Rebecca Pidgeon’s Retrospective is Chesky’s First SACD Only Release

Continuing a now familiar trend among record labels issuing SACDs, Chesky Records released its first album that is available only as a Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD with no accompanying Stereo CD release this week. The new Multichannel SACD is “Retrospective” by singer/songwriter Rebecca Pidgeon (Chesky Records SACD 242)

Chesky has been an early adopter of the various high resolution audio formats. Prior to this release, their catalog of high resolution discs included 21 albums in the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) format as well as DVD Music discs in the Digital Audio Disc (DAD) format (8 titles) and the DVD Audio (DVD-A) format (2 titles).

As a Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD, the new album features Multichannel SACD, Stereo SACD and Stereo CD versions of the music on the disc. The album is designed to play in SACD and CD players as well as SACD compatible DVD Video players.

Music on the Restrospective Album
Retrospective is a collection of 13 songs from Rebecca Pidegeon’s three earlier Chesky albums: The Raven (Chesky JD 115 and SACD 205), The New York Girls (Chesky JD 141) and Four Marys (Chesky JD 165). Among high resolution audio fans, she is perhaps best known for her performance of “Spanish Harlem” which appears on two Chesky Stereo SACDs: the sampler “An Introduction to SACD” and the Stereo SACD version of her first Chesky album “The Raven”.

Chesky says that

“Standing at the crossroads of Scottish Folk and Modern Pop, singer/songwriter Rebecca Pidgeon has recorded three wonderfully imaginative albums with Chesky Records over the last decade. In each of Rebecca’s distinct recordings she demonstrates an uncanny ability to span a wide range of vocal and song styles, while consistently propelling her signature sweet voice. Commemorating the best from each album, this collection offers you the individual titles that together create an exciting mosaic of this amazing singer/songwriter.”

Album Selections

  1. Spanish Harlem
  2. Underground
  3. Texas Rangers
  4. 24 Hours of Love
  5. Fhear a Bhata
  6. Seven Hours
  7. Primitive Man
  8. Kalerka
  9. The Four Marys
  10. Grandmother
  11. MacDougall’s Men
  12. Hey How My Johnnie Lad
  13. Auld Lang Syne/Bring It On Home to Me


A Different Packaging Approach
Chesky’s previous Stereo and Multichannel SACDs were packaged in the familiar Super Jewel Box case with rounded corners that houses most Hybrid SACD disc releases. The earlier Chesky SACDs also featured the large grey sticker that says “Hybrid Stereo” or “Hybrid Multichannel” and the words “Plays on All SACD and CD Players”. The cover art for the earlier dual inventory Chesky SACDs featured a blue cover with the original album art shown in reduced size in the center of the blue cover.

Chesky has made several changes with the Hybrid SACD only release of Retrospective. The disc arrives in a standard CD case with square edges rather than a Super Jewel Box with rounded edges. The grey sticker on the front of the case has been omitted and replaced with text on the front of the album that says: “Super Audio CD. Playable on All CD and SACD Players.”

Turning to the cover art, it is now a full size photo of the album cover with the SACD logo and the Chesky Multichannel Surround logo at the bottom of the image. (This new album cover design reminds me of the design being used on the latest Audio Fidelity SACD releases.)

Availability
The new Retrospective Multichannel SACD by Rebecca Pidgeon is now available from Tower Records and other retail stores that carry SACDs. The SACD is also available on the web from the Chesky Records web site as well as the Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc and Music Direct web sites.