Genius Loves Company by Ray Charles features the late singer in his last recorded album with a series of duets featuring such musical stars as Norah Jones, James Taylor, Diana Krall, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis and Van Morrison.

The album has been one of the best sellers in Concord Records history. That has been true in both its Standard Stereo CD and the Surround Sound Super Audio CD editions. The SACD edition of the album also recently was named the winner of the first-ever Grammy awarded for Best Surround Sound Album.

Original Edition Used Unique Packaging for an SACD
High Fidelity Review readers know that some fans of the singer initially found it hard to track down the Genius Loves Company SACD edition in music and video stores because it was packaged in a Deluxe Super Jewel Box, an oversized disc case that previously was used to sell 5.1 DTS Music Discs and DVD Audio discs.

Concord Records also used this case for their Ultimate Mancini tribute Surround Sound SACD (Concord Records SACD-1034-6). The result was that these SACDs often ended up filed with the DVD-A discs at the store rather than with the regular CDs or the SACDs.

Feedback from High Fidelity Review Readers
After the release of these 2 Concord Records Super Audio CD titles, High Fidelity Review received several emails from music fans asking about this unusual packaging move by the label and how it might be addressed. We suggsted that they contact Concord Records and express their interest in seeing these SACDs in the usual SACD Super Jewel Box or the standard CD Jewel Box that Concord Records has used for its earlier SACD releases.