Whats your current Reference CD at the moment?


Hi folks!
Just was wondering what are people`s current Reference CD or Cds they have at the moment that they love playing and or to show off their system to others??? :)
hifijunkieoz
Hugh Masakela - Hope
Keb Mo - Peace ..Back By Popular Demand
Antonio Forcione - Tears of Joy
Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues Alley

Love the albums and they are great sounding CDs.
Lou Reed -- Perfect Night in London.

Excellent recording technology that Stereotimes reviewed and gushed over.
To show off bass and dynamic
Poem Of Chinese Drum - Master Of Chinese Percussion

To show off vocal
Flying Cowboys, Rickie Lee Jones
The Best Of Bonnie Raitt

To show off piano dynamic
Midnight Sugar

To show off violin
Selections from The Miracle Makers

To show off pipe organ
Antiphone Blues

To show off scale and symphony
A Dark Knight - The Dark Knight Soundtrack

To show off a little bit of everything
FIM Audiophile Reference IV
Chesky CD31, Dvorak's "New World Symphony," The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jascha Horenstein (recorded in 1962, which you won't believe if you hear it!).

Sheffield Lab, Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf (I have it on the original direct-to-disk LP, but it is presently available on CD).

Sheffield Lab, "The Sheffield Track Record" (ditto re LP & CD).

Regards,
-- Al
I always take some poorly recorded CD's, too. Some essential music isn't available as a good recording and it is nice to know if new equipment makes it unbearable to listen to. It can infuriate salespeople because they of course frequently stack the deck with their own outstanding demo CD's to make their stuff sound great. The real world isn't as peachy as stereo shops and it is nice to know what you're getting into rather than be unpleasantly surprised after plunking down your dollars.
Tpreaves,

You forgot to include a silky, smooth female vocalist.
May I suggest Yoko Ono?

;-)
Instruments:

Dave Grusin - Two for the Road

Great recording values, wide range of instrumentation and Diana Krall doing vocals on two songs.

Vocals:
Linda Ronstadt- Heart Like a Wheel

Young Linda wailing at her best
To show off:

Pop/rock
Fear of a Blank Planet - Porcupine Tree
Blue Moon Swamp - John Fogerty
The Essential Michael JAckson
The Beatles Live at the BBC (who knew some of these could actually sound very good?)

Jazz
The Classic Concert (Torme + Co.)
Black, Brown and Beige and Far East Suite (Ellington)

Classical
The Planets - Dutoit/Montreal Symphony
"Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition; Stravinsky - Three Dances from Petrouchka " (Dorian CD) Jean Guillou, organ
For Midrange and treble: Bob Dylan: Modern Life #3
For Bass: Embrya by Maxwell
Renaud Garcia-Fons "La Linea del Sur"

Jamey Johnson "That Lonesome Song"

Arturo O'Farril "Live In Brooklyn"
Diana Krall - SACD

Chris Botti - Blu Ray

Redbook - MTV "unplugged" most put you right in the performance. Outstanding.
Kate McGarry - 'Mercy Streets' (Great vocals)

Hope Waits - 'Hope Waits' (Blues with an edge...great sonics)

Clifford Jordan - 'Live at Ethell's' (As good as a "you are there" recording as you'll likely to find)
The very rare Romper Room series is where I go for my reference. This is only one, but the whole series is great - a real test of a system's musical prowess! Unfortunately LP's only, but you could transfer them with the right tools.
Cat Power- Jukebox

This a covers album which is recorded in a very intimate setting. Plenty of nuance and sound stage. A very tangible recording!
An old Reference Recording by Dr. Johnson; "The Age of Swing" superb recording; great jazz.
Jax2- I think you're onto something- but I'm betting Miss Connie isn't quite so hot these days.
Paul Kelly, May 1992 and his recent 118 song downloadable librabry called A - Z. Also like Neil Young's Eldorado.
Corrine Bailey Rae Self Titled-Female Vocals
Beth Orton Comfort Of Strangers-Female Vocals
Ryan Adams Heartbreaker-Male Vocals
Jeff Buckley Grace-Male Vocals
Jazz At The Pawnshop-Soundstage and Depth
TV On The Radio Dear Science- Dynamics and Bass Response
Eagles Hell Freezes Over-Live Performance
Greatful Dead Reckoning-Live Performance
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light Till Dawn - esp. tracks 8 and 9.

Jesse Cook - Gravity

Dave Brubeck - take Five
If you're 80, she's still hot.

That'd make her a GMILF. That's going to keep some guys wide awake tonight!
Also, Radiohead KID A which was voted as album of the decade by Rolling Stone.
The last CD I bought with really notable sound quality was Allen Toussaint's "The Bright Mississippi". These days, it seems like I find maybe one a year worth noting.

Marty
If we're talking strictly CD's (no LP's) then my list would have to be:
Jennifer Warnes - The Well
Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales
Supertramp - Some Things Never Change
Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida - Moonlight Serenade
Just a few that I have been using lately:

Chris Whitley - 'Perfect Day'
Tracks 1, 5, 9

Larry Carlton - 'Sapphire Blue'
Tracks 6, 8

Shawn Colvin - 'Cover Girl'
Tracks 4, 6

Patricia Barber - 'Cafe Blue'
Track 11

Queen - 'The Game' MSFL
Track 2

Crystal Method - 'Tweekend'
Track 2
Kurt Elling, Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman
dick dale - spacial disorientation. The acoustic guitar work is just gorgeous.
Alejandro Sanz...multi grammy winner, good production, tight band, live show kicked my ass in Atlanta. No es lo Mismo is the one to buy/play as it really differs in subtle to dynamic within the tracks. A mix of K. Lang songs that I compiled and burned are very realistic sounding. I like to play J L Ponty's live at semper...No absolute time is the track... and watch friends faces looked confused when they finally hear the applause and realize it is a live recording...lot's of fun.
The new Jon Hassell on ECM titled Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street...both currently AND at the moment.
Hey Guys,

Currently I am listening to a cd that I produced for a band I also manage. The name of the band is 5north and we recorded the album here on Long Island in a pretty decent studio. All of the tracks were recorded using Pro Tools with using some GOOD equipment. We wanted to keep it simple going in and add flavor afterwards. One acoustic song we recorded analog then into Pro Tools, you can actually here a fault in the tape reel, which I think is awesome. 5north is an alternative rock band but they do have a softer side. The cd was master at Sterling by Justin Shturtz who is Ted's right hand man. I love to send out a few copies or I could send over some WAV files for opinions I am very curious to see what real people think. Friends and Family of course say its great but this forum will be the true test :)

just shoot me a message, if interested.

Thanks Guys and enjoy, new Sade is coming out next week.
Currently I am using these
Redbook
-We Get Requests-Oscar Peterson K2HD LIM
-At The Blue Note- Keith Jarrett ECM
-Harry Belefonte At Carnegie Hall Hugo LPD45
-Master of Chinese Percussion K2HD LIM
SACD
-Brothers in Arms-Dire Straits
-Monty meets Sly and Robbie-Telarc
-Kind of Blue- Davis
-Something Else-Cannonball Adderley
-Triodion Avro Part Hyperion
-Tumbleweed Connection Elton John