[kevin gilmore]

And speaking of monk

I just got the thelonious monk brilliant corners sacd.

Absolutely an amazing piece of music.

 

[Brandon_Ottawa]

Amazing! Fricken' amazing!

This live rock performance was recorded in 1972...but it sure as heck doesn't sound like it. Detail and instrument separation is superb. Vocals in general are very crisp and clear.

Highway Star, Never Before, Space Truckin', & Smoke on the Water are some of my favorites. Awesome stuff. I was drumming hard on my invisible drum all night long.

Pretty much a perfect recording. A small quirk was heard during the beginning of Highway Star...and a little distortion in the microphone during Lucille (because the mic was a little too close I suppose). Overall, superb. Steve Hoffman did an absolute wonderful job mastering for SACD.

The sacd is 1 hour 19 minutes and 54 secs long!
Space Truckin' goes for over 20 minutes.

Performance 5 out of 5
Sonic Quality 4 out of 5

 

[markl]

I recently reviewed Talk Talk's previous album, Colour of Spring on SACD, and IMO, it's a real reference disc with music that is accessible to all, a real well-produced classic from the 80's without that crummy 80's sound. This is the follow-up, and it represents a total break with pop music conventions. Spriit of Eden consists of a mere 6 tracks that are much longer than typical pop music songs. It borders on "progressive rock" with its trippy, heavily-layered, very well-produced sound. Maybe "post-prog" would be a better label. No matter how you slice it, this must be one the GREATEST HEADPHONE ALBUMS EVER.

However, this music requires *patience* and enough time to sink in, you need to clear your schedule to have an hour in which you are doing nothing but listening to this masterpiece of modern production by itself, it's not good "background music". You will not be rocking out to this abstract stuff, but you will be invited to sink into your chair/couch and be totally absorbed into a unique sound-world. This is one of those albums that gets a band dropped from its major label, as this record did, it has no "singles", and is very far out of the mainstream, yet played by a band famous for its earlier pop songs. But it does offer a cornucopia of sound, a huge variety of instruments played by a number of very famous musicians.

Are you up for the challenge? If not, Colour of Spring SACD, the previous album is a good place to start, a more accessible masterpiece, but almost as layered and carefully crafted. These are VERY EXPENSIVE IMPORTS and extremely hard to find, however, there is a cheap reliable source for them both called http://www.smokecds.com/. These are crazy New Zealand dollars, so you can get these SACDs for around $22 shipped, a bargain.

Go for it!

 

[markl]

What a waste. A poster child for how NOT to do a SACD. This recording has NOTHING to offer in hi-rez. Music is OK, if you cut out half the songs you end up with a very effective post-punk album.

 

[kevin gilmore]

The last 3 posts are spot on.

Deep Purple is great fun.
Talk Talk Spirit of eden is definitely trippy and well recorded.

Colour of spring is available at acoustic sounds, more money but
no wait to get it shipped from NZ.

Mission of Burma. What a waste of good plastic.

 

[markl]

Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan-- In Session This is a 1983 TV performance for canadian TV captured on tape. A young Stevie Ray used to sit in with his hero, Albert King (a great blues man and guitar player, no relation to B.B., who recorded a lot on the legendary Stax label in the 60's with the great Stax house band), when he would play in Texas where Stevie lived. This is a sort of "reunion" of these two great talents cut just after Stevie achieved huge world-wide success with his debut album. This is the sound of two heavy-weights with mutual respect and admiration playing off one another in very effective ways. This is a very "up" album, very bouncy and elated, makes you feel good. King is the star here, Stevie is his acolyte and backing him up. Thumbs way up for the music.

But a mixed review on the sound. There is nothing "wrong" with it, it sounds fine, but this is an example of an SACD that does not do justice to the format. IMO< there's nothing here that couldn't be achieved on regular CD. It may be the remastering, it may be the original recording, it may be that this SACD represents a major jump in sound quality over the original Redbook issue. Don't know. In and of itself, it's just OK.

Sam Cooke-- Portrait of a Legend SACD What a winner. 30 songs crammed onto this fine SACD remastered by the great Bob Ludwig, so you can rest assured this is as good as this material can possibly sound. If you love soul music this is a total no-brainer. A pure, unadulterated joy from start to finish. Thumbs way up!!

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl Sam Cooke-- Portrait of a Legend SACD What a winner. 30 songs crammed onto this fine SACD remastered by the great Bob Ludwig, so you can rest assured this is as good as this material can possibly sound. If you love soul music this is a total no-brainer. A pure, unadulterated joy from start to finish. Thumbs way up!!

You're spot on again, Mark! This one is absolutely lovely. What an amazing voice. Now only if they would put some Roy Orbison out on SACD...

 

[markl]

Ok, so I bought the Daft SACD on import at great expense. I knew this was a risk going into it. Yes, a very creative band with a genius producer, quite possibly well-suited to hi-rez, but particularly multi-channel. I remember the early videos for Art of Noise, especially the Close to the Edit video which had people moving in herky-jerky motion chopping up a piano with chainsaws. It was very cool, in a 1984 Godley & Creme kind of way.

This is the remastered, multi-channel version of Daft which is a compilation of their first album and first two EPs. It's early electronica, that has aged suprisingly well. Sadly, my multi-channel speaker-based set-up is restricted to DVD-A, and my SACD-based headphone music listening system is 2-channel only (for obvious reasons). In 2-channel, I would say this sounds like an SACD, that is better than a CD, and if you are already a fan, it's a no-brainer. But really, for me, to make this truly worth-while, you probably would have to hear this in multi-channel, which I have read is AWESOME, but can't verify. Still, it's fairly repetitive early electronica, with many of the flaws you'd expect of that kind of music. The fact this was totally fresh and revolutionary at the time probably carried it farther to the ears of 1984 than it does to the ears of today. Now it's pretty much OK, not great, but tolerable in 2-channel....

Mark

 

[dolifant]

Her latest SACD is great, both on the multichannel and 2ch programs.This represents a departure for Diana, with some serious input from her husband, Elvis Costello. The surround is well done, using the center channel for much of the vocals. The rears are properly used for some percussion and mainly ambience cues. I have tried the 2ch version via headphones and speakers and it is spectacular as well. High resolution recording and mastering all around. Even the CD layer sounds good in my car, but especially when played thru an upsampling DAC at home. In fact its tough to hear much difference with thecd compared to the SACD 2ch. Once again, its alot about mastering, and the fact that the original recording is in DSD.

Listen here

 

[dolifant]

Last night I critically compared CDs that I had bought long ago with relatively new SACDs

The Look of Love
When I look into your Eyes

Both of these are great albums with Krall playing an admirable jazz piano along with her great vocal phraseology. The backups, including JohnClayton (bass), and Jeff Hamilton (drums) are spot on as usual.

In comparing the SACD to the CDs one thing is obvious for both albumns. The SACD presentation is smoother and more integrated. The instruments and voice form a better blend. They don't stick out as individual entities competeing with each other but rather blend beautifully. It is a smoother presentation. There is still excellent soundstage and the individual instruments are perfectly localized in space. The CD sounds edgy, especially on the upper registers of the piano, and also the cymbals. The detail is also noticably increased on the SACD. The individual brushstrokes of the drums are cleaner, and decay more naturally. The piano sounds like a piano not clinky in the high notes. I did not notice as dramatic an improvement in the voice, except in terms of balance with the other instruments.

The above is true for the 2 channel and surround presentations. The surround is properly done. No voice coming from the rear speakers, just ambient cues.

I love these SACDs. I am a Krall fan, and will be attending her live performance in Houston on 7/10/04. If you like a sexy, jazzy, bluesy female vocalist, well trained in jazz, who knows what accompaniment to surround herself with, check Krall out. No other that Ray Brown, the legendary jazz bassist said she had "it" and I agree.

 

[Ferbose]

I have seven SACDs right now, my favorite is Bruno Walter conducting Beethoven #6 on Sony SACD. Among the four great symphonies of Beethoven, #3,5,6 and 9, I used to think #6 is the weakest. This is the impression I got when I had the Karajan cycle from DG. Then I bought a second version of each of these four symphonies. But Bruno Walter's conducting is so good that I have to say his #6 is the best Beethoven symphony in my collection.

Maestro Walter was 80 when he made this recording, but he sounds like he is 30. Such youthfulness, such energy, such glee... This is simply the most amazing conducting I have heard on any disc. This exuberantly romnantic apporach toward #6 totally took me by surprise when I first heard it. Beethoven himself called it "Pastorale," but Mr. Walter reinvented this symphony in a gradiose manner.

As for the recording itself, the transfer to SACD is good quality. However, it was recorded in 1958 and tape hiss is noticeable. Sony's mistake is to issue a SACD-only disc without CD layer. This is a strategic error but the music is so compelling that I can't complain. There is a CD version out there, but I doubt if the strings will sound as smooth as in the SACD version. Never mind the lack of a CD layer, or slight tape hiss. This is a historic document of conducting tour de force. Even it is a old mono recording I would recommend it. But Maestro Walter happened to extend his career into the stereo age and we can hear him now in stereo SACD. How lucky we are!

 

[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose As for the recording itself, the transfer to SACD is good quality. However, it was recorded in 1958 and tape hiss is noticeable. Sony's mistake is to issue a SACD-only disc without CD layer.

But at least now it's high fidelity tape hiss!

It's nice when discs are Hybrid though I agree. I need to get some more classical on SACD.

Is there much in the way of Classical that has been recorded directly in DSD?

 

[dolifant]

Acoustic Sounds

Look up SACDs, they divide them up and you can browse DSD only SACDs. There are several classical titles. But I wouldn't retrict yourself to only DSD recorded classical discs. Many more modern analog and digital PCM recordings are better than described under the above review regarding tape hiss. In particular, those from Pentatone are excellent in terms of quality. They have even released some of their old quadraphonics in the SACD format, and they are excellent. I believe they call them the RQR series.

Go to SA-CD.net for ratings and reviews. I will go through my collection and report back some serious classical SACD recommendations when I have more time.

 

[scottder]

Thanks dolifant I'll check out those sites.

 

[dolifant]

1. Mahler Sym #2, Dallas/Litton, Delos SA 3237
2.Mozart Clarinet Concerto, and Quintet, Frost, BIS-SACD-1263
3.Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Kodana, PTC 5186024 (Pentatone Classics)
4. Chopin Polonaises, Pollini, DG 471648-2
5. Stravinsky The Firebird, Cinncinati Symphony, Telarc SACD-60587
6. Beethoven Sym #9, Von Karajan/Berlin, DG 471640-2
7.Bach,J.S. Brandenburg Concerti, ECO/Somray, Vanguard Classics VSD 573/4
8.Scriabin Etudes & Rachmaninov Concerto #3, Lang,Lang Telarc SACD- 60582

I agree that the tape hiss on some of the older Sony Classic SACD remixes can be annoying, although the artistic performances are generally top notch. All the above have excellent sound quality. There are many choices for many of the classical works above. These are the ones I have and can vouch for. There are more, but these are especially audiophile in nature. I really like looking up SACDs on SA-CD.net and reading some of the reviews. When I need a particular piece, I look there first to see if it has an SACD rendering. BTW, the 2 Telarcs are pure DSD. Telarc are very good in general. I met the head of music production for Telarc at an SACD demo and they are really committed to SACD. The above all have multichannel tracks and Stereo, and are hybrid.