HiFi-Plus 67: Top 10 21st Century Test Discs (part II)

Last time, we served up 10 discs that have been made in the in the last nine years, but still offered the ultimate in sound quality. Then we asked you to do the same. This is the result.

To recap, we tried to find the replacements to Couldn’t Stand the Weather, Famous Blue Raincoat and the rest of the pantheon of test discs all created more than a generation ago. The records had to be within the rock/pop/ contemporary realm (because jazz and classical enthusiasts usually know their genre well enough to know – or reject – what’s current) and not necessarily audiophile recordings, because these should be the sort of albums normal people can buy on the high street… if there’s still a place to by CDs on your high street.

We picked the 10 most talked about, most recommended and most interesting discs from your letters and emails. They seemed to divide into three categories; new recordings from new bands, new recordings from old faithfuls and ‘lads and dads’ transmissions from teenage iPod to parental hi-fi system. Realistically, we could have put together a top 147 discs. So, our apologies if some or all of your recommendations didn’t make it; we consider all of them, but those who got more than one recommendation generally made the grade.

Biffy Clyro

Puzzle

Puzzle was the first major-label album from the Scottish rough-hewn trio. It’s a smoother, more poppy CD than previous outings for the band; this has caused the band’s original following some upset, but this meant Puzzle has migrated from teen iPod to home CD player. A small army of dads have heard their kids playing this album… and liked what they heard. Think Foo Fighters-esque raw rock with Queen meets Muse-like pomp, all wrapped up in an energetic and extremely dynamic recording. It’s not for everyone – it’s still raw, still angry and sometimes more than a little bit sweary – but it’s one hell of a disc… and it gives you a small amount of street cred with the younger generation. Outstanding tracks (for us old gits, at least) include ‘Living is a Problem because Everything Dies’, ‘Saturday Superhouse’ and ‘As Dust Dances’.

LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver

A healthy contingent of audiophiles were forged in the 1980s, which is why so many called for the inclusion of James Murphy’s second outing. Why? Because the NYC producer mixes in elements of everything from Brian Eno to Kraftwerk to Cabaret Voltaire and more besides. But it’s not stuck in the 1980s, there’s intelligent dance, post punk (and Daft Punk) music in there, with a wry sense of humour permeating the whole album. Taut and upbeat with a clear, deep bass, the album is as much geared toward listening as it is dancing. A sure sign of a good album is being unable to pick out a good track, but the first three – ‘Get Innocuous’, ‘Time To Get Away’ and ‘North American Scum’ – are real stunners.

Radiohead

In Rainbows

Perhaps better known for the controversy than the music, In Rainbows was first released as a ‘pay what you like’ digital download from Radiohead’s website directly before it was released on CD and vinyl. In fact, it’s also an excellent album, a far less politically-motivated version of Radiohead than previously seen in albums like Hail to the Thief and OK Computer. It’s also far more guitar-oriented than we’ve seen from Radiohead in quite a while. It takes a few listening sessions to get into, but the stark and sombre In Rainbows is in many respects Radiohead’s most complete album to date. Another album that’s hard to pin down, because every track works best when taken as a whole, although ‘Nude’ is a fine and very typically Radiohead song. Sonically not quite demonstration quality (although the 45rpm vinyl version is pretty damned excellent), it’s still one of the best albums of the last decade.