Mike's Music Page

I have an extremely wide taste in music, covering everything from Classical to Metal, Blues to Trip Hop, Dance / Trance, Electronic to Drum and Bass or Jungle music.

I won't attempt to cover it all here, but give you a bit of an idea of what I'm into. The hardest part is deciding what to leave out. I have updated the page a little to include some images of covers, in case you ever actually decide to look for any of these CD's. Contact me if you want details of where to get them from.

Firstly, let's look at specialist discs.

Test Discs

Devine Music, an Australian company responsible for the brilliant Highway One and the ACAD (Australian Car Audio Distributors) CAN 3 competition disc have just released another CD. This one, called Car of The Century, has been produced for the Car of the Century competition. Both the Car of The Century and an updated version of Highway One are available for purchase over the 'net. You will not be disappointed in either of these CD's.

Go to the Devine Music site for more information.

A number of CD's are available from a variety of sources specifically for audio system evaluation. Companies such as Chesky Recordings, Sheffield Laboratories and Telarc all produce DDD recordings which can bring out the best in a good system , and show up weaknesses in lesser systems. Some examples that I have are the Telarc fantasy adventure album, which has orchestral recordings of movie themes, and goes down to 5Hz in places! Chesky's "The Ultimate Demonstration Disc" uses tracks of a selection of Chesky's Jazz CD's. Not as easy to listen to, but good for system testing.

Bass Discs

[Bass CD - by DM Records] I wouldn't have believed it, but I have found a couple of Bass CD's that, quality wise, are not too bad! One of these is by 'DM Records', and the other by 'Newtown Music Group.' Now, I'm not an expert on these, so they may even be the same company with two names or something. Anyway, while I still couldn't listen to these for hours, they are much better quality than those from 'Pandisc' that I found earlier.
Remember, if you do like playing these discs, don't piss people off by doing it in residential areas or late at night.

Music Discs

Test Tones and Bass Discs are all well and good, but we don't listen to test tones while out driving, and most of us don't just want to boom around pissing people off. You don't have to have a specialist recording to test your system, although one or two never hurt.

Two discs you should go out and buy now. The first is Alan Parsons 'On Air'. If you don't have Alan Parsons latest work you are missing out. It's unfortunate that it is not available in Australia, but all of the Internet CD sites have it. There is actually a 5.1 Dolby Surround version of this disc available too, but obviously you need the decoding equipment. If you have Dolby 5.1 in your home system, it may be worth considering.
The other CD you want in your collection is the original Mortal Kombat Soundtrack. The first half of this CD has remixes of some of the great dance acts, and is awesome.
[Alan Parsons - On Air]

For middle of the road popular type music some discs that I enjoy for their recording quality are Dire Straits 'Brothers In Arms', Jennifer Warnes 'Fabulous Blue Raincoat', Live's 'Throwing Copper', Allanah Myles' first self titled album and just about anything by Melissa Etheridge. Pearl Jam's 'Ten' is great too.

Some good Aussie stuff is any of Tommy Emmanuel's guitar CD's or Ian Moss with 'Matchbook'.

[Images & Words] For heavier type stuff, one of the best is Dream Theater's 'Images and Words'. You may also enjoy 'Awake' and DT's latest release, 'Falling Into Infinity'. The double kick drums in some Dream Theater tracks provide enough kick for most systems to handle. If you can handle something a little more demanding, Steve Vai's 'Passion and Warfare' is worth a listen, as is almost anything by Joe Satriani. Joe's guitar recordings provide the ultimate in cruising tunes. If you like bass(and who doesn't') give Stu Hamm a try with 'Kings of Sleep'.

For more guitar music, moving into blues, Gary Moore never disappoints. His two blues albums 'Still Got the Blues' and 'After Hours' are brilliant. Of course, you can't go past ZZ Top with their 'Eliminator' and 'Afterburner' CD's. Other blues I like includes Jeff Healy's 'Feel This' and Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Couldn't Stand the Weather'.

If your bag is Dance / Trance Music you can't go wrong with Chemical Brothers or Juno Reactor. This stuff is good for raising the pulse a bit.

Slowing the pace down a bit, any of Enya's CD's are awesome for system testing. Also, Deep Forest or Enigma provide plenty of rythm and bass with top quality recording. If you haven't listed to Enigma, try it. Other artists I've found with a similar style include Delerium, Dead Can Dance and the only Mike Oldfield CD I can get into, 'The Songs of Distant Earth.'

Moving into Trip Hop and Drum and Bass territory, I always have Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines' and 'Protection' either in or near the CD player. While I'm not as keen on Mezzanine, the latest CD, it is growing on me.

[EBTG - Walking Wounded] The latest album by Everything But The Girl doubles for a bass disc while providing plenty of good music with it. Another disc I like is Strawpeople's 'Broadcast'. Strawpeople are a New Zealand outfit of a guy and a girl, and although it's a bit hard to find, this CD is worth the hunt. I can't finish without mentioning Yello. Who hasn't heard 'Oh Yeah' pumping at a car audio event or car show? [Broadcast]

There's plenty more but I have to stop somewhere!

Links to some of the companies mentioned above follow:

If you are after information on bass discs, try the Quadzone site, which has direct links to Pandisc and Street Beat.

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