Great Music to Intro Non-Audiophiles to the Hobby

and suddenly they got it....heads spinning looking for other speakers, perplexed how there was imaging between the speakers...awesome.

My Bose can do it better.

Mountainsong,
Than I would spin Funky Abba http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcYhJhKvZ0I&feature=rellist&playnext=1&list=PL787098BA361B2EE3

Enjoy the video

Joni Mitchell / Blue. It doesn't get any more personal than this recording. You feel like she's singing to you and you only.

Cannonball Adderley / Something Else. This is a jazz album that has such cross over appeal from Miles being on it to living up to the old axiom "I't don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." well it does.

War / The World is a Ghetto. Side two of this album which features the albums title just builds and builds,layer upon layer with lee oskar's harmonica riding above it all. On an audiophile system it is majestic.

Richard Thompson / Rumor and Sigh. If there ever was a perfect album this is it,not a bad song to be found. These songs have more hooks than a fishermen's tackle box.

All these recordings were done imo to perfection and offer a person moments of what our hobby is about,reproducing the emotion in the music.

Abba and Be Gees, will not impress anyone other than Mama mia show goers!
By the way i have several audiophile gay friends and certainly dont listen to Abba period.
Play something like acoustic alchemy great hits i noticed people like smooth jazz tunes, feel good tracks.

I'd also like to second Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter" It's a fantastic, spooky-good recording... great music and Cassandra's powerful vocal performance!

Here is a handful of my favorite CD's that I use for pleasure and for doing reviews:

Ingrid Michaelson: Everybody

Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk (If, like me you don't mind Laurie's vocals it's some great well-recorded music)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: 11:11

Jack Johnson: En Concert (taken from his many live concerts)

Regina Spektor: What we Saw from the Cheap Seats (nice pop music... good piano, arrangements, and Regina's cute & dramatic vocals)

In case if you want to impress gay you should spin some Abba or Be gees tracks.

If you're just looking for something they might like to choose from (although you don't mention about how old they are) I can think of a slew of recordings on CD mostly from the 70's ('cause I'm an old fogey).

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Deluxe Edition, usually any of the DSD remasters sound good...usually)

Hot Rocks (DSD)

Al Dimeloa's Elegant Gypsy (a bunch of different remasters, most all of them good)

I Robot from Alan Parsons

Dog and Butterfly and Little Queen from Heart

Cassandra Wilson's New Moon Daughter

Romantic Warrior by Return To Forever

Frampton Comes Alive (25th Aniv, DeLuxe Edition)

Al Stewart, Year of the Cat

461 Ocean Blv and Slowhand for Eric Clapton

Let It Roll, George Harrison

The Love Album, The Beatles

Glass Houses, Billy Joel

Marsallis and Clapton Play the Blues (2011)

I agree with the two post above, but arguably there is some well-known music out there that sounds great and would most likely impress even non-audiophiles. Here are a few suggestions from my collection:

Carole King "The Carnegie Hall Concert" on MoFi - incredibly well-recorded and a collection of her best-known songs; can't imagine it would not drop listeners' jaws hearing it on a high-end system for the first time.

Fleetwood Mac - virtually all of their records sound tremendous; if you have or can get a mint copy of "Rumours" or "Fleetwood Mac," I'd be surprised if they didn't appreciate how good they sound and are packed with hits.

Foreigner "Foreigner" sounds terrific; "Cold as Ice" and "The Damage is Done" have always put smiles on my non-audiophile friend's faces

Supertramp "Crime of the Century" has quite a few songs that should impress even those who are not big Supertramp fans. The entire record is superbly recorded.

Diana Krall - yes, I know, most audiophiles get nauseous at this point hearing her music, but for those who are not yet oversaturated, her records do sound great.

Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb" from "The Wall." Amazing song that sounds equally amazing. Actually, the entire album sounds tremendous.

Sting "Fragile" from "Nothing Like the Sun." Sublime.

I would let them supply the music. Then they will be familiar with it.

Late for the Sky by Jackson Bowne if they enjoy meloncoly love lyrics which would win an award for poetry.

The Pink Floyd sound much better from the vinyl than from the CD imo.
I would suggest the inevitable Patricia Barber and some Cassandra Wilson's albums like: Blue light 'til dawn, Traveling Miles, Thunderbird, Glamoured...