The best five in order...

You've got to be kidding??

Anyway, here are some favourites.

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (1959)
The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)
Tower Of Power - Tower Of Power (1973)
Joe Pass - Virtuoso (1974)
Eagles - Hotel California (1976)
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)
Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
Don Henley - Building The Perfect Beast (1984)
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985)
Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men (1988)
Extreme - Emtreme II: Pornograffiti (1990)
Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues (1990)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
Harry Connick, Jnr. - It Had To Be You (1991)
Jamiroquai - Emergency On Planet Earth (1993)
Harry Connick, Jr. - She (1994)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994)
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell (1994)
Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory? (1995)
Matchbox Twenty - Yourself Of Someone Like You (1996)
Natalie Cole - Stardust (1996)
Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997)
Savage Garden - Savage Garden (1997)
Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Soul Caddy (2000)
Eric Clapton & B.B. King - Riding With the King (2000)
John Farnham - Thirty-Three & A Third (2000)
Elton John - Songs From the West Coast (2001)
James Morrison - Scream Machine (2001)
Marcus Miller - M² (2001)
John Farnham - The Last Time (2002)
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (2003)
The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here (2004)
George - Unity (2004)
Thirsty Merc - Thirsty Merc (2004)
Rob Thomas - ...Something To Be (2005)

Sorry, the list is getting longer.

Well its hard to just name five, but here they go

Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
Just excellent

Tool - Lateralus
The first time I heard Schism I said what's all about Tool. Now they are no 2

Jeff Buckley - Grace
What a voice!!

Pink Floyd - Wish You Where Here
Shine on you crazy diamond!!

Spock's Beard - Snow
Superb music

Left out
Radiohead, Rush, Genesis, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Symphony X and manu more

wahh what a post. nice to see that everyone listens to different kinds of music and a lot of people listen to different varieties of music. So I will post a few of my top albums AT THE MOMENT:

Mozart – Requiem (great classical music, gets me really pumped up)
Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Complete Columbia Recordings (jazz saxophone stuff)
Botch - We are the Romans (hardcore metal but MATH metal. Huge tempo changes complex structures etc.. very very good)
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (mmhhh or another one of their albums)
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (live)

That’s some of the few things I listen too.
I got to much music not enough time and I like all kinds of music.. but I am mostly a metal kind of man.
And classical.. mhh and old pop music

hmmm best 5

Police - Outlandos d'amour
Joe Jackson - I'm the man
Who - Quadrophenia
U2 - Joshua tree
Genesis - The lamp lies down on broadway

within last 10 years:

Air - Moon Safari
Oasis - Morning glory
White stripes - Elephant
Eminem - The Eminem show
Fat Boy Slim - You've come a long way baby

and reading through the thread millions that should be equivalent on my list:
Tim Buckley, Steely Dan- Aja, Eels, Bruce Springsteen - Born to run, Dr. Dre, Streets, Beatles - Abbey Road, Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon, Yes - Yessongs, Linkin Park - Hybrid Theorie........aaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh........

Well, since 5 albums are really too few, I'll cheat a bit and put 5 per decade...

60's:
Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
Frank Zappa - We're Only In It For The Money (1967)
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (1969)
Led Zeppelin - I (1969)

70's:
Jethro Tull - Aqualung (1971)
Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
Residents - Meet The Residents (1974)
Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

80's:
Bauhaus - In The Flat Field (1980)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju (1981)
Dead Can Dance - Spleen And Ideal (1985)
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
Ministry - The Land Of Rape And Honey (1988)

90's:
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun (1992)
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
Low - I Could Live In Hope (1994)

2000's:
Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)
Tool - Lateralus (2001)
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)
Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Cat Power - You are free (2003)

5 is almost impossible, but here goes:

Madreus - Ainda
Chic - Chic
Steel Pulse - Hansworh Revolution
Third World - 96 Degrees in the Shade
Francis Cabrel - Samedi Soir Sur La Terre
Jimi Hendrix - Are you experienced? (ok, so I cheated....)

I have made a playlist called 'desert island disques.m3u', but guess what? There are at least 60 Cd's in there, but I play that whenever I cannot be bothered to pick tunes.

Interestingly enough, the music chosen in this thread is mostly from older people (I am guessing here...). This is in contrast to the age survey in the poll section, where the average age was 27!

Hmm....

Hi, new guy here, heres an attempt a 5 favorite list:

(in random order)
Opeth - Orchid/Morningrise
O.S.I - Office of Strategic Influence
Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn
Devin Townsend - Terria/Physicist
Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper

True I am 47.... but fun listening music is growing and growing..

5 of my favorite albums:

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Radiohead - OK Computer
Tool - Aenima
Tool - Lateralus

I think after one yeart I need to make a new list. The old one still applies, but there were a few glaring omissions which I would now like to add.

Beatles - White Album
Buck 65 - Square
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Dead Can Dance - Aion
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Jesse Cook - Tempest
Tool - Lateralus
Rhapsody - Dawn of Victory
Iron Maiden - Brave New World
Sublime - 40oz to Freedom
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Michel Camillo and The Wild Unit - Wild Unit 2
Afro-Cuban All Stars - Distino, Differente
Eric Clappton - Unplugged
Nirvana - Nevermind
Van Morrison - Moondance
Paul Simon - Graceland
The Travelling Wilbury's - Volume One
Frank Zappa - Shiek Yerbouti
The Offspring - Smash
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Toward Ecstacy

I'm sure there is more I could add right now, but perhaps I'll wait and update again in another year or so.

Little Top3

• Tool - Ænima
• Led Zeppelin IV
• Korn - Korn

The Offspring - Americana (my first self-bought album; deserves a mention)

Well, let's see...

1) One Size fits all (Frank Zappa)
2) Red (King Crimson)
3) A love supreme (John Coltrane)
4) Fragile (Yes)
5) Head Hunters (Herbie Hancock)

Five is not enough. If the question was "your fifty favorite albums" it would have been easier.

My turn

1)Catch 33- Meshuggah
2)Rust in peace- Megadeth
3)Tribal tech- Tribal tech
4)Images and words_dream theater
5)Perpetual burn-Jason Becker

Hello.

Currently:

Spiritualized - Let it Come Down (or maybe Ladies..Space)
The Verve - Urban Hymns
Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain
Belle and Sebastian: - If You're Feeling Sinister (or maybe Dear...Waitress)
Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Power Milk
Blur - The Great Escape (or maybe Parklife, or maybe Moden..Rubbish)

Long Term

Alice in Chains - Dirt (or Jar of Flies)
Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary
The Verve - Urban Hymns
The Velvet Underground - 1969 Velvet Underground Live [maybe bootleg?]
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine
Sublime - Sublime
Led Zeppelin - IV
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The Doors - The Doors at the Matrix [This is def. just bootleg I think?]

I feel bad about all the great albums I've forgotten.

In no particular order...

1. Bruce Springsteen - Born to run
2. Steve Earle - El Corazon
3. John Hiatt - Perfectly good guitar
4. Meatloaf - Bat out of hell
5. Emmy Lou Harris - Wrecking ball

1. OAR - Anytime Now [Live]
2. Dispatch - Bang Bang
3. Seal - IV
4. John Butler Trio
5. Phil Collins - Love Sons..A Compilation Old & New

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Led Zepellin - IV
Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
Pearl Jam - Ten

Radiohead - The Bands
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
Smashing Pumpikins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
Faith No More - King For A Day
Deftones - White Pony

... and many more

Listened to alot of music in my ramblin' around this earth, but I gottan say, based on what I throw in the player most often would be (in no particular order) :

Vivaldi: Four Season conducted by Christopher Hogwood
Kelly Joe Phelps - Shiny-Eyed Mr. Zen
Gordon Lightfoot - Summertime Dream
Keith Jarret - The Kohln Concert
Ozzie Osbourne - Ozzmosis

If it weren't for the last entry, I'd think I have mellowed out abit. Going over everyone else's lists made me moan with regret. I think I was saying "oh yeah!" to 75% of the ones listed in this thread. I guess there is such a thing as universally good music.

Whoa... I'm definitely not finding this any easier than all the other folks on here Well, let's see which ones come to mind first.

Dream Theater - Images and Words [1992]
>Would anyone disagree if I said they're the definition of modern ProgMetal?

Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards [1972]
>So far the only UH album I've fallen in love with

Vaya Con Dios - Night Owls [1990]
>Absolutely fantastic music for smooooth summer nights.

Gentle Giant - Octopus [1972]
>They sure were a bunch of loonies

Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE [1998]
>ProgMetal project doing purely Instrumental craziness

Sigh... this is doing GREAT injustice to a few dozen other ones, isn't it? Just a few of those names:
Dream Theater - Train of Thoughts (2003)
Pain of Salvation - One Hour By The Concrete Lake (1999)
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2003)
Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever (2001)
Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1971)
Savatage - Dead Winter Dead (1995)
Therion - Deggial (1999)
Rage - Lingua Mortis (199?)
Runrig - Once in a Lifetime
Spirited Away Soundtrack
Patricia Barber - Companion (1999)
Die Fantastischen Vier - 4:99 (1999)

I suppose I really am into metal mostly, looking at that list. Strange, only one rap album made it onto the list. I'm actually listening to rap quite a bit, but I'd never consider it for an all-time list. Oh, and I deliberately omitted the Beatles, the Stones, and Queen. Nice, but not quite up there (for me!).

It's very pleasing to see so many fans of extreme metal out there!

I'm listening to almost all kinds of music so I have my favourites everywhere but my heart is inprisoned in hard rock/metal/extreme metal so my list goes:

In no particular order:

Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes (1994 - I love Tony Martin on vocals!)
Death - Symbolic (1995 - R.I.P., I love you Chuck! )
Suffocation - Despise the Sun (1998 - Simply the best brutal death metal ever!)
Behemoth - Thelema.6 (2000 - Polish great death/black metal)
Forgotten Silence - KaBaAch (2000 - Czech outstanding metal fusion!)

A very special place for:

Pantera - Cowboys from Hell (1990 - R.I.P., I love you DIME! )

Others worth to mention:

(Extreme metal)

Opeth, Arcturus, Soilwork, Dissection, Emperor, Mayhem, Solefald, Decrepit Birth, Dying Fetus, Origin, Internal Bleeding, Anorexia Nervosa, Depresy, Edge of Sanity, Misanthrope, My Dying Bride, Napalm Death, Alchemist,, Phobia, Nasum, Regurgitate, SETH, Zubrowska, ...

(Traditional metal)

Nevermore, Symphony X, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, King Diamond, Machine Head, Megadeth, Metallica, RAGE, Savatage, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Exodus, Annihilator, Anthrax, Flotsam & Jetsam, DIO, Balance of Power, MasterPlan, DamagePlan (R.I.P.), Manticora, Symphorce, Iced Earth, ...

(Other rock)

Waltari, Nightingale, Anastacia, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes, ELP, ...

(Czech metal)

Demimonde, ROOT, Dark Gamballe, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, Intervalle Bizzare, Despise, Imperial Foeticide, Ingrowing, Godless Truth, Contrastic, Animé, ...

Edit: (Technical metal)

Meshuggah, Cryptopsy, Neglected Fields, Cephalic Carnage, Ephel Duath, Necrophagist, Neuraxis, Spawn of Possession, Extol, Cynic, Pestilence, Sadist, Psychophagist, Bastard Saints, Gorguts, Martyr (Can), ...

Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, WatchTower, Spastic Ink, Spiral Architect, EverGray, ...

...and many, many others...

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Joy Division - Closer
Led Zeppelin II
Nirvana - In Utero

Very difficult, but only picking five albums . . .

Animals, Pink Floyd
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
The River, Bruce Springsteen
...And Justice For All, Metallica

1. Yes - Close to the Edge
2. Genesis - Selling England By the Pound
3. David Bowie - Low
4. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
5. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io Sono Nato Libero

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Great White - Once Bitten
Candlebox - Candlebox
Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

If I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life, it would be soooo easy to choose:

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

That's it, the other four don't even matter.

Here are my five. Although they are all extremely good, I can never live with so little music.
1)2pac- Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.
2)Bob Marley- Exodus
3)Metallica- Metallica
4)Peedo- Peedo & The Luna Empire
5)Apocalyptica- Plays Metallica By Four Chellos

1) Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
2) The Beatles - Revolver
3) The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4) Radiohead - Ok Computer
5) Supertramp - Crime Of The Century

This is a real tough one, but I figured I would give it a try (it has been fun to read through)...

Here we go... in no particular order:

Beatles - White Album
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
Roger Waters - Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique


This is not an "official" album, but Bob Marley from the Record Plant (recorded on 12/2/73) could be one of my favorite things to listen to.
Also, right now one of my favs is Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - Clone, but I can't go so far to say it is one of the 5 greatest albums ever.

Other honorables:

Beatles - Sgt. Peppers
Pink Floyd - The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
The Bob Marley Box Set (Songs of Freedom)!....

And the list goes on and on...

The KLF - The White Room
Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love
Guns'n'Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Lene Marlin - Playing Your Game

Honourable mention:

2Pac - All Eyez On Me
Shamen - Boss Drum
Stereo MC's - Connected
Roxette - Look Sharp

and at least one estonian artist:

A-Rühm - Laulmata Jäänud Laulud

One (or two) from each of my favorite genres:

5. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis

4. Moving Pictures - Rush

3. Haitink - Shostakovich: Symphonies no. 5 and 9

2. Stan Kenton - Kenton's Westside Story

1. Reiner - Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra -Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta - Hungarian Sketches

I could live the Reiner recording alone on an island for the next 50 years and still discover new nuances each day... the same is true of the Miles recording even though I've transcribed all of Trane's and Cannonball's solos already. The musical depth of these albums is still astonishing after decades of listening...

Alice Cooper 1975 Welcome To My Nightmare
Tiamat 1992 Clouds
Alice Cooper 1971 Love It To Death
Enigma 1990 MCMXC A.D.
Blind Guardian 1998 Nightfall in Middle-Earth

Well, I coudln't resist

1. Rolling Stones - Bridges to Babylon
2. Sepultura - CHAOS A.D.
3. Queen - Innuendo
4. DDT (russian rock) - all of them
5. Tatar folklore - all of them

Just 5? Hmmm. Without giving too much thought I'd probably go with;

John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy soundtrack
Danny Elfman - Batman soundtrack
Basil Poledouris - Conan The Barbarian soundtrack
Basil Poledouris - Starship Troopers soundtrack (Or the "Complete" score version I've got anyway)
Garbage - Garbage

Some other worthies being;
Hans Zimmer - Hannibal soundtrack
Jerry Goldsmith - Total Recall soundtrack
Alan Silvestri - Predator soundtrack
Radiohead - The Bends
Basil Poledouris - Robocop soundtrack

Considering how drastically my tastes in music have changed over say the last year or so I figured it's time to probably revise this.

1. Ayreon - The Human Equation
2. James LaBrie - Elements of Persuasion
3. Dream Theater - Awake
4. Dream Theater - Images and Words
5. Queenscrÿche - Operation Mindcrime

It took me a long time to decide on which 5, but really these are what I come back to the most often. A huge amount of honourable mentions though. Very large amount. The progressive rock genre has lots to offer IMO

Probably not my top five, but ones that I love:

Radiohead - The Bends
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
Metallica - Metallica
The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
The Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium

Hounorable mentions include:

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss
Darkthrone - A blaze in the northern sky
Bathory - The return
Mercyful Fate - Don't break the oath
Green Carnation - Light of day, day of darkness

Interesting, don't know any of these

can you comment on style ?

Nordland is into the "black" type of metal, the old, first generations of it, and apparently he doesn't like a lot of keyboards on his audio-blasphemy.

thx thought that it might be a special section of taste.... even I heard several sections of metal, never came across a black section. But it is also not my experienced area, as I do value a good keyboard a lot.

Uff, just 5 albums? Thats difficult, because i like so many styles...... let's see:

* Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place (Electronica/Downtempo)
* Coil - Time Machines (Drone/Minimal/Ambient)
* Limp - Orion (Electronica/Lo-Fi/Post-Rock)
* LTJ Bukem - Journey Inwards (Intelligent DnB)
* Flying Saucer Attack - Further (Shoegaze/Noise)

- Lyx

Its 6, but I couldent go any lower

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pink Floyd - The Dark side of The Moon
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
The Who - Tommy
The Who - Who's Next

im from argentine so many of my favourite albums are from my country, anyway maybe you know them

1. Luis Alberto Spinetta - A 18' del sol (1976) - Jazzy Rock
2. Seru Giran - Yo no quiero volverme tan loco (1980)
3. Keith Jarrett - Nude Ants
4. Egberto Gismonti & Charlie Haden - Live in Montreal
5. Luis Alberto Spinetta - Kamikaze (1980)

BTW i think that 5 is not enough, think of an mp3 player that can carry just 5 disc, no way.

At least 10 album. My music collection is about 1200 disc, is a crime to pick up just 5 or 10.

Hybrid - Wider Angle
Orbital - Brown Album
Radiohead - Kid A
Ben Folds Five - Whatever & Ever Amen
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow

ALICE iN CHAINS - ALICE iN CHAINS Unplugged
Filter - Title Of Record
Nine Inch Nails - broken [EP]
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Radiohead - OK Computer
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Too much 90's, brain overloading! ARGHHHHHHH!

The guy from Darkthrone, Fenriz, actually did a synth-only sideproject - experimental industrial ambient. I reviewed it in the sonic mansion review corner (Artist: Neptune Towers). Metal fans thought that it was uber crappy, people like me on the other hand thought that it was an avantgardistic masterpiece.

Both Darkthrone & Burzum are also well known for their pro-Aryan nationalistic ideologies. Musically, "A Blaze In the Northern Sky" as well as others like this do a good job of creating a powerfully dark atmosphere. But because of their attitudes I can't say I like them.

Then just listen to the music, it's not like you can understand what they're "singing"

Then I guess it's also ok to admire the Nazi's sense of style & clothing..

Actually I do like the music as separate from the people/ideas.

1: Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms First CD I ever purchased way back in 1985, still kicks ass today and ranks as one of the first pure digital - DDD - recordings ever made. Runs the gamut of hard rock to blues and even some jazz. Highly recommended for many reasons.

This is my primary test CD when it comes to auditioning audio equipment; this is the one CD I know like the back of my hand. It's highly dynamic and has one of the highest peaks ever recorded on a "music" CD - the peak level of -.02 db on "The Man's Too Strong" just about pushes digital recording technology to its limits - and remember, this album was recorded in 1984-85 when CDs and digital recording technology were still considered to be in their infancy.

Today's CDs regularly push decibels that high, but for 1985, -.02 is as close as it gets to the clipping point while still maintaining an extraordinary dynamic range across the entire album. The hard rock-ish "Money For Nothing" has a crescendo in the opening that hits the same -.02 db point. Amazing.

2: Rush - Grace Under Pressure This one hit me like a ton of bricks back in the days. My favorite Rush song of all time is on this album, "Red Sector A." Amazing lyrics by Peart complimented by the outstanding musicianship of Lee and Lifeson as always.

3: Joe Satriani - Flying In A Blue Dream I found this album in a local chain music store 2 MONTHS before it was supposed to be released - don't ask me how. Put it in the car CD player and jammed like no tomorrow. Had people offer me a lot of money for it before it was officially released, but I never gave it up. Satch is simply awesome. Some of the most expressive guitar licks ever recorded. "One Big Rush" is a song that even now, years after I first listened to it, makes me max out the volume on any equipment I happen to be using to listen to it. The song just KICKS and will give you inspiration to move move move.

4: Rush - Power Windows So I'm a Rush fan, sue me. Their first pure digital recording, and you definitely notice it. The opening crash from "The Big Money" will wake up the dead on a good audio system. The bass in the opening measures of "Manhattan Project" can push subs fairly well too. Brilliant album all around.

5: Eric Kunzel & The Cincinatti Pops - Time Warp This album is my second test CD and for good reason. It contains some of the most powerfully dynamic music ever recorded. It's put out by Telarc, and anyone serious about audio quality will agree: Telarc makes the best sounding classical music CDS bar none. The audio that comes from those recordings is the closest experience to live I've ever encountered. It's also got a warning about possible damage to your hearing or equipment because it will push most any audio hardware to it's limits in order to reproduce the music faithfully.

This album is a collection of some of the best movie and TV soundtrack music of all time. Classic themes from Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Superman, and Star Wars round out a simply fantastic collection. The opening track was specially created by Don Dorsey using synthesizers and computers only and it's stunning in many aspects: the stereo seperation, the soundstage, and the sheer dynamics - this track alone has blown out many a speaker cone in my testing, and quite a few protection circuits on some of the most powerful amps I could find too. Even Bose 901 speakers and their famed "4000W peaks" can't do this CD justice at above normal listening levels.

Another one that I love but don't listen to as a music CD for enjoyment is the Telarc CD containing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with - get this - digital cannons on it. If you've never heard a real cannon being fired, been close enough to feel the shockwave of air as it slams into your body vibrating the hair on your skin, you simply don't know much about high fidelity and digital audio.

Just kidding there, no insults are meant nor implied. But if you've never heard that particular CD, head over to Telarc and order it quick - and turn down the volume to 1 or less when you first play it. That's not a joke, it's a friendly reminder that you can easily destroy your audio system or damage it considerably with that CD and the cannons - not to mention your hearing.

Oh yeah, Telarc just released a new recording of the 1812 Overture in all its 24 bit digital glory. The dynamic range jumped sky high and I bet it's astonishing. Haven't heard it yet but someday I will.

Ahhh... gotta love good music... have fun, always

bb