Top 3 songs to evaluate a system

This is a very tough question! When I go out to do serious seat-time with equipment, I usually bring a list of several songs or pieces of music but virtually never listen to the entire piece(s). I generally listen to a minute or two of various parts of those songs or pieces, parts that have the most challenging or revealing frequency ranges. For example: I usually bring only music that I am very familiar with and, preferably, music I've heard in live performances. I will bring examples of male and female vocals, piano, heavy bass (e.g. drums; pipe organ; etc.), mid-range rich stuff (e.g. Jazz), acoustic stringed instruments (e.g. guitar; stand-up bass; harp; etc.), exotic instruments (e.g. think Hiroshima), high-pitched instruments (e.g. Triangle) and just a bunch of different things. I find that various components, especially speakers, have a difficult time realistically reproducing brushes on cymbals and drums. So, I will bring some of this. I find instruments like Tuba and synthesizers are also challenging (e.g. Moog Synthesizer). One recording I like to use that covers some of this is a good recording of "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield.

I believe that music that I am really familiar with is the best way to test.

So I use:

CCR- Green River 24/192 hz. With this track that I have played 1000+ times I look for the rhythm guitar of Tom Fogerty in the top left of center and its clarity.

Linda Ronstadt- Blue Bayou 24-96hz. With this track along with the beauty of her vocal I listen for the little Spanish guitar clarity on the left channel about 30-60+ seconds in.

And Finally.
Fleetwood Mac- Rumours 24-96hz.. I listen to the depth and sound of Stevie’s vocal and the side background singing of Steve in the left channel. Sometimes it can be a little distorted and bright. Also the bass and the whack of the drums can be impressive.

ozzy

Baby It's Cold Out there, Velvet Records. Hirt & Ann-Margaret

What God Wants, Roger Waters

Rhymoi, Jade Hairpin, Kunqu Opera


Great Post-Thanks to those who added the six I just sent to friends.

Massive Attack 'Teardrop"

Rye Cooder "Bop till you Drop"

Dick Dale "Miserlou"

Great stuff here, I absolutely love threads like this. Here are my three picks:

• Roger Waters / Amused to Death / Too Much Rope - The track starts with a man chopping wood and each stroke and should have a hard edge defined center image position. This is followed by a horse drawn carriage with a sleigh bell moving across the sound stage from left to right. You should be able to pick up the horse and sleigh far beyond the boundary of your speakers and it should disappear far beyond the boundary of your speaker as well.
• Mose Allison / Everybody Cryin’ Mercy - This track is great for gauging attack and decay in a system. It’s all about the soft attacks and lengthy delays Allison puts on his piano as well as the drummer and bassist. A good system should be able to define the leading edge of notes and their diminishing departure.
• Rage Against the Machine / Bullet in the Head - When I started down my audiophile journey, bass something I did not lend much thought to. But after reading columns and posts about how important bass is to a system’s synergy, imaging and sound stage I finally stated to pay closer attention to how I treated bass in my system. With this tracks, at the end, a system with good bass will pick out plenty of detail in the fast finale and you should be able to hear the slap of the strings, not just a wall of noise, especially when the extra layers of guitar come into the mix.