Universal Music Releases George Strait SACD & Updates List

Universal Music continues to issue new Super Audio CD (SACD) discs this week with the release of Honkytonkville by Country singing star George Strait. In addition to this new SACD release, Universal also provided an update of their U.S. release plans for August and early September.

Honkytonkville in SACD Surround Sound
Honkytonkville is the newest album by George Strait. The album features 12 new songs including the Country music hit “Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa”. It was released in CD format on June 10th and was in stores yesterday as a Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD. As a Hybrid Multichannel SACD the album features SACD Surround Sound, SACD Stereo and CD Audio versions of the music on the album.

Honkytonkville’s SACD tracks were mixed by well known engineer and producer Chuck Ainlay assisted by Jesse Benfield and Jim Cooley and mastered by Hank Williams at MasterMix. This was the same team that handled the engineering, mixing and mastering of the original Stereo CD version of the album.

Ainlay has done a number of surround sound mixes in recent years and his experience shows on Honkytonkville. The SACD Surround Sound track features extensive use of the sound field and the surround speakers. Traditional Country, SACD and Surround Sound fans will want to check out this release.

Album Tracks

  1. She Used To Say That To Me
  2. Honkytonkville
  3. Look Who’s Back From Town
  4. Cowboys Like Us
  5. Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa
  6. As Far As It Goes
  7. I Found Jesus On The Jailhouse Floor
  8. Desperately
  9. Honk If You Honky Tonk
  10. Heaven’s Missing An Angel
  11. Four Down And Twelve Across
  12. My Infinite Love


Availability
The Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD of Honkytonkville by George Strait is now available at record stores that carry SACDs including Tower Records. It is also available from web stores that carry SACDs including Elusive Disc, Music Direct and Red Trumpet.

Universal Provides August and Early September Release Information
Also new this week are further details about Universal’s August and Early September releases. As in the past, the U.S. SACD releases feature both Hybrid Layer and Single Layer SACD releases. The Hybrid Layer SACDs are playable on SACD, CD and SACD compatible DVD Video players while the Single Layer SACDs are only playable on SACD and SACD compatible DVD Video players.

Also of note, one of the Surround Sound SACDs on the upcoming list – Michael McDonald’s “Motown” – was originally slated for this week but has since been bumped to later in the year. This once again shows that record label release dates are always subject to change. Here’s the latest information on Universal Music’s upcoming SACD plans:

August 12, 2003 – Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD Releases

  • Renee Fleming – Bel Canto (Decca Classics)
  • Dredg – El Cielo (Interscope)
  • Shania Twain – Up! (Mercury Nashville)
  • Gergiev, Weiner Philharmonic – Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Philips)
  • Gergiev, Rotterdam Philharmonic – Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 (Philips)

August 26, 2003 – Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD Release

  • Steely Dan – Gaucho (MCA Records)

August 26, 2003 – Single Layer Multichannel SACD Release

  • Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive! (A&M)

September 9, 2003 – Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD Releases

  • John Hiatt – Bring The Family (A&M)
  • Marvin Gaye – Lets Get It On (Motown)
  • Viktoria Mullova, Gardiner, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique – Beethoven & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (Philips)
  • Allison Moorer – Show (Universal South)

Future Releases – Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACDs

  • Cecilia Bartoli – The Salieri Album (Decca Classics)
  • Michael McDonald – Motown (Motown)
  • Valery Gergiev, Vienna Philharmonic – Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Philips)
  • Aaron Neville – Nature Boy (Verve)
  • David Sanborn – Timeagain (Verve)

Future Releases – Single Layer Stereo SACDs

  • John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman – John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Impulse)