The Rise and Fall of SACD
Written: Feb 13 '05 (Updated Dec 12 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Bowie's best Album released in best sounding format well worth it.
Cons: What about Scary Monsters?, Aladdin Sane? Hunky Dory? Keep those SACD releases coming!
The Bottom Line: If you like David Bowie or surround sound this is definitly an SACD to pick up. You won't be sorry!
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| shopaholic_man's Full Review: Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust &... [SACD Hybrid] -... |
When David Bowie first released a couple albums, i.e. "Heathen" and "Reality" as Super Audio CDs, I was thrilled. They both sounded great, especially the surround sound 6 channel mixes. Of course, being the fan of David Bowie that I am, I thought, darn, too bad some of his earlier stuff couldn't be released. I don't know about you, but to me, "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" was the best possible of his albums to give the SACD treatment and here it is! As you may or may not know, it took quite a while for Bowies albums to be released on CDs, because he is a stickler for sonic quality. Finally, his entire catalog was released disc by disc on Ryko Disc. I remember going to pick up each new release as it came out back in the late 80s. Before that, I had most of David Bowies albums on LP.
Well, now you know my thoughts on David Bowie and his music, lets talk about the SACD release of Ziggy Stardust. First, its a dual disc. That means that the SACD has a CD layer that is quite good, and can be enjoyed by anyone with a CD player. The high resolution stereo mix and high resolution surround sound mix may only be played on an SACD player. That said, I first put on the surround sound mix.
Five Years - Light crisp drums sound from the front center, and strum strum, guitars enter left and right, Bowies vocals fill the front stage, and backing vocals take up from the back surrounds. A huge smile spread across my face as lyrics etched onto my brain for the past 20 years or so filled my living room with astounding clarity. On the back, the album notes say TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME. I must say, that in taking the advice, it does sound even better and horns and percussion never noticable come to life. The song fades out with the punchy drum.
Soul Love. A single high hat starts the song, followed by drums, strumming guitars and the haunting voice of Bowie. The backing vocals singing "Soul love, soul love" just seem to float on the air from nowhere and everywhere at once. When the main guitars and drums kick in, they kick in with ferocity not felt on the CD.
Moonage Daydream follows really unleashing the power of Bowies line up at that time. Mick Ronson's guitars sound grittier than they ever did on the CD.
The superiority of the SACD really shines on Starman. I felt like the guitar players were sitting next to me, while Bowie sings center room. Echo and reverb effects are much more apparent on the surround sound mixing, filling the room, rather than just the front soundstage.
On "It Ain't Easy" the choruses surround you. The rest of the tracks sound great too. The title cut is just fantastic, an all out sonic assault. On the final cut, "Rock n Roll Suicide", you can actually hear David Bowie breathing between spitting out the bitter lyrics.
The stereo track doesn't disappoint either. Although limited to two channels, the recording on the SACD is just so evidently superior.
The SACD dual disc also comes with a nice booklet just like the original LP or the CD complete with lyrics. If you are a Bowie fan, this is definitely worth the price to update to the best version yet of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
This SACD was evaluated listening to the Disc on a Pioneer Elite DVD 47A dvd audio/sacd/dvd player with a Yamaha HRT 5280 100 watts/ch. surround sound amplifier in 6 channel mode and for speakers: Polk Audio Tower Monitor 70s Left and Right, Polk R20s for surrounds, Polk center channel, and Cambridge 50 watt 8" subwoofer.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Listening
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