Universal Music entered the DVD-Audio market today with the release of six titles. Headline artists such as Sting, Sheryl Crow, Marvin Gaye, Vince Gill, Dave Grusin and Diana Krall are included in the first batch of titles from Universal’s A&M Records, Motown, MCA, GRP and Impulse labels. Anne-Sophie Mutter’s ‘The Four Seasons’, on some lists as being released today, will actually become available on October 7th.

Universal is to be commended for joining the growing number of labels releasing DVD-Audio discs and for releasing major artists on the format, but we do have to question why sample rates as low as 44.1kHz (albeit at 24-bit) have been used for some of their first releases. One also has to wonder whether the equivalent SACDs stem from similarly ‘low’ resolution stock.

Diana Krall: ‘Love Scenes’

The DVD-Audio version includes an ‘Inside The Music’ interview, biography, discography, song lyrics, Universal’s ‘Music Markers’ and a photo gallery. Alongside a DVD-Video backward-compatible Dolby Digital mix, DVD-Audio surround content is presented at 44.1kHz 24-bit while the dedicated stereo track is 96kHz 24-bit.

Track List:

1. All Or Nothing At All
2. Peel Me A Grape
3. I Don’t Know Enough About You
4. I Miss You So
5. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
6. Lost Mind
7. I Don’t Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You
8. You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me
9. Gentle Rain
10. How Deep Is The Ocean?
11. My Love Is
12. Garden In The Rain

Diana Krall – ‘Love Scenes’
Diana Krall, ‘Love Scenes’

Sting: ‘Brand New Day’

Includes a video for ‘After The Rain Has Fallen’, an artist biography, song lyrics, ‘Music Markers’ and a photo gallery. DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital is joined by a 48kHz 24-bit multi-channel mix and a stereo version at 44.1kHz 24-bit.

Track List:

1. A Thousand Years
2. Desert Rose
3. Big Lie Small World
4. After The Rain Has Fallen
5. Perfect Love…Gone Wrong
6. Tomorrow We’ll See
7. Prelude To The End Of The Game
8. Fill Her Up
9. Ghost Story
10. Brand New Day

Sting – ‘Brand New Day’
Sting, ‘Brand New Day’

Sheryl Crow: ‘The Globe Sessions’

Bonus features include videos for ‘Anything But Down’, ‘My Favorite Mistake’, ‘There Goes The Neighborhood’ and an ‘Inside The Music’ interview, an artist biography, album catalog, song lyrics and photo gallery. Audio content is presented at 96kHz 24-bit surround and 44.1kHz 16-bit stereo with a Dolby Digital track for DVD-Video compatibility.

1. My Favorite Mistake
2. There Goes the Neighborhood
3. Riverwide
4. It Don’t Hurt
5. Maybe That’s Something
6. Am I Getting Through (Part I & II)
7. Anything But Down
8. The Difficult Kind
9. Mississippi
10. Members Only
11. Crash and Burn

Sheryl Crow – ‘The Globe Sessions’
Sheryl Crow, ‘The Globe Sessions’

Vince Gill: ‘High Lonesome Sound’

Supplementary material includes videos for ‘Worlds Apart’, ‘A Little More Love’ and ‘You And You Alone’ alongside a biography, disc catalogue, song lyrics, ‘Music Markers’ and a photo gallery. Both high-resolution multi-channel and stereo tracks are presented at 88.2kHz 24-bit with a Dolby Digital version for DVD-Video players.

Track List:

1. One Dance With You
2. High Lonesome Sound
3. Pretty Little Adriana
4. A Little More Love
5. Down To New Orleans
6. Tell Me Lover
7. Given More Time
8. You And You Alone
9. Worlds Apart
10. Jenny Dreamed Of Trains
11. High Lonesome Sound – featuring Alison Krauss and Union Station

Vince Gill – ‘High Lonesome Sound’
Vince Gill, ‘High Lonesome Sound’

Marvin Gaye: ‘The Marvin Gaye Collection’

Bonus features include an artist biography, discography, song lyrics and a photo gallery. Audio content is presented as 44.1kHz 24-bit multi-channel and 96kHz 24-bit stereo with a Dolby Digital DVD-Video track.

Track List:

1. Ain’t That Peculiar
2. It Takes Two – duet with Kim Weston
3. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – duet with Tammi Terrell
4. Your Precious Love – duet with Tammi Terrell
5. Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing – duet with Tammi Terrell
6. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
7. What’s Going On
8. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
9. Trouble Man
10. Let’s Get It On
11. Distant Lover

Marvin Gaye – ‘The Marvin Gaye Collection’
Marvin Gaye, ‘The Marvin Gaye Collection’

Dave Grusin: ‘Two For The Road – The Music Of Henry Mancini’

The disc includes multi-channel audio at 44.1kHz 24-bit and a 96kHz 24-bit stereo track together with a DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital mix. Extras include a biography, music catalogue, song lyrics, ‘Music Markers’ and a photo gallery.

Track List:

1. Peter Gunn
2. Dreamsville
3. Mr. Lucky
4. Moment To Moment
5. Baby Elephant Walk
6. Two For The Road
7. Days Of Wine And Roses
8. Hatari
9. Whistling Away The Dark
10. Soldier In The Rain