My best demo albums

[Musicophile]

13 hours ago, sandyk said:

From HDTracks (I have also seen it in 24/96)

Holly Cole

 

Available in Audiophile 88kHz/24bit

• Title: Holly Cole
• Artist: Holly Cole
• Genre: Jazz, Audiophile Picks, Engineers' Picks
• Label: 2xHD
• Release Date: 2014

• Album/Track Details
• About This Album

Buy Album

Album Name	Length	Format	Sample Rate	Price
Holly Cole	43:24	AIFFALACFLACWAV	88/24	$17.98	Add to Cart

 

Buy Individual Tracks

#	Track Title	Length	Format	Sample Rate	Price
1	Waters of March	04:21		88/24	Album only
2	Alley Cat Song	04:04		88/24	Album only
3	Larger Than Life	03:39		88/24	Album only
4	Be Careful, It's My Heart	02:09		88/24	Album only
5	It's Alright With Me	03:53		88/24	Album only
6	You're My Thrill	05:47		88/24	Album only
7	Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries	03:04		88/24	Album only
8	Reaching for the Moon	04:09		88/24	Album only
9	I Will Wait for You	04:32		88/24	Album only
10	Charade	03:28		88/24	Album only
11	The House Is Haunted by the Echo of Your Last Goodbye	04:18		88/24	Album only

 

I tried the 2xHD version of Temptation and Don’t Smoke In Bed during my free trial of the Highresaudio streaming service and was quite impressed. 

[Musicophile]

5 hours ago, TheAttorney said:

 

I have only redbook files and CDs, but I did get the Analogue Productions hybrid SACD versions of Temptation and Don't Smoke in Bed. In both cases, the redbook layer of these "audiophile" remasters are better than the original, losing some hash and splash, but the difference is quite subtle, partly because the originals were pretty good to start with. I've heard bigger improvements by upgrading my hifi system. Probably the SACD layer would have been better still.

 

Continuing the thread of jazz/pop cross-over artists with demo quality recordings, two other contenders are:

 

Patricia Barber - I wasn't convinced at first, but now I love her minimalist/moody/aloof style. Based my 3-CD retrospective, no albums are more moody, or better recorded, than Modern Cool and the live Companion. If you're looking for a demo quality fretless bass solo, then go straight to the Use Me track on Companion. Her Mythologies album may well be the best recording of the lot, with some real wow moments, but I find it rather "intellectual" musically and not so easy to get into.

 

Diana Krall - The Girl in the Other Room. This is the album to get if you reckon you don't like Diana Krall. It's mostly her own compositions (co-written with hubby Elvis Costello) and a couple of modern covers. Just short of true demo status IMO because the rather hotly recorded vocals will show up any brighness in your system. But try it if only to compare Diana's sultry/sexy version of Temptation against Holly's darker, almost paranoid, interpretation. I love both versions.

 

 

Agree on Patricia Barber being very audiophile. However, her music never stuck with me.

 

The Girl In The Other Room is indeed Krall's best ever album, and I use it quite a bit for demoing as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Musicophile]

Funnily enough (or not, there seems to be some consistency in demo pieces), several of the demo tracks mentioned here I often use myself as well, be it Norah Jones (I use One Flight Down), the above mentioned Temptation by Diana Krall, So and So on Holly Cole's Don't Smoke In Bed (nice bass and finger snipping). 

 

Some other tracks that haven't been mentioned that I use quite a lot for demoing are:

 

 

 

In 24/96, although the original Redbook version I had was also quite spectacular.

 

"Twins" starts with a lot of very subtle cymbals and high-hat usage, I use this for soundstaging, and high frequency resolution (plus it's music I actually listen to).

 

 

The opening track of the St. John Passion in 24/96 (Track 4, "Herr, Unser Herrscher") is a nice test for how the system copes with a full orchestra and chorus.

 

And finally, I like the opening of Fabrizio Sotti's guitar on "Red Guitar" in the 24/96 recording of Cassandra Wilson.