Anyone buy the Sam Cooke SACD's yet?

I ordered Portrait and Keep On Movin' from Red Trumpet and they shipped on the 17th, so I should have them soon. With all the praises here, I am starting to regret not ordering Ain't that Good News, I was considering it, but decided to pass. I may have to reconsider.

 

Goldenboy said:

But Keep Movin' On is that, plus a little more. No? Unless they did different mixes on them.

Bring it on home to me (Redbook Portrait) sounds very detailed, especially the exchanges w/Lou Rawls but is this a slower (different) mix than the radio version?

Still spinnin' in my car so I haven't heard the SACD layer yet. DCC Pet Sounds had center stage last night .

 

Luke posted a favorable review on the ICE board, for those interested in his opinions. It's probably available on his website, since I think it's already been purged from the ICE site.

 

speaking of animal house... All of my Sam cooke experiences is from the Animal house Soundtrack album and I noticed something while listening to portrait...they ended the sond twisting the night away too soon. I remember from the AH soundtrack that there was the sax solo while the background singers were calling out different types of dances then sam coming back in to reprise the first verse then the song fades out. On portrait...the song fades out during the sax solo while the background singers call out different dance styles. didn anyone else notice this or was I not paying enough attention to the song?

 

my bad. after second listening I found that I wan't paying attention to the sacd in the first place.

By the way, Steve, it sounds great!!!!

 

Here's a question. Who made these hybrids? Crest? Do we have to worry about these cracking? I haven't bought them yet.

 

Is it just me, or do Portrait of a Legend and Keep Movin' On sound different? There are several tracks that are common to both titles so there is a basis for comparison and I think that Portrait sounds better, IMHO. I think that Keep Movin' On a bit colder, thinner, and more boosted in the high frequencies than Portrait, and the latter has a fuller, warmer sound. Comments anyone?

 

They are not from Crest. They look to me like they may be Sony pressed hybrids.

 

I sprang for At the Copa & Portrait right away, and have been as pleased with these as any SACDs I own--but that has a lot to do witht the artist; I've hesitated on Good News Only because there are only two tracks on it that I don't have already (Keep Movin' On as recent reissue--not SACD). But, based on the rave(s) here, I'll prob go ahead soon and get it.

Sam Cooke, for me, anyway, is the #1 most tragic "died young" loss from the music world. What he accomplished as writer, performer, mentor, businessman and leader of his race in the fields of gospel and soul/pop are unrivaled for such a short life.

What he could have done had he lived to a ripe, old age is a loss of monumntal proportions.

I've never heard anyone who could turn a borderline material into scintillating entertainment--and take great material to even greater heights.

As I've stated more times than anyone wants to hear: Where's the Guralnick bio of Sam, due during '03? Anyone know anything or how to find out?

thnx,
dc

 

I bought "portrait"

It has some obvious NR on the oldest trax.

"Summertime" has swishy but muffled highs as though a mono tape
is not being played back in optimum circumstances.

"Wonderful World" sounds like it was taken from the reprocessed tape,
but phase-cancelled to mono, then filtered and the highs re-synthesized in.
It sounds awful on headphones but was tolerable in the car at lower volume.

The later stuff including "Change" has good depth of field to it.
"Mary's Place", "another Saturday Night", "Mary's Place", "Sugar Dumpling"
all sound more authentic than the rest . . 'air' apparent around the cowbell, forinstance.

a good step up from the old '86 cd 'Man & His Music', less strident by far.

all my Cooke vinyl is too worn to make a fair comparison, I'm very sorry that I
cannot help you there, Steve.

The boxed set from the other year, 'The Man Who Invented Soul' ws lean sounding
in the lower mids, but no egregious upper frequency boost.
a lot of it was alt. takes or remixes though.

The take of Win Your Love For Me on the 'Portrait' disk is a lot older than the one on 'Man/Music'.

a couple others appear to have been speed corrected.

I do believe that all the eq and the like was done in hi-bit PCM and then transferred to DSD.

Steve's DSD disks are more transparent and effortless sounding.
The PCM-to-DSD has a harder sonic character,
the Police cd's from earlier this year have the same 'hard' quality about them.

**btw, unless I am in my car, I am hearing the DSD layer exclusively.**

 

True. All 4 were pressed at Sony Japan's Hybrid SACD plant.

 

Re: I bought "portrait"

And considerably shorter if I remember correctly.

 

Great, so now I know that I really have cracked the code of how to tell where these hybrids have been pressed. Would you happen to know how one could tell if the Sony hybrids come from their plant in Japan or the one in the US?

 

Re: I bought "portrait"

I think you may be right about the PCM-to-DSD thing and I agree with how you say this effects the sound, not only on these, but on the Police and Stones SACD's as well. They just don't sound as 'smooth' or 'warm' as recordings that were remastered (or recorded, for that matter) strictly in the DSD domain, IMO. Of course, it could also be just from tweaking in the analogue domain (eq, compression, etc.) before going to DSD.

 

You can tell by the "Made In Japan" info on the disc label, the number on the inside of the disc (the Sony pressed SACDs use the SUHD prefix) and the IFPI number of the pressing plant on the inside of the disc.

 

Well I do know that they use the SUHD prefix and the IFPI numbers, so I guess I didn't really need to ask the question.: Duh. I also didn't notice before the 'Made in Japan' label on the disc. Double duh! Interestingly, the Japanese pressing of DSotM does not use the 'SUHD' prefix in its matrix numbers. It does, however, share the same IFPI number as these Sam Cooke SACD's.

 

Does the "Keep Movin' On" SACD packaging include the full 32-page booklet (including Peter Guralnick's essay) that accompanied the 2001 CD? Thanks.

Jim W.

 

I don't have the CD Jim, so I can't be sure. But the SACD does have a booklet. It has the essay (19 pages), 3 pages with the songs listed, 3 pages listing the musicians, and notes on the production and restoration. Total is 27 pages - I have a feeling it's what you are thinking of, although I can't be certain.

Hey, my copy is made in Japan. Cool.

I have all the Sam Cooke SACDs. There is a bit of repetition and a wise shopper may be able to skip one. I am not a wise shopper!

Regards,
Geoff

 

Thanks, Geoff. Sounds like Abkco carried over most if not all of the CD booklet contents from KEEP MOVIN' ON to the SACD.

Jim W.