Sony Music issued a new Surround Sound SACD this week by singer Kelly Rowland. Sony also provided some initial sales numbers on their recently released Bob Dylan SACD Reissue Series. Finally, they revealed plans to release their first SACD, a 5.1 Surround Sound recording by Barbra Streisand.

Simply Deep
Kelly Rowland
Single Layer Multichannel SACD
(Columbia CS 86516)

Kelly Rowland is best known as one of the members of Destiny’s Child. According to Sony Music, the group is “one of the best-selling female musical groups of all time”. Simply Deep is Rowland’s debut album as a solo artist. It features 13 cuts plus a bonus track and includes guest appearances by Nelly, Solange Knowles and Joe Budden. Songs on Simply Deep include “Dilemma”, “Stole” and “Can’t Nobody”.

The SACD of Simply Deep features a 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Thom Cadley (Cadley also did the 5.1 mix on Vivian Green’s “A Love Story” SACD and some of the tracks on the SACD of “The Concert for New York City”). The Surround mix on the SACD is well done and features Rowland’s vocals in the center and front channels with the backing vocals in the surround channels and the instruments appearing in both the front and surround channels. The album was authored for SACD by Woody Pornpitaksuk at Sony Music Studios in New York.

Album Tracks
1. Stole
2. Dilemma (Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland)
3. Haven’t Told You
4. Can’t Nobody
5. Love/Hate
6. Simply Deep (featuring Solange Knowles)
7. (Love Lives In) Strange Places
8. Obsession
9. Heaven
10. Past 12
11. Everytime You Walk Out That Door
12. Train On A Track
13. Beyond Imagination
14. Make U Wanna Stay (featuring Joe Budden) [Bonus Track]

The new Kelly Rowland SACD is a Single Layer Surround Sound SACD Disc. It features SACD Surround Sound and SACD stereo versions of the music on the album. It is playable only on SACD equipment.

Strong Sales for Dylan SACD Series and Dark Side of the Moon
Sony Music has also announced that they are very pleased with the initial sales figures for the new Bob Dylan SACD Reissue Series. The series first release consisted of 15 remastered albums by Bob Dylan on Hybrid Layer SACD discs packaged in digipaks. According to Sony, they have shipped 700,000 units of the albums in this SACD series.

SACD Project officials also announced that sales of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” continue to move along with worldwide sales of that Hybrid Surround Sound SACD now topping 600,000 units. The news of the large shipment of Dylan SACDs and the continued sales strength of the Dark Side of the Moon Hybrid SACD comes on the heels of news of the shipment of 600,000 units of Sting’s “Sacred Love” Hybrid SACD in Europe. Added good news for the SACD Project also included the # 1 debut on the Top Singles Sales chart of the “Sympathy for the Devil Remix” Hybrid SACD Surround Sound Maxi-Single.

Sony Announces First Barbara Streisand SACD
In addition to the Kelly Rowland SACD release and the SACD sales news, Sony Music has announced that the first SACD from Barbara Streisand is planned for release later this year. The SACD release will be Streisand’s newest album “The Movie Album”.

The album features Streisand performing 12 well known movie songs backed by a 75 piece orchestra. Nine of the 12 songs on the album “were entirely recorded live with no overdubs”. For the album’s SACD release, Streisand engineer David Reitzas created a new 5.1 Surround Sound mix using Pro Tools HD at 24 bit, 96kHz resolution with Digidesign converters.

No official release date for the Surround Sound SACD edition of “The Movie Album” has been set. But I have been told that it could be on the market as soon as sometime next month.

Upcoming Sony SACD Releases
With the addition of the Streisand SACD, the upcoming Sony Music SACD list looks like this:

October Surround SACD Release Dates (Single Layer Stereo SACD Disc)

• Murray Perahia – Plays Bach (Sony Classical SS 87326) – October 28, 2003

  November Surround SACD Release Dates (Hybrid Layer Surround Sound SACD Discs)

• David Bowie – Reality (ISO/Columbia CH 90572) – November 4, 2003
• James Carter – Gardenias for Lady Day (Columbia CH 89032) – November 18, 2003

  Upcoming SACD Releases (Hybrid Layer Surround Sound SACD Discs)

• Arcadi Volodos – Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 & Rachmaninoff: Solo Piano Works (Sony Classical SH 93067)

Barbra Streisand – The Movie Album (Columbia CH 90742)