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Whats your favourite track to play to the non hi-fi visitor?

Lets be clear, the uninitiated offer an opportunity to show off your hi-fi, and give them an unexpected experience. Most visitors wonder why there is laboratory equipment and Stanly Kubrick 2001 monoliths in the lounge - some even make the connection to the wall of vinyl.

Time to pull out the Matt Bianco LP ’Who’s side are you on’, after warming up the system for an hour or so.
Some people don’t get it at all, but most can be impressed - but not with extended playtime. So, its a rare person that will sit and listen, as the demo nearly always gets turned down to background music to allow conversation.

I once had a good mate over for an evening of music and the odd wine, at one point during the evening he rushed to the kitchen and came back with spoons, which he played alongside the hi-fi to everything - including Pink Floyd. Mind you after a few wines it did bizarrely become a fitting accompaniment.

Whats your ’knock them dead track’ to play to non audiophiles?
surferandy
dchang05's avatar
dchang05
67 posts
 
How about some newer CDs? Melody Gardot's Sunset in The Blue, The Strokes' The Abnormal, and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio's What a Wonderful Trio in 24-bits 352.8 Hz mastering.  

Okay, the last one is more for audiophile but it is a darn great recording!
mitchagain
510 posts
 
So many great options when it comes to Dire Straits and Steely Dan.

An overlooked Dire Straits track is "It Never Rains" (Love Over Gold)

+ 1 on "Babylon Sisters." I particularly like where the background vocalist suddenly comes in around the 4 minute mark.
barts's avatar
barts
802 posts
 
I usually ask what they would like to listen to, if no preference then in no particular order.

Casino by Acoustic Alchemy (on Arcanum CD)
AJA by Steely Dan.  (The whistle sounds like its outside and across the                                      street)
Caravanserai by Santana (first two tracks)
Ode to Billy Joe by Patricia Barber from Cafe Blue (great rendition)

I'm sure you all could list tracks all day as could I.  The above is just what comes to mind today.  Of course now I have to play them before the day is done or they'll rattle around in my head until I do.

 
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
Niereka - Dead Can Dance
Ray of Light - Live Version - Madonna
Ride of the Valkyries - London Philharmonic

But really if they want to hear it, I will ask them and pull it up on streaming.  For the average non audio person they are much more impressed with a surround sound and music. Not a lot of offerings.
lubachl
125 posts
 
This is an odd one but in the late '60s Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales made an album of music that is hard to describe or classify, at least for me, as it is a mix of several genres.  The album was called "Hooteroll" and there is one cut on the album, One AM Approach, that is extraordinary on several levels.  The lateral imaging on a good playback system will go 10 feet beyond your speakers.  It is one of my first choices for non-audiophiles to hear and appreciate what imaging is all about.

You can get a very good sense of the spaciousness on the YouTube recording if your computer has a reasonably good sound system, and also decide if you like the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxyhB-o1eZg

I should add that I do not care for the rest of the music on this album but it is worth the money for that one cut alone.  Also, I have not heard the CD version, but the vinyl is stunning.
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