggestions. My musical tastes are moving towards British Electronic...maybe it just my 6month phase, but I'm leaning towards that stuff. Its my "classical" that I can sit around and just have play in the background as I relax.

Jon_Welker · May 25, 2003

Paul,

I haven't really stretched my NHT's on any Fatboy music until today when I had a Memorial Day BBQ, and had a few of my mix CD's in with some Fatboy on them. Sounded pretty good. Had them playing on a Yamaha CDC-685 changer. For critical listening I use my Elite DV45A. I had Ya Mama and Gangster Tripping on my mixes, and they sounded good, but of cousrse I was about a 12 pk. of Bud Light deep. Also, on the Chemical Brothers-Come With Us CD, listen to the last song, The Test, it's jus a dang good song. I also play a lot of electronic music when working around the house and for parties. Happy listening!!!

James Edward · May 26, 2003

Re-mastered Cat Stevens:
Catch Bull At Four and Tea For The Tillerman- both recorded in excellent analog(I have the LP's) and the remastered CD's capture most of it well.

Depeche Mode: Violator- Great sound on this CD. 'Your Own Personal Jesus' is one of the top sounding loudest things I can play on my PSB Golds. Can't speak for the album as a whole though...

Taj Mahal: Senor Blues- Whole album sounds great-'Irresistable You' is unbelievable.

Chris Quinn · May 26, 2003

India.Arie--Acoustic Soul; great voice, good r& b, and various stuff sampled(?). Also, check out the DVD "Drumline" if you're a percussion fan. Even if you're not, it is a fun movie and gives your speakers a nice work out.

Dave Johnson · May 27, 2003

off the top of my head

sting - the soul cages
roger waters - amused to death
tracy chapman - telling stories
bonnie raitt - luck of the draw
arvo part - alina (classical oriented)
sean watkins - let it fall

Rich Malloy · May 27, 2003

I had totally forgotten about RadioHead, all of their stuff is well recorded. Ernie, good call with The Chilli Peppers, blood sugar sex magik.

Is it just me?

I have "OK Computer", and it borders on the unlistenable. Very congested and two-dimensional with that ugly "glare" that I tend to associate with bad CD masters.

And "blood/sugar/sex/magic" is only a bit better to my ears, though far superior to the much despised "Californication", which is sorta the current all-purpose whipping boy for over-maximized/compressed mastering (along with Santana's "Supernatural").

The best contemporary rock recording/mixing/mastering I've heard is the SACD of Beck's "Sea Change". I can't speak for the CD, though, and there may well be a big difference in mastering. Even the CD layer of the recent Pink Floyd CD/SACD hybrid was mastered too hot with "buzz cut" peaks in "Money" (both SACD layers sound phenomenal though). Someone mentioned the remaster of AC/DC's "Back in Black", but I wouldn't recommend it for this very reason... grossly over-maximized.

The Rolling Stones remasters (CD/SACD hybrids) sound really good, but "Beggar's Banquet" is the best of the bunch. "Let It Bleed" is a not too distant second.

The DCC gold discs of Joni Mitchell's "Blue" and "Court and Spark" sound phenomenal to me, but are getting a tad pricey on eBay. If you're a fan, however, these are well worth hunting down.

Generally speaking, rock and pop recordings on CD are getting the shaft these days. Hard to find any decent recordings, and almost impossible to find a decent mastering on CD. I guess these are supposed to sound "punchier" coming through the dynamic compression of FM broadcasts and the tiny dashboard speakers of most cars, but they sound like shit on a real stereo system.

Click to expand...

Dan Driscoll · May 27, 2003

Most of Elton John's albums, both CD and vinyl, have excellent sound quality, but my absolute favorite is Madman Across the Water.

John Coltrane's recordings while he was at Impulse records are also very good and the re-release of Sonny Rollins' original mono recording of Saxaphone Colossus on LP is simply superb. Toto's Hydra on LP is a very good classic rock recording, as is Neil Young's Harvest. On CD all the Supertramp albums sound great, particularly the remastered CD of Crime of the Century.

RobWil · May 27, 2003

KANSAS boxed set .... a couple mediocre recordings but overall definitely above average!
RUSH 2112 sounds great!
STEVIE RAY VAUGHN Greatist Hits is nice.
VAN HALEN overall pretty good.
ROLLING STONES Their Satanic Majesties Request SACD is very nice.
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - 2400 Fulton Street surprisingly is not bad.
All JETHRO TULL

Check out the DVD...I think it's Living From the Past or something like that....awesome!
PINK FLOYD Dark Side of the Moon

I've been very disappointed in most Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Doors, Cream and I have almost all of those. Def Leppard Greatist Hits isn't too great either.

Yo, admin!! Hey!!! Shouldn't this be in Audio/Video sources!?!?! What up?
Man!...it's hard to get good admins these days!

RobWil · May 27, 2003

Taj Mahal: Senor Blues- Whole album sounds great-'Irresistable You' is unbelievable.

DAMN!?!? How old are you? I remember seeing Taj Mahal at the Fillmore West in around 1969.
Check this out!
1st billing - Country Joe and the Fish
2nd billing - Led Zeppelin
3rd billing - Taj Mahal

That's right.....Led Zeppelin 2nd billing! That was their 1st American tour.

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