SACD wish list?

[shawn·m]

Yeah, it’s a silly exercise, but what would people like to see released on SACD? I’m sure classic jazz will continue to be released as long as the format is around, and I’m look forward to it, too. But if anything will benefit from DSD, it’s got to be more recent recordings. For that reason, I’ll go with the following as my top picks –which are, no doubt, a pipe dream:

· Ed Jackson Wake Up Call

· Joe Lovano 52nd Street Themes

· Charles Mingus The Clown (oops, broke my own rule)

· Quartet Out Live At the Meat House

· Jeff “Tain” Watts Citizen Tain

[Stefan]

The Beatles - all of their albums

Pink Floyd - Piper at the gates of Dawn

Led Zeppelin - all of their albums

Impressions - Young Mod's Forgotten Story

and more.....

I just bought a SACD player, and it is a lot of fun to listen to.

[Greg]

Congrats on your new player, Stefan. May it bring you much enjoyment.

Actually, Shawn, I find that older recordings benefit a lot more from DSD transfer than newer recordings, especially if the newer ones were recorded using PCM and excessive multimic'ing/multitracking. I'll take a DuNann-engineered Contemporary session over anything recorded in the last 3 decades for sheer transparency that lends itself to SACD's advantages.

On SACD I'd like a lot more Verve, Impulse, OJC, BN, Columbia, Savoy, etc. Sure the Beatles and Zeppelin would be nice and throw in Hendrix too. I'd take chunks of the Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Van Morrison, CSN&Y/solo/together, and the first six albums released by both Steely Dan and Black Sabbath.

[Claude]

I would like to see the Sony SACD reissue program take off again. They haven't released new titles for months. I hope that they are planning to release more SACDs when the hybrids production is in place, but there seems to be no info on this.

For example the new Monk and Ellington reissues or the next Miles box sets. Why are they only released on CD? It is illogical for the company that is the SACD inventor. Those reissues are supposed to be the "definitive" versions, so they should be released in the best current format.

[shawn·m]

Greg,

Yes, classics turned SACD are amazing: Roach’s drums on Saxophone Colossus are breathtaking, and the body of Rollin’s tenor as compared to CD is phenomenal. I wasn’t implying older recordings wouldn’t benefit from DSD treatment, although, in the hands of one engineer… well there’s no need to go there and I don’t have the energy anyway… I do think more recent recordings would be a better showcase for SACD’s abilities.

· 52nd Street Themes and Citizen Tain are analog recordings, as is The Clown.

· Don’t know about Wake Up Call, but since there’s so much going on, and it’s a favorite recording, DSD would be appreciated even if it turns out to be a PCM based.

· Also don’t know about Meat House, but I do know Jim’s not too keen on digital, and it’s definitely a favorite recording.

[Greg]

I agree with you on the Saxophone Colossus. Way Out West sounds even better.

Claude, Sony has released a boatload of SACDs lately including 15 Dylan titles, the new Macy Gray album, Toys in the Attic (today) and some Murray Perahia later this month. Sony is transitioning from single layer to hybrid SACDs, and once that gets going full tilt we may see jazz titles released as hybrid SACDs.

[Claude]

You are right Greg, but I meant jazz releases.

[Adam]

I don't understand why Sony/Columbia doesn't start putting out all their significant artists in SACD. They just got to Dylan. But Miles, Brubeck, Monk, Springsteen, etc etc.

[shawn·m]

Actually, there’s a goodly amount of Miles SACDs available from Japan. The prices are a bit steep, but have a look at both pages of Miles SACDs on HMV's site. (http://www.hmv.co.jp/search/keyword.asp?page=25&category=0&keyword=miles+davis&title=miles+davis&adv=1#SACD)

I’ll bet somebody around here knows how to get these imports less expensively…