Albums that tend(ed) to be played in Hi-Fi-shops to impress the customers

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Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon
10cc: The Original Soundtrack
Steely Dan: Aja
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
Roxy Music: Avalon
Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms
Tears For Fears: The Seeds Of Love
Yello: Baby
Phoenix: Alphabetical

Also anything by Norwegian artist Kari Bremnes, who has an audience among hi-fi-enthusiasts all over the world, in spite of most of her albums being in Norwegian only.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 2 October 2006 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link

last time i was buying a new cartridge/needle for my turntable i brought in my table to test some out....we were switching between two grado models and the dude was using "breakfast in america" by supertramp.

after we tried one, he said "yeah man...sounds good...but actually I'm cheating - supertramp sounds awesome on everything"

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 2 October 2006 20:46 (eighteen years ago) link

oohh...ha! make it stop...i am glad i wasn't drinking root beer when i opened this..

why does the police 'synchronicity' come to mind? i think i have proven that it is hi-fi favorite on at least 3 continents

― J. Grizzle (trainsmoke), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link

An analog recording from as late as 1983? Sounds unlikely to me...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002KFV.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― researching ur life (grady), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Dude in Dinkytown always used an old copy of Back in Black. Funny how much you can learn from a shop by what record they use to test shit.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

the hi-fi store I used to hang out in at the mall in the mid-80's was all about the Mannaheim Steamroller vinyl

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost

geir, what are you talking about? everything was analog in 83, pretty much.

Dude in Dinkytown always used an old copy of Back in Black. Funny how much you can learn from a shop by what record they use to test shit.

this was the needle doctor in dinkytown actually! (to be fair i think he knew he was being funny, it was a younger dude)

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Linn Products, posh Glasgow hi-fi manufacturers , invented their own record label to release the Blue Nile's "A Walk Across The Rooftops" to play on their swanky products.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Blue Nile.

Obv.

― Rooftop (Dough Boy), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:20 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost

― Rooftop (Dough Boy), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

geir, what are you talking about? everything was analog in 83, pretty much.

Yes. but there were digital recordings around, and they usually sounded better.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I used to see Sheffield Labs direct-to-disk records in high-end shops. Lincoln Mayorga is the only artist I remember.

I always liked John Cale's Fear, the piano in the title track seems startlingly real to me.

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

"Also anything by Norwegian artist Kari Bremnes, who has an audience among hi-fi-enthusiasts all over the world, in spite of most of her albums being in Norwegian only."

yeah, i hear this everywhere. everytime i walk into a hi-fi shop i say, "enough with the kari bremnes already!"

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

nah, Geir means "among hi-fi-enthusiasts all over the Norwegian-speaking world" ... happy to clear this one up

― winter testing (winter testing), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link

For reference: http://www.google.no/search?q=%22kari+bremnes%22+%22hi+fi%22+site:com&hl=no&lr=&start=0&sa=N

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:31 (eighteen years ago) link

ok, ok. but a lot of those articles are in Norwegian though.

― winter testing (winter testing), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I know they're not really.

― winter testing (winter testing), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes. but there were digital recordings around, and they usually sounded better.

ug digital recording technology in 83, no thanks!

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:37 (eighteen years ago) link

The last time I was in a hi-fi store, the guy behind the counter apologized
for not having any Melt-Banana on hand.

― shieldforyoureyes (shieldforyoureyes), Monday, 2 October 2006 22:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Sting to thread!

― Hoosteen (Hoosteen), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link

something by late-period genesis

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Sting OTM. Particularly his "Nothing Like The Sun" album.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 08:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Anything by Ildjarn and/or Kari Bremnes.

I think they miss you over at VGD Geir!

― MRZBW (MRZBW), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 10:58 (eighteen years ago) link

As usual Geir is talking shit.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 11:03 (eighteen years ago) link

How could anyone omit Tubular Bells??

― Jez (Jez), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 11:15 (eighteen years ago) link

I heard that Eagles live CD - Hell Freezes Over - in at least three different rooms when I, er, attended a Hi-Fi Show out near Heathrow about 7 years ago. (Pam went with me! I'm better now!)

I remember the Naim dudes (and I'm not that keen on Naim gear) playing some '70s Miles Davis. I took along Panthalassa, Sound of the Satellites and a few other things and they were quite keen to stick 'em on.

Sting, certainly. Enya too. Buena Vista Social Club was a favourite for a while. Attended a demo of the new flagship Wilson Benesch speaker (£20k or something) years ago and the first thing they played was Celine Dion's Titanic theme song. It was 'orrible.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:14 (eighteen years ago) link

An analog recording from as late as 1983? Sounds unlikely to me...

If you're suggesting that audiophiles overwhelmingly prefer DDD recordings from the early '80s onwards, you're very wrong.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:18 (eighteen years ago) link

when i bought my denon cd/dvd player i tested it on unknown pleasures which i had brought with me. it sounded awesome but i guess it was mainly due to the loudspeakers they had in the shop.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link

darkthrone - transylvanian hunger

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Last time I was in Hi-Fi shops, it was KD Lang's Ingenue and ECM stuff esp Keith Jarrett which was being used.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:32 (eighteen years ago) link

It is more than 10 years since I was in a proper hi-fi shop. After shocking the assistant by saying I liked the Michelle Gyrodec, purely on it's looks, in preference to my LP12.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Never bought it though.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:35 (eighteen years ago) link

You have mine for £100, if you like.

Nah, not really.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Holly Cole and Alison Krauss records too, come to think of it.

I recall hearing Brilliant Trees on a Michell Orbe at a hi-fi show too. And Toy Story was all over the AV suites.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 12:57 (eighteen years ago) link

the Vinyl Iconoclast dude over at Stylus had a column about this once...

basically anything that was ever released in a half speed master version. He specifically mentions Supertramp (Crime Of The Century) and The Police (Ghost In The Machine).

― sleeve version 2.0 (sleeve testing), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 13:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Got very sick of hearing Diana Krall at HiFi Expo in Heathrow a couple of years ago. I never had the guts to offer up the Merzbow CD I carried around all afternoon.

Found John Martyn - Solid Air many times at HiFi shops.

― mmm (myloveispurepower), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Geir, props for mentioning _Dark Side Of The Moon_ has a reputation for this kind of thing. I have to admit the opening sound collage/breathe sequence must sound pretty impressive on an exorbitant soundsystem, but overall the record sounds flat and unimpressive compared to the _Obscured By Clouds_ or _Wish You Were Here_.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Obviously that great C&W that Don Cheedle was using to sell systems in Boogie Nights

― Matt Olken (Moodles), Thursday, 5 October 2006 22:00 (eighteen years ago) link

"Nothin' against him, but if I hear 'Yah Mo B There' one more time, I'm going to Yah Mo Burn This Place To The Ground."

― Petroski (petroski), Thursday, 5 October 2006 22:14 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.sebododisco.com.br/imagens/8595.jpg

This wretched piece of music enjoyed slavish praise from the hi-fi set in the early 90s.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Friday, 6 October 2006 02:02 (eighteen years ago) link

Does anyone want to buy my Grado SR60s for £50?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 6 October 2006 07:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm sure they'd play all that where you live, Geir - somewhere between 1975 and 1985? - but in 2006...not bloody likely.

― King Esteban Records (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Friday, 6 October 2006 11:10 (eighteen years ago) link

(For me, Hi-Fi shops seem to equal non-stop boring old Radiohead)

― King Esteban Records (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Friday, 6 October 2006 11:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Richer Sounds in Glasgow - "Dare" The Human League and the instrumental "Love & Dancing" version.

― JohnFoxxsJuno (JohnFoxxsJuno), Friday, 6 October 2006 11:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I was played side one of Heart's Little Queen LP at a Tech Hifi back in the 70's, and man, I *almost* bought that Marantz receiver on the basis of how good "Barracuda" sounded...der der der der der der der der der der der da doo der...neeahhh...wah wah wah wah...

― hank (hank s), Friday, 6 October 2006 13:11 (eighteen years ago) link

The missus was quite amused by the KJ W3st 0n3 salesguy's keenness to find some common ground when we auditioned our Gyro a few years ago. He was very excited to hear Japan's "European Son".

Pam cued up a couple of records until I told her how much the Wilson Benesch Ply cart cost and she got the fear.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 6 October 2006 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link

What about the Persuasive Percussion series? Phase 4 stereo! Also, those old demonstration records where a plane warms up in the left channel, and then goes down the runway, taking off from the right channel, or where a speeding ambulance rushes by?

― Zachary Scott (Zach S), Friday, 6 October 2006 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Aja! Brilliant. Forget impressing customers, I used to impress boys I was dating with simply OWNING it. Too easy...

― Andrea Magenheimer (Andi Headphones), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link

I recall hearing Afro Celt Sountsystem on in a Hi Fi shop once... Surreal.

― Andrea Magenheimer (Andi Headphones), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:11 (eighteen years ago) link

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