A site that offers its "reference" cd list

[John Holmes]

Updated 3-22-2012. The oringinal topic site, no longer exist. However, the links provided thoughout the rest of the thread, are still valid.

I found this and thought it to be good info.

I have a few of the reference selections too!






"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Pat]

Nice find John,
I was surprized to see that even I had more than one "reference disc"




Pat's Page

[John Holmes]

I thought that this would be great for those that always wanted a standard to bounce off of. I have heard it asked many times "How do I know if I have a reference recording?"

Though it is as with most things in listening, subjective, I think that quite a few are dead on the money. So much so that, I'm going to try some others on the list simply because of the ones I agree on.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[John Holmes]

^^




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[David Meek]

I was surprised. I had six:

Candy Dulfer's Saxuality
Enya's Sheperd Moons
Heart's The Road Home
Sara Mclachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
Natalie Merchant's Tiger Lily
Joe Satriani's Surfin With The Alien

I really hadn't thought about these CD's being reference quality except maybe Candy Dulfer's, and quite honestly, I don't really care for Surfin With The Alien. Now I'm gonna have to go listen to all of them more critically and see what I've been missing.




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[John Holmes]

I really hadn't thought about these CD's being reference quality except maybe Candy Dulfer's, and quite honestly, I don't really care for Surfin With The Alien. Now I'm gonna have to go listen to all of them more critically and see what I've been missing.

This was my exact reason for bringing this thread back to the top. I'm sure that quite a few people own at least one, and never knew they had it.

And you're right, once you know that you are listening to a reference disc, you tend to pay more attention to the details of the recording.

Enjoy and let me know what you find.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[David Meek]

John, it's good you bumped this one back up. I REALLY needed some "down time" this weekend, and this is a great way to "get down".

It's been a heck of a week at work. . . . :roll:




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[John Holmes]

Man, I've been buying Candy Dulfer's "Saxuality" for years! I keep forgetting to pick it up when I'm out. Thanks for the reminder!

Everytime I hear "Lily was Here", I am just floored. It is an exceptional piece of work.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Pj]

Hey John also try some of Pamela Williams music, also very good!!

PJ




PJ's DVDs @ DVD Profiler

PJs HT@Telia

[John Holmes]

I'm way ahead of you on that one. I already own her "Saxtress" cd! You're right though. She's a very good artist too! And that disc is HDCD to boot so, it is a very good recording.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[John Holmes]

^^




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[David Meek]

Earlier, I mentioned the discs on the list I owned:

Candy Dulfer's Saxuality
Enya's Sheperd Moons
Heart's The Road Home
Sara Mclachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
Natalie Merchant's Tiger Lily
Joe Satriani's Surfin With The Alien

I've gone through and given each a "serious" listen. I have to admit that on the home system, they generally do sound better than I remembered, with the exception of Joe Satriani. I just don't click with that CD and it is difficult to get deep into it. The recording standards ARE pretty good on each of these discs, except for the Heart CD which didn't strike me as that impressive - good but not great. Candy Dulfer, Enya and Sarah McLaughlin were the most impressive with nice detail, quiet backgrounds and good soundstaging.

Web sites like that are good finds as they make you go back and really listen to music that you may not have visited in a while. It's been fun.





David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[John Holmes]

Oh yeah, once you know that it is held as a "standard", the way you listen to it becomes much more critical. I think this bring a couple of things to the party.

1) It helps you to understand the line by which it is drawn to classify something as 'reference".

2) You begin to pay more attention to the artist's work. Thus becoming more involved in the recording and the effort that brought it to you.

Hopefully I/we can find a few more sites with more releases to play with.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[John Holmes]

^^




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Bob]

Fun list. HP at Absolute Sound gives out a list once a year of reference recordings. Of course the problem is that reference recordings is all about how well they are recorded. Doesn't mean you will like the bands or the music. If you also happen to like the musicians and bands that are listed it can be great to find which of their CDs are well recorded. When I see HPs list and see the Beatles, Madonna, Micheal Jackson and other POP stars my eyes roll up in my head. I would much rather hear average recordings of exciting bands than great recordings from that boring bunch.
Please, don't take the time to tell me that the Beatles were inovative, they weren't. They were just the most popular of the pop bands. Since most people are only familiar with what is happening in the top 40 when a band like the Beatles does something they think that no other band has done something similar.

[John Holmes]

Good points Bob. I have felt that way for sometime. Most of what we hear (or have not), has been done so many times before. I think the line between the ones that make the top 40 and those that do not, is a simple as the right promoter and backing.


I'll have to checkout Absolute Sound.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[John Holmes]

Thought I would bring this back to the top, for those yet to see it.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Dr C]

Went thru the list ... and didn't get a single hit

Have close to 500 CDs and zilch - it's depressing :LOL: Been meaning to get a few and looks like this is THE time.

Dr C

[John Holmes]

Dr C,

Glad you finally got a chance to check the list! :B I'm sorry to hear that out of 500 not one is on the list. Maybe you just have better taste than he does! 8)




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[NMyTree]

Wow, I have quite a few of these. Who knew? :E :B

Acoustic Alchemy--Against the Grain

Craig Chaquico--Acoustic Planet

Craig Chaquico and Russ Freeman--From the Redwoods to the Rockies

Jesse Cook--Gravity

Miles Davis--Kind of Blue

Michael Hedges--Taproot

Brian Hughes--Straight To You

Sarah McLachlan--Fumbling Towards Ecstacy

Natalie Merchant--Tiger Lily

The Rippingtons--Sahara

Neil Schon--Beyond the Thunder

Peter White--Caravan of Dreams

Summer Solstice--A Windham Hill Collection

[John Holmes]

Ain't it a great feeling! :T

Welcome to the Guide NMyTree.

[NMyTree]

Thank You John.

I have a little story regarding that Summer Solstice CD. Nothing exciting, but a cool (IMO) little story.

When I lived in New Jersey, a friend of mine and I rented a house (for a week) on the beach in Long Island Beach, for our vacation. Of course this had to be done months in advance.

By the time our vacation rolled around, my friend was a major stressed-out mess; job, ex-girlfriend issues....and so on.

So this vacation came around at a perfect time for him.

The house was beautiful, right on the beach and with the exception of about 10 feet of backyard; our backyard was the Dunes and beach. Weather was perfect all week, not too hot......perfect; and as many of us know, it's rare to get so lucky on a planned vacation.

First day there, sometime in the early Afternoon, we started making Strawberry Daiquiries (our own little mixture with bananas and Strawberries). I put my little boombox speakers in the window, and we layed out on one of the nice clean dunes. I put in the Summer Solstice CD and Sean Harkness' acoustic guitar (on the title track) gently eased this vacation from dock.

My buddy who's quite an accomplished guitarist, was really enjoying the first few tracks of this CD. " Man, this is some beautiful music. I feel like a stick of butter in the sun, and all my stress is melting and running off into the sand ".

Of course the Daiquiries :T .....definately had something to do with this :B

The whole enviroment and scenery was relaxing. There's nothing more comforting than laying in the sand (on a towel) with a tasty drink in your hand and watching bikinis wiggle, jiggle and bounce their way around the beach, as they frolic. Nothing! :


Anyway, it was a very good week.

Months later, my buddy calls me up to tell me that when he got home, he put on the Summer Solstice CD. When the CD came on, he says all the memories and that ever so-relaxed feeling ....just flooded over him.

That's the power of music. You identify with a song (or album) and it transports you to that memory. Like a wave washing over the shoreline........you are there. And again....it works it's magic.

This time ...minus the Daiquiries.

[John Holmes]

That is a fantastic story! This is the power of a reference CD! :rofl:

[NMyTree]

:B :lol:

[glangston@socal]

reference cds

I have something by about 20 of these artists but only a few by those titles. At least 2 of these are not easy to find, Cafe Blue by Patricia Barber and Blue Moon Swamp by John Fogerty. I had to go to Amazon partners to find them used.

Very little rock on the list but not a surprise. The list even has Mark Knopfler separated from Dire Straits. I always thought Brothers In Arms was reference quality. Heart's Dreamboat Annie also.

[David Meek]

I always thought Brothers In Arms was reference quality.

Gordon, I agree with you - this is a wonderfully produced CD! It's great for just sitting back and savoring.

[NMyTree]

I have the Dire Straits -Brothers In Arms Remastered (Super Bit Mapping), and I simply love the sound quality, as well as the music (of course). I did a side by side comparison with the older version (CD) , which I've had for years; and the difference and improvement is nothing short of amazing!!

In fact, all of the Dire Straits Remasters (Super Bit Mapping) really do show an amazing audible improvement.

Last week I picked up Mark Knopler's Golden Heart, so add another to my list of "Reference CDs" from that list. :T I like it......pretty good album. It's in HDCD and it does sound very good.

But I'll tell you, I also picked up Knopler's "Sailing To Philadelphia" , and I love this album!!!! Also in HDCD, and it sounds sooooooooo good! Musically, I like this one more than "Golden Heart". But I have only had one real listen of Golden Heart. The other times I played it, I was preoccupied with work.

[glangston@socal]

Good vinyl

recordings. I still really like the Janis Ian Between the Lines on regular vinyl even with a little scratch here and there.

The new Beach Boys Pet Sounds re-mastered CD is very good and has a lot of notes on the production etc. The recordings include "pet sounds" of Brian's two dogs.

Edie Brickel's Ghost of a Dog CD sounds very good to me. Steven Reich's Different Trains CD (with Kronos Quartet) should give your sub-woofer a good workout (Pat Metheny on guitar).

Keith Jarrett's My Song was an excellent Japanese vinyl recording as was Santana's Caravanserai. Harvest by Neil Young and Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris were very good commercial vinyl recordings. All of these were so good that I've yet to get CD versions but now with new equipment I'm getting the bug.

All the old Creed Taylor jazz stuff (CTI) had good vinyl production values but put out very short albums. I have no idea how it got transferred to CD but have seen a few of them available.

I have about a dozen Nautilus or or Original Master Recordings along with some direct to disc stuff like Thelma Houston (Pressure Cooker) and a Taj Mahal item that is really not so good for direct to disc.

Which reminds me, now I'll have to spring for an upgrade on the old turntable too.

[David Meek]

I have the Dire Straits -Brothers In Arms Remastered (Super Bit Mapping), and I simply love the sound quality, as well as the music (of course). I did a side by side comparison with the older version (CD) , which I've had for years; and the difference and improvement is nothing short of amazing!!

In fact, all of the Dire Straits Remasters (Super Bit Mapping) really do show an amazing audible improvement.

Jeez Tony, now you've done it! I've been trying to be fiscally responsible and you go and write something like THAT. . . . :

[NMyTree]

:B Sorry about that David, but they really do sound great.




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[David Meek]

:rofl: :rofl:

[John Holmes]

Okay NMYTREE, it's official...You've got issues!!!! :B

[NMyTree]

:B :B

But don't we all?!?! :rofl: :rofl:

[KJP]

Hope nobody minds if I add another nice reference cd list.

The site is Digido.com and the list is called the cd honor roll

[RJW1138]

Here's another one, from the dudes at Soundstage:

http://www.soundstage.com/referencediscs/referencediscs.htm

The three that I own from this list (Ani DiFranco, Dave Matthews, and Gladiator soundtrack) definitely stand out as some of the best-sounding amongst my multitude of CD's.

[wkhanna]

I for one, greatly appreciate that you guys have taken the time to post these links. I make a deliberate effort to get quality recordings on redbook CD, and base many of my purchases on just this type of info. It also helps that many of my favorite artists/music is often on these lists.
Many thanks to you both.

[Chris D]

I'm considering some of the discs on those lists too, specifically the rave reviews of Carmina Burana and the Gladiator soundtrack.

On a side note, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is supposedly doing their next album as Carmina Burana in a rock opera. For those who don't know, they're the ones that have done multiple albums of Christmas music in solid rock style. It's MOST excellent. At their concerts, they've previewed the Carmina Burana music, and it sounds pretty awesome.

[Chris D]

hey--are either of those recordings (Gladiator or Carmina Burana) available on SACD/DVD-A? I thought I had seen them out there somewhere, but can't find them now.

[Kal Rubinson]

Carmina Burana is available in both formats. With Mehta on a DVD-A and either Shaw on Telarc (stereo only) or Runnicles on Telarc (MCH) on SACD.

Kal

[David Meek]

I only own two from the soundstage list - Amused To Death and Gladiator - and yes they are both very well produced albums. Another I'll throw out for your consideration is the soundtrack to The Last Samurai. It's a bit less bombastic than Gladiator, and overall a bit easier to listen to.

[Eric_C]

I have two on the list. Jann Arden's Happy and Sade's Lover's Rock.

I'll have to pick up the Gladiator soundtrack since it is mostly Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance and we own every single DCD album.

I'll pick up a few off of this list.

[RebelMan]

I have two on the list. Jann Arden's Happy and Sade's Lover's Rock.

I have all of Sade's discs and she always makes an appearance on demo days. :P

[MikeK]

Good list. I actually have 29 of his selections.

I have considered compiling my own list just from browsing my collection, it may be a fun exercise.

Neat stuff.

Mike

[MrAcoustat]

Wachuma's Wave

This cd by Byron Metcalf with Steve Roach & Mark Seelig is realy good all tracks are good but the main one is cut # 5 Dance Of The Heart Voyagers this is a regular cd nothing special but it sounds pretty good.