Which track do you demo to your friends?


You know when a friend arrives at your house, sees your stereo and says "how much did all this cost". You tell him/her the $$$ and they say "are you mad?" Of course, the next step is to justify it by playing something that will make their jaw hit the floor. Which track do you play? Me, I play a track called "Spanish Harlem" by Rebecca Pidgeon off an album called "The Raven". Works every time :-) Their jaw hits the floor, and no-one speaks till the song is over. Then they something along the lines of "Oh, I see what you mean". Follow up/alternate demo tracks for me would include "Fire and Roses" by Mimi Goese and "Ordinary Life" by Christen Barry. What track do you play in this most demanding of moments?
128x128outlier
I guess I do both. First, I play something I want to hear (and share) and then I turn the controls over to my victim. My favorite has to be the "I've listened to this a thousand times and I never knew they did THAT." The other night I played the Rebecca Pigeon track for my brother. A good one. Usually I lead with a cut from the Victor Wooton solo CD, Brother John, because it is one of the more fun tracks for imaging and such. It starts as a fairly straightforward bluesey piece with fun instrumentation, all very centered, but then there is a full gospel-style chorus that kicks in that simply blossoms around and engulfs the listener. If you don't know it's coming, it's almost startling. The choir then claps along, with varying syncopated rhythms, and you can hear where each of them is standing around you. And my favorite part, one of them evidently brought a little kid along, standing in the back right of the soundstage, who chimes in from time to time. That usually getsÂ’em. It gets me. When folks ask how much it all cost, I invariably shake my head and admit, with unfeigned chagrin, "too much." Rarely do they get more than that out of me.
Rebecca Pidgeon does it for me. Another goods are track 8 and 10 of Strunz and Farah Primal Magic where you get bird chirps and percussion instruments that switch chanels in the back part of the soundstage. Pictures at an exhibition organ played by Jean Guillou good for Bass and also for large church ambience. Long Black veil from Chieftains track #7 Coast of Malabar Regards
Track 3 and 6 of "BLACK LIGHT SYNDROME" with terry bozzio, tony levin, and steve stevens. Incredible transparency and imaging. Terry bozzio has a huge huge drum set and each drum has it's own place in the soundstage and you can distinctly here the different tone of each drum. Also the acustic guitar throws a huge image and is very defined. No vocals though.
Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti "In concert Mehta" on London (any cut). Rossini "Comic Overtures" on Acum, Israel (any cut). Dudley Moore "Songs Without Words" GRP Records, for piano (any cut). Clapton "Unplugged" track #13 "Old Love". Lou Reed "Perfect Night in London", two cuts "Busload of Faith" and "Coney Island Baby". Ry Cooder "Bop Till You Drop", two cuts "I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine" and "I Can't Win", Hmmm quite a contrast. Also anything by KD Lang and by The Cowboy Junkies.
Whatever is in the CD player usually works, or I ask them what they want to hear. Most of the time I can pull it out of the record collection. I also let them set the volume level. The only thing I insist upon is that they sit in "the chair".