[bundee1]

Saw it on sale today at Best Buy for $19.99.

 

[markl]

Talk Talk-- Color of Spring
Awesome. Another reference quality SACD, the epitome of hi-rez.

Talk Talk were an English 80's band best known in the U.S. for "It's My Life" (recently covered by No Doubt of all people

). This was a band that progressed in Beatle years; the Color of Spring, their 3rd album, was the last to have any trace of the pop band they started out as just a few years before. After this, their music would become very ambient, free-form, avante garde, and experiemntal. Their last two albums are way way out there.

Color of Spring is my favorite from the band, it's still easily relatable and has a few "hits" on it (Living in Another World, Give It Up, and Life's What You Make It) with the balance pointing more toward their new direction.

This record has so many textures, rhythms, sonic details, it's a veritable feast for the ears, and tailor-made for SACD. This record must have taken forever to make and to mix. Talk Talk have a very ethereal, brooding, wistful, melancholy, hypnotic sound, this is an album you don't so much listen to as you *experience*.

It has a few famous people playing on it-- Steve Winwood on keyboards, Danny Thompson's bass work, Robbie McIntosh and David Rhodes on guitar, various choirs, and other guest musicians.

Is it worth the $44 that sites like amazon and cduniverse want for it? What album is? I was able to get it for $25 shipped off ebay, and it was worth every penny to me. Brought back so many memories, I had this album on cassette when it first came out in 1986. It's really aged well, it sounds very fresh, even better than I remember. Highly recomended!

Now to get the other Talk talk on SACD-- Spirit of Eden!

Mark

 

[markl]

Alice In Chains-- Greatest Hits SACD
Hmmmmmm.... I like this group, I like their songs on this SACD. Some of them (or parts of them) sound amazing. Some things come through nice and clear, better than ever, very rich-sounding, soundstage is very open and big. With some songs, there's a really great sense of the tonality of the instruments and Staley's singing, along with a really nice sense of space and air.

But at the same time, some elements seem to have been pushed back in the mix and damped down. For example, on "No Excuses" there's this nice little synth line in there that even comes through on a cheap portable AM/FM radio that seems to have been supressed almost entirely out of the mix. On "Heaven Beside You", the chorus goes "Heaven Beside You" and then in the background, but clearly audible comes the multi-tracked response, "hell within". But the "hell within" has been almost obliterated here on the SACD version, you can barely make it out, it folds into the rest of the instruments.

Also, on "Man in the Box" we get the edited version, where he's "buried in my *pit*" and "shove my nose in *spit*", yet on "Heaven Beside You" we get the whole line, "so there's problems in your life, that's ******* up, but I'm not blind" coming through loud and clear and uncensored. Weird. I gues "crap" is a no-no, but "*******" is OK.

Also, the fades on the songs are handled very sloppily, instead of being able to fade out naturally and gradually, they're forced to fade very quickly, and it cuts off long before the sound has completely dissipated into silence. Sloppy mastering here, IMO, was he in a hurry to get this project over with?

So, anyway, IMO, some good here some so so. One of the few examples of this kind of music available in hi-rez, so probably worth it for that reason alone.

Mark

 

[immtbiker]

I was very disappointed with the SACD version of Alice's greatest hits. If anyone wants it...they can have it for $6. It was one of those "why bother".

 

[DanielC]

Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller

This is a great album for SACD. Separation is well defined, and the stark tonal and dynamic contrasts are really brought to life.

I heard Weather Report at the Filmore in San Francisco around 1980 playing some of this material; hearing this SACD version brings back great memories of that concert.

 

[markl]

David Bowie-- Heathen
Don't bother. There is nothing that I'm hearing here that couldn't be done just as well on regular CD. Kind of a mess of an album, sort of unfocused, meandering. Nothing except "Slow Burn" with Pete Townend's guitar leaves an impression. Every time Bowie releases a new album, the critics all say "he's back on form", "it's his best since Scary Monsters", but it ends up being like the boy who cried wolf once too often. You wonder if they really listen to these albums, or if they just *want* Bowie to mount a proper comeback. Anyway, this isn't it, IMO.

 

[immtbiker]

Cal Tjader- La Onda Va Bien

SACD surround remake of a 1980 recording. Makes full use of all the speakers. Cal plays Latin Jazz vibes, and has had an illustrious career with many famous artists. He has played with Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente and Dave Valentine. If you are a lover of percussion, this is a wonderful surround experience. Sound quality is clean, no brightness or muddled bass. It is on the Concord Picante label, who also issued ...

Tito Puente's- Gozo Mi Timbal

Which is a SACD Surround remake of a 1990 recording. Both of these albums are of the same calibur and highly recommended, if you like latin jazz

 

[Daffy6964]

Most recent two I purchased.

1. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
2. Tommy - The Who

Of the two, Tommy has the better sound quality IMHO, it's 5.1 and has excellent seperation.

GYBR, although sounds fantastic, didn't knock me out as much as Tommy or my Dylan stuff. Recommended just the same.

 

[dolifant]

I just bought CBIS M1263 SA. This is Martin Frost, clarinet, playing Mozart: Clarinet Concerto and Quintet.

I noticed that whenever the clarinet comes in there is noticible high frequency white noise that then goes away after a few seconds. This is present on the multichannel, stereo, or CD sections of the disc.

Anybody heard this? Could this be a problem with SACD. This was a direct to DSD recording. Maybe it is due to the miking of the clarinet. Any recording engineer types out there. I wonder if I can find a way to ask BIS?

 

[rayzrayl]

it sounds like they were using one of those auto-level control on the the mics for the clarinet.. but that's just a guess IMHO.. the mic would be off and waiting for loud sound when the clarinet was not playing,, and when it did start playing,, the hiss would show up until the right level was reached..

it's like when you see a bad video of a wedding done on one of those home video recorders..

 

[dolifant]

I have emailes BIS. We'll see what they say...if they respond.

On another note, can anyone explain the $125.00 pricetag for this Duke Ellington SACD ?

 

[markl]

1983 album from Bowie, either the beginning of his long slump, or his last hurrah before sucking for many many years, depending on your point of view. Produced by Nile Rogers of disco kingpins Chic ("Le Freak"), and bizarrely featuring a young Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, this contains his cover of Iggy Pop's "China Girl", "Modern Love", "Let's Dance" and "Cat People" ("putting out the fire with gasoline!"-- a great song).

Not quite the revelation that Scary Monsters was in audio terms (see my earlier post), but damn good indeed. This is what hi-rez is for, and what it's supposed to sound like. This is an import album, runs around $15 on ebay. Thumbs up-- good tunes, good sound!

 

[ghsmith54]

Schubert - Piano Sonata & Moments Musicaux

For pianophiles out there, this is an excellent recording of a 1964 Steinway in a reverbrant acoustic. This SACD captures solo piano sound better than any other CD (Redbook or SACD) I've heard and the performances are also quite good (though you can occasionally hear Ms. Uchida humming or shifting her weight for extra oomph during triple forte passages).

Greg

 

[markl]

1973 soul/R&B classic. Contains "That Lady" ("who's that lady" sampled on many a recent commercial to annoying effect) and bizarrely, covers of Doobie Brothers "Listen to the Music" (woa-oa-oa listen to the music) and Seals and Crofts "Summer Breeze" (you know, blowin' through the jasmin of my mi-i-ind). If you love old-school soul and R&B like I do, this is a treat. Great playing by the brothers and fine singing, too. Sound quality is above average, although I don't have this on CD so I can't say how it compares, may be light years ahead.

Now to get the O'Jays Ship Ahoy!

 

[soundboy]

I purchased this SACD at my local Best Buy for $14.99. This is my first Bon Jovi disc of any sort, even though I know most of the songs already. I have listened to this disc in stereo a couple of times and I like what the band did with their past hits. Mostly unplugged and slowed down, each song takes on a different perspective. Produced and arranged by Patrick Leonard, who you may remember for his work on early Madonna albums, Bon Jovi's attempt at reinventing their past hits sounds like a winner to my ears.