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[Mike Broadman]

This thread is to answer three questions asked about my opinion that I promised to reply when I got the albums.

1. Billie Holiday- Lady In Satin

Sony has re-released this album as a multi-channel release, which I just picked up. Since it's not a hybrid, I've been asked to compare the sound with Columbia's remastered CD, which I already had.

I only directly compared the first two tracks, as I don't have the patience to listen to the whole album twice in a row; and I'm going off my memory of the CD as I'm currently listening to the SACD.

Overall, I would consider this average when compared to other Sony SACDs. There is about as much difference as on the better Miles Davis titles. That is, the horns are brighter and the vocal has the "open," airy quality I've come to associate with high-res music, especially SACD (part of that "hearing more of the master tape" thing, I suppose) when compared to the CD.

So, it's better than the Journy and Michael Jackson titles, where I can't really hear any difference, but not as strong as, say, the Joe Satriani Engines of Creation or DiMeola/McLaughlin/DeLucia discs.

2. The new Flower Kings album- Unfold the Future

I finally got the new double CD. It's an interesting one. Space Revolver, the second-to-last one before this was their most experimental one, and probably my favorite. With the Rainmaker, as good as it was, they kind of reverted to the older school of Flower Kings. On Unfold the Future, Stolt's songwriting picks up where Space Revolver left off. On the sprawling double CD, each CD a packed 72 minutes, the compositions are delivered in hard-to swallow but satisfying doses. The very first track is actually the band's longest yet at 30 minutes.

The good: I always like to see my bands stretch out, so I'm liking this. I've only listened to it once, and I look forward to digging into this one more.

The bad: The Flower Kings suffer on double albums. While Stardust We Are and Flower Power have lots of great music, there is also some stuff that I wouldn't have minded seeing left on the cutting room floor- especially Flower Power. A couple of the tracks feel like they're just killing time.

However, plenty more than 72 minutes' worth is great stuff. The instrumental starts off seemingly kind of messy but gels into a beautiful piece. The 30 minute monster doesn't seem to fit well together, but I can't tell until I hear it again.

Favorite tracks so far: Black and White, Christianopel, Silent Inferno, Devil's Playground


The third thing will be Hank Mobley's Roll Call, comparing the recently released (finally) remastered CD and the DAD. I just haven't heard the CD yet, but since it's a "Rudy Van Gelder" edition, I'm sure it'll sound great.

 

[KeithH]

Mike, thanks for posting your thoughts on these discs. I especially appreciate the review of Lady in Satin. I have the remastered CD, but not the SACD yet. The CD sounds quite good to me, so from what you described, the SACD sounds like a worthy pick-up. You may have heard that the original stereo SACD sounds terrible. I haven't heard it myself, but I have read numerous comments about it on Audio Asylum. Apparently, there was an EQ problem that ruined the vocals. This was corrected for the multi-channel release.

You said:

So, it's better than the Journy and Michael Jackson titles, where I can't really hear any difference, but not as strong as, say, the Joe Satriani Engines of Creation or DiMeola/McLaughlin/DeLucia discs.

I still need to get the Friday Night in San Francisco SACD. I love the CD in terms of performance and sound, and I want to hear the SACD.

 

[Mike Broadman]

3. Hank Mobley- Roll Call

First off, let me say that this is possibly my favorite Mobley album, excet maybe Soul Station, which features the same killer rhythm section anyway (Kelly, Chambers, Blakey). Their hard swing, especially Blakey, is a match made in heaven for Mobley's blowing style.

As expected the remastered CD sounds gorgeous. The Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note CDs demonstrate how to properly present legacy jazz recordings on CD. The only complaint with them is that they don't put even more titles out (there are some Grant Green albums that deserve a remaster, IMO).

The DAD sounds different, but I don't know if I like it better. It sounds "warmer," but less open than the CD. I think the CD might actually be mixed louder, but it doesn't sound particularly compressed, either.

Quite simply, I'm not getting as much "wow" here as I did with other DADs, like John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom and Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else.

I'm also hearing a couple of minor skips here and there on the DAD. However, note that I did not buy it new. Rather, it belonged to my roommate until yesterday, when he gave me his high-res discs because I'm moving and taking my HT stuff with me.

If anyone else has this DAD, can you please tell me if you hear such problems? Thanks.

Anyway, I think the "problem" with some of these high-res discs is that they put out remastered CDs that sound so good, so the difference isn't as big as on other albums.