ABKCO Announces Sam Cooke SACD Remastered Series Earlier this week, ABKCO Records announced that they plan to release 4 of Sam Cooke's classic albums as single inventory, Hybrid Layer SACDs in the U.S. and Canada. The Hybrid SACDs are playable on SACD, CD and SACD compatible DVD players. The Sam Cooke Remastered Series follows in the steps of ABKCO's SACD Remastered Series by the Rolling Stones. As we've previously reported, the Stones Remastered Series has been very successful, moving over 2.6 Million SACD discs worldwide. With the success of the Stones SACD series, ABKCO officials had previously indicated that it was likely that they would release other titles from their catalog in the SACD format. This week's announcement confirms that is indeed the case. According to a statement from ABKCO: "Nearly 40 years after he cut his last record, Sam Cooke continues to influence generation after generation. From gospel to new wave, from rockers to rappers, nearly every form of popular music today bears the unmistakable imprint of the legendary Sam Cooke. The infectious melodies, the smooth styling, and of course, that incredible voice. Now the legend that is Sam Cooke lives again, restored and remastered to the highest possible standards using DSD technology on dual layer hybrid SACDs." Sam Cooke Remastered Series The Sam Cooke Remastered Series from ABKCO Records will include 3 Hybrid Stereo SACDs as well as a Hybrid Multichannel SACD release that will feature a 5.1 surround remix. All 4 of these discs are scheduled to be "available in stores" in the U.S. and Canada on June 17th. The SACDs are as follows: Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACD Sam Cooke at the Copa Hybrid Layer Stereo SACDs Ain't That Good News Keep Movin' On Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964
I was fortunate enough to go to the listening party for these titles. They actually had a room set up like the Copacabana with a 5.1 system set up. I don't have much experience with 5.1 sound, but the vocal did sound a bit different when they switched it from the old version to the 5.1. I think it just shifted in the mix, hence the difference. The engineer played a few more tracks (I guess the rest are in 2.0) and compared them from old to SACD. I am not sure if he played the "new" remastered layer or the original layer (if these were all already available) and then switched. But, the SACD layer did have some hiss and such, so probably not much tinkering going on there. The speaker at the event (not Allen Klein, even though he was there) did thank a bunch of people, including Bob Ludwig, and mentioned that some of them were at the party. I read in another thread Bob has been in NYC working on another project and I would have loved to have met him if he was actually there. The problem is that I don't know what he looks like!
