Hi jwr ..
How did this thread sit for a month before getting any replies??
This would be a compilation disk, obviously. Love these for checking out liveliness, life-likeness, separation, dispersion, transient detail .. duh, resistance to breakup nodes etc. Plus, for me, reference pieces Must be complex, enriching, ... Pretty. - Cannot stand listening to Swedish pipe organs.
To the point, without superior reference these will tend to make most systems sound 'good' .. but they have sneaky aspects that don't show up right on lesser systems, .. the artist breathing out of frame before stepping up to the mic, audience members sipping whiskey, harmonized backing vocals that simply don't show up at all on lesser setups, backing instruments that involve your space as if you're sitting with them .. not just a 2D afterthought, aspects of a song that 'leap off the page' - or Should - sparkle might be a better word .. instead of just being another noise, the length of the decay after a rhodey backstage tripped over something, some instruments that are not only highly 3D detailed and forward, but (hard to describe this) also turned about 1:30 o'clock from vertical and -then- also panned about 35 degrees - while every other instrument is in a more conventional organic space. Some of the content is overtly strenuous, but more complexly they are a death of a thousand tiny cuts.
I checked and surprisingly every one of them is on YouTube (don't use that as the source, the quality there is terrible) except I could not find that particular version of "Breathe Me". I can't cit which version it is, and indeed have no idea where I got my own copy either. If it helps, the one in question is 5:52 long .. and has ice cubes at ~1:00 minute in. Might could PM me for this one, really is extraordinary, it's right at 60 meg file size.
Ola Gjeilo - North Country II .. (often just called North Country)
Zero 7 - Warm Sound
City and Colour - We Found Each Other In The Dark
Lanterns on the Lake - You're Almost There
Lanterns on the Lake - Keep on Trying
Billy Idol - Sweet Sixteen
Toy Matinee - The Toy Matinee
Sia - I'm In Here (Piano Vocal Version)
Sia - Breathe Me .. [if there's no cheering and ice cubes clinking it's the wrong one]
Dire Straits - Your Latest Trick
The Wallflowers - God Says Nothing Back (Demo)
Zero 7 - Destiny
Brian Crain - Earth
Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Mike and the Mechanics - Par Avion ..['the only subwoofer-busting song with crickets']
Philip Glass - Metamorphosis One
The Shins - New Slang
Steve Miller Band - Winter Time
Greg Brown - Waiting On You
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah ( 'Official Video' version) ..[As someone at the recording said: Wow. - Dead at 30.]
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.. Could do this all day. Glad I caught your post, it's been too long since I've heard some of these.
