What songs do you class as Epic? (eg for testing a hi-fi or for fun)

[Johnno92]

I thought I was the only one who did this.. 

 

My favorite song for testing of sound system epicness.. Mars - nick ingman & terry devine-king, if you've never heard it I implore you listen to it..

 

I also like using.. Voodoo Child - Stevie Ray Vaughan (because I love that bit in Black Hawk Down)

 

                           All Systems Go - Schoolboy & James Egbert 

 

                           Teardrop - Massive Attack

 

                           Starsailor - Four to the Floor (soulsavers mix)

 

                           Oasis - F***ing In The Bushes

 

 

[greenstripe]

'Sex Born Poison' by Air from 10,000 Hz Legend

St Etienne's album Finesterre

[gallego1968]

Agadoo by Black Lace. LOL

[Huwcymru]

Deffo Dark Side and it was 40 years old this year!

[ChrisRs]

Private Investigations - Dire Straits

[dazz600]

+1 for deadmau 5 ghosts n stuff

In particular the instrumental with test drive unlimited 2 running in the background

Also Frankie goes to hollywoods 'war' sounds epic on a good system

[Gaz]

A bit leftfield (no, not them!) to what's been mentioned so far, but when I bought my proper hi-fi system, the song they played to demo the record deck (a Linn, which I still have) was Bird on a wire, from Jennifer Warnes' album, Famous Blue Raincoat.  Not necessarily my cup of tea music wise, but the sound was awesome and  got the shop a handsome sale.

 

Gaz

[nutters_uclan]

Epic? Hmm.

Megadeth 'Tornado of Souls'

Metallica 'One'

Iron Maiden 'Judgement of Heaven'

Guns N Roses 'Coma'

Nile 'Annihilation of the Wicked'

When setting up a car stereo, however, I use a totally different range;

Prodigy 'Smack my Bitch Up'

Carcass 'Corporeal Jigsaw Quandry'

Meshuggah 'Demiurge'

[tempra007]

Epic? Hmm.

Megadeth 'Tornado of Souls'

Metallica 'One'

Iron Maiden 'Judgement of Heaven'

Guns N Roses 'Coma'

Nile 'Annihilation of the Wicked'

When setting up a car stereo, however, I use a totally different range;

Prodigy 'Smack my Bitch Up'

Carcass 'Corporeal Jigsaw Quandry'

Meshuggah 'Demiurge'

I forgot that one, also estranged by GnR

[slider]

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Sergeant Fury

[nutters_uclan]

I forgot that one, also estranged by GnR

Yeah, good call, I love that track! The strained build up in both those GNR songs is absolutely incredible.

[john999boy]

I think this is a classic:-

 

[Pol]

Rage against the machine self titled album. Almost sonically perfect. Recorded live too rather than built up track by track

This is the perfect answer btw, crank up "bombtrack" and it should sound epic

[MudPuppy]

I'm just going to state the obvious:

[Chris GB]

Different tracks for different aspects I guess. A few I take on audition:

 

Future Sound of London "Her face forms in summertime" has subsonics that many systems wont even try to reproduce.

 

Massive Attack "Risingson" complex mixture of dense claustrophobic core and real space that requires proper kit to open it out.

 

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan "Fault Lines" the opening has work put into the instrument that only really reveals itself on very serious kit. Then the voice, that voice...

 

Kate Bush "Rockets Tail" good test of vocal separation and storming Dave Gilmour bit too.

 

Radiohead, many visceral tracks to choose from The Bends, but probably take "subterranian homesick alien" for its pace and changes.

 

Bjork "Venus as a boy" A good system makes this move so lightly and effortlessly, lesser systems let it plod. The youthfulness of her voice is much in evidence if the kit it good too.

 

Eno / Hassell Fourth World possible musics contains stunningly complex textures that just come over as drones unless the kit is very very good.

 

Just realised the time! Plenty more for a long audition (a good dealer sends you home with the demo equipment for a few days) been a long time since I bought any kit, but the above are things I would listen to in order to check the basics are well covered.

Edited 3 May, 2014 by Chris GB

[Chris GB]

Dave Gilmour even. Why can I not edit the post above?

 

Woohoo! Freedom, I can edit it now.

Edited 3 May, 2014 by Chris GB

[john999boy]

As a 'non Freedom' bod you only have a limited amount of time to edit your posts. Sixty minutes I think?

[Aspman]

Hmmm Leftfield...

 

Jumbo or Kittens? Or even a bit of John Lyndon with "Open up"

 

ACDC, "Highway to hell" for Xmas, though I am more partial to "Thunderstruck

 

Future sound of London "We have explosive"

[keystonedriving]

I would say Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall is better. The dynamic range is greater.

Particularly my Japanese Vinyl version.

[stevenStefano]

One of the first songs I always put on a new stereo first is Nothing else matters by Metallica, has to be the live version with the full orchestra though, usually closely followed by Ghosts 'n' Stuff by Deadmau5. 

This was the first one I thought of. The Unforgiven is also a good one. There are a few Metallica songs that would be a good one, they're very clear and precise

[Soot1e]

'Made In Heaven'   Freddy Mercury's last album can test about every nook and cranny of a Hi Fi set up.

[Shaker Steve]

Silver Machine - Hawkwind is great stereo.

[Latte]

Quality!  I did a bit of regional sound/SPL judging in the late 80's early 90's and used a selection of  IASCA/Mobile fidelity/Sheffield labs/opus recordings as well as conventional tracks to evaluate in-car systems. Think the first national heat was at Bristol in 88/89 and it was a great time for audio fans as Tape was being replaced by CD unless you could afford a Nakamichi deck. 

 

Bass boom bottom cd/tape would often destroy the voice coils of many a sub bass as it was designed to test most drive units to their limit and beyond. Cracked windscreens/sunroof popping out where not uncommon. Insane but entertaining.

I had a mate who used to compete in these in the 90's. He had an Orion as it had a boot big enough for all the amps and subs.

I sat in it with Massive Attacks Blue Lines on at 500 db and after a while I couldn't breathe and thought I was ill.

He explained that his epic bass actually interfered with your diaphragm and ability to breathe and would ultimately kill you!

[Aspman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound

 

Thought to make people go freaky

[cjb]

Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.