Top 3 songs to evaluate a system

Great topic for a rainy weekend and find new stuff to listen too. As a big PG fan I will definitely look up ’Blood of Eden’. Also great to see what different people look for (timbre, boing sound of bongo’s, I never thought of that myself). When I went shopping for new (standmount) speakers last year I spent days compiling a ’test’ list for the audition sessions. To come up with 3 songs however is really hard. +1 for Bela Fleck though. So that’s the bass department covered.
Now I’ll include some African flavor for variety:

1) Baaba Maal - Yiriyaro (Percussion storm). As the title suggests, it a myriad of percussion patterns, so if your system gets you up to dance it’s got PRAT. And there should be a pretty nice soundstage experience with the recorded thunderstorm at the end.

2) Depeche Mode - In Chains. The synth intro can act nicely as an alternative REW frequency sweep :-) and the first verse + guitar cord attacks is helpful for system dynamics. (note: my guess is classical pieces are much better at that, but I don’t listen to any)

3) Fish - Vigil. I’m including it for those that are looking for systems that are ’unforgiving’ for bad recordings. If it’s unforgiving, the bombastic chorus should sound really awful.

bigkidz:  I listen for piano first. What does that sound like as most music is in the mid-range. To me SS cannot offer the piano sound I prefer as the decay of the notes is to my ears to fast. Tubes seem to delay the decay which I prefer as to me it sounds more realistic and I can hear the "wood" of the instrument.

If the recording is done in a dead room, the piano notes will sound like decaying too fast without reverb.  "Delaying" it using an audio signal processing technique implemented in some DAC sometimes overcooks it and will only make piano notes sound artificially.  I do not know how much effect can be created by tube amp because I do not own one but I just want to stress the importance of the original recording.  A good stereo system is to preserve those attributes, not to create them. 

Thanks everyone for sharing such precious gems! I never though I would receive that level of quality and quantity of suggestions.

I reiterate that I listen to all songs (that are available on Spotify - don't judge me!). I put them in a "Suggestions" playlist and, after listening once, it is either removed (I don't like ALL of them!), or moved in a "Top 5", "Top 10", "Top 25" or "Reserve" playlist for further listening. So this thread is keeping me very busy... and I'm loving it!

Some gems I discovered because of you (no particular order):
- Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth (remastered) - The Ubiquitous M. Lovegrove
- Stunz & Farah - Primal Magic - Rainmaker
- Adèle - 21 - Lovesong
- Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't Stand The Weather - Tin Pan Alley
- The Dave Brucket Quarter - Timeout - Take Five
- Woong San - Close Your Eyes - Round Midnight
- Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. - Vitamin
- Suzan Vegas - Solitide Standing - Tom's Dinner

I still have 54 songs in my "Suggestions" playlist and I haven't added all new ones from yesterday... So I'm thrilled thinking about what I might discover!

Keep them coming!

-Papyneau

Average White Band - "Schoolboy Crush," for the bass and percussion <sleigh bells!>.

The Bongos - "Skydiving," for the bongos.

Emmerson, Lake & Palmer - "Take a Pebble," for the 3 virtuosos showing off (in a good way) on piano, bass & drums. An early example of prog-rock, before it got too bombastic.

ZZ Top - "Blue Jean Blues," Dusty & Billy's bass and guitar tones are really special on this one.

Rare Earth - "(I Know) I'm Losing You"
Temptations - "Pappa Was a Rolling Stone"
The Chambers Brothers - "Time Has Come Today"

Seek out the long versions of theses three songs. The first two feature stellar musicianship and production, while the latter has a "tinny, 60's garage rock" feel to the production; so, that one provides a different sort of audiophile challenge.