The Motown Records label of the Universal Music Group has released a new Surround Sound SACD entitled The Marvin Gaye Collection this week. They have also announced the planned in store release dates for the upcoming Surround Sound SACDs by the groups Nine Inch Nails and Keane. Finally, they announced some in store availability date changes on their Super Audio CD Release List. Here’s more details of this week’s SACD release and planned availability activity from Universal Music.
The Marvin Gaye Collection
Marvin Gaye
SACD Surround Sound/SACD Stereo/CD Audio
(Motown B0003502-36)
The Marvin Gaye Collection is a greatest hits collection by the legendary Motown star presented in SACD Surround Sound on this release. It has been previously released in Surround Sound twice before – first as a 5.1 DTS Music Disc entitled Forever Yours and then again last September as The Marvin Gaye Collection in DVD Audio. This edition includes information on the musicians on the songs (referring to the Hitsville Studio Band as The Funk Brothers) in addition to writing, original production and chart information.
The SACD credits Suha Gur at Universal Studios-East for remastering the original two track stereo masters. The Surround Sound program was produced by Robert Margouleff, mixed by Brant S. Biles at Enterprise Studios in Burbank and mastered by Adrian Van Velsen and Robert Margouleff. The SACD was authored by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Boulder, Colorado and made by Sony DADC in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The SACD Surround Sound track appears to feature the same 5.1 mix used on the earlier 5.1 DTS Music Disc (and presumably the DVD Audio edition as well) from the album’s credits and a listen to the disc. When the album was first released, some found the panning of the tambourine and bongos around the sound field on I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) a bit distracting while fans of aggressive Surround Sound mixes liked it. You’ll have to decide where you stand on that question. I did note that the album benefits from release as a Super Audio CD – the SACD edition sigificantly outshines the sonics found on the earlier 5.1 DTS Music Disc edition in my collection. If that’s the version you own, I’d recommend checking out the new SACD of this one.
Album Selections
- Ain’t That Peculiar
- It Takes Two (duet with Kim Weston)
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (duet with Tammi Terrell)
- Your Precious Love (duet with Tammi Terrell)
- Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (duet with Tammi Terrell)
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine
- What’s Going On
- Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
- Trouble Man
- Let’s Get It On
- Distant Lover
Availability
The Marvin Gaye Collection Surround Sound SACD is now available at music stores including Tower Records. It is also available from web sites that carry SACDs including Acoustic Sounds, CD Universe, Elusive Disc, Music Direct and Red Trumpet. These stores also have Marvin Gaye’s earlier Surround Sound SACD releases: Let’s Get It On (Motown B0000935-36) and Midnight Love (Columbia CS 86398).
Release Dates for Nine Inch Nails and Keane
Readers of High Fidelity Review will recall that Universal Music added the albums Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails and Hopes and Fears by Keane to their list of Surround Sound SACDs that would be “Coming Soon” a few weeks back. This week, Universal has moved both of these Surround Sound SACDs from that list to a projected in store available date of November 23, 2004.
- Keane – Hopes and Fears (Interscope)
- Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral (Nothing/Interscope)
Updated Information and Release Date Changes
The Universal Music SACD Release List also has some date changes and additional release information this week. One of the first 5 SACDs in the Mercury Living Presence Series – Antal Dorati conducting the Philharmonia Hugarica Orchestra performing Respighi’s Ancient Airs & Dances for Lute has been moved back one week from October 12th to October 19th. The other four SACDs in the first group of Mercury Living Presence SACDs remain slated for release on October 12th.
On the SACD releases slated for November 9th, Universal now shows the Surround Sound Super Audio CD edition of Andrea by Andrea Bocelli as being a “Limited Edition Digi-Pak SACD” that will carry a list price of $19.98 (rather than the usual Universal Music SACD list price of $18.98 for single disc releases). Since the Andrea album is also due out in CD Audio format on the same date, it appears that the Andrea SACD will only be made available for a limited time. So, Bocelli fans will want to keep a look out for the SACD when it arrives.
Also noteworthy among the November 9th Classical Music SACDs, the listing for the album entitled Poeme has been updated. It now notes that the album features Akiko Suwanai on the Violin as well as Charles Duoit conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. (It previously omitted the information on Suwanai).
- Andrea Bocelli – Andrea [Limited Edition Digi-Pak] (Philips Classics)
- Akiko Suwanai, Charles Duoit, Philharmonia Orchestra – Poeme (Philips Classics)
Upcoming Universal Music SACD Release List
Here’s the complete list of upcoming SACDs from Universal Music in the U.S. market that includes the additions and changes mentioned above:
October 12, 2004 SACD Releases
- Argerich & Pletnev – Cinderella Suite from the Ballet for 2 Pianos & La Mere (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Antal Dorati, London Symphony Orchestra – Stravinsky: The Firebird (Complete); Tango; Scherzo à la Russe (Mercury Living Classics)
- Byron Janis, Antal Dorati, London Symphony Orchestra, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra – Rachmaninov: Piano Concerti 2 & 3; 2 Preludes (Mercury Living Classics)
- Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra – Suppé: Overtures (+Auber) (Mercury Living Classics)
- Janos Starker – Bach: Six Suites For Solo Cello (2 SACD Set) (Mercury Living Classics)
- Bryn Terfel, Claudio Abbado, Chamber Orchestra Europe – Mozart: Don Giovanni (3 SACD Box Set) (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Jaap van Zweden, Residentie Orchestra – Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (5 SACD Box Set) (Philips)
October 19, 2004 SACD Release
- Antal Dorati, Philharmonia Hugarica Orchestra – Respighi: Ancient Airs & Dances for Lute (Mercury Living Classics)
October 26, 2004 SACD Releases
- Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard (Polydor)
- Eric Clapton – Slow Hand (Polydor)
- Derek & the Dominoes – Layla (Polydor)
- Nick Drake – A Collection [Greatest Hits] (Island)
- Elton John – Captain Fantastic (Universal/Rocket)
- Elton John – Elton John (Universal/Rocket)
- Elton John – Honky Chateau (Universal/Rocket)
- Elton John – Madman Across The Water (Universal/Rocket)
- Elton John – Tumbleweed Connection (Universal/Rocket)
November 9, 2004 SACD Releases
- Chet Baker – Baker’s Holiday: Chet Baker Plays & Sings The Billie Holiday Songbook (Verve)
- Andrea Bocelli – Andrea [Limited Edition Digi-Pak] (Philips Classics)
- The Carpenters – Singles: 1969-1981 (A&M Records)
- John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman – John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Impulse)
- Cotrubas, Domingo, Kleiber, Bayerischer, Staatsorchester – Verdi: La Traviata (2 SACD Set) (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Richard Croft, Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre – Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Antal Dorati, London Sympohny Orchestra – Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol (Mercury Living Presence)
- Akiko Suwanai, Charles Duoit, Philharmonia Orchestra – Poeme (Philips Classics)
- Frederick Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble – Sousa Marches (Mercury Living Classics)
- Renee Fleming – Handel (Decca Classics)
- Juan Diego Florez – Great Tenor Arias (Decca Classics)
- Ferenc Fricsay – Rosette Collection: Mozart: Magic Flute (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Paul Mc Creesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players – Music for San Rocco (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Hilary Hahn, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Elgar: Violin Concerto Op. 61 & Williams: The Lark Ascending (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Herbie Hancock – Gershwin’s World (Verve)
- Howard Hanson, Eastman Rochester Orchestra – Hanson: Symphonies No. 1 (Nordic) & 2 (Romantic); Song of Democracy (Mercury Living Classics)
- Joe Henderson – Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Verve)
- Shirley Horn – Here’s to Live: Shirley Horn With Strings (Verve)
- Elton John – Peachtree Road (Universal/Rocket)
- Los Romeros, Victor Alessandro, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra – Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (Mercury Living Presence)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers – Burnin’ (Island)
- Michael McDonald – Motown Two (Motown)
- Anna Netrebko, Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra – Sempre Libera (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Seiji Ozawa, Saito Kinen Orchestra – Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 (Philips Classics)
- Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra – Chabrier: Espana, Rhapsody & Roussel: Suite in F (Mercury Living Presence)
November 23, 2004 SACD Releases
- Keane – Hopes and Fears (Interscope)
- Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral (Nothing/Interscope)
SACD Releases Coming Soon
- Count Basie & His Orchestra – April In Paris (Verve)
- Dorati, Enescu, London Symphony Orch – Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies (Decca Classics)
- John Fogerty – Deja Vu All Over Again (Geffen)
- Tonu Kaljuste – Te Deum (ECM)
- Eleni Karaindrou – Soundtrack: Ulysses’ Gaze (ECM)
- Christina Milian – It’s About Time (Island)
- Motley Crüe – Greatest Hits (Hip-O Records)
- Anne Sofie Mutter, Andre Previn, London Symphony Orchestra – Tchaikovsky & Korngold: Violin Concertos (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Zimerman, Polish Festival Orchestra – Chopin: Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Linda Ronstadt – Humming to Myself (Verve)
- Andreas Scholl – Senesino Album (Decca Classics)