Finally took the plunge on some Analogue Productions SACD's...

And I guess I have some mixed views, sonically. Maybe artistically too.

Let's deal with the artistic first. My view is that Chad Kassem has very limited musical tastes, is stuck in the 50's to mid 60's, and is so commercially conservative that he is simply regurgitating well worn warhorses that really do not need further rehashing, except maybe to older white males who obsess about sonic trivia.

The world needs another Blue Train or Coltrane/Ballads like it needs another recording of Beethoven's 9th - as in, it most surely does not. But if a certain demographic will buy them, Chad will make them.

No big problem there, I can choose not to buy. But wouldn't it be nice if Chad, and other similar labels, actually cared about the music enough to forego the well worn and put really timeless, but not overdone and even the slightly overlooked, gems in front of buyers - who will swoop them up on sonic grounds alone - and really do something to advance the history of modern music? There's an opportunity here, beyond immediate financial gratification. But it seems today in America, it's not about music anymore - anywhere.

So I have tried, in a slow month, a bunch of AP Blue Note reissues on SACD, as well as a bunch of AP Impulse titles. Bear in mind that I am not a SACD advocate - I have never owned a SACD player, considering my long term CD setup to be at least equal if not superior to the failed SACD format. Besides, optimizing CD is a far more intelligent route IMO as the vast majority of music is, and will only be, available on CD as far as digital formats - or ultimately as downloadable files. SACD was never intended as a replacement CD anyways - at the time, it was already clear that the music buying public would bypass physical format altogether and go download (remember, I am a market researcher!). I also found something missing in SACD - it always sounded 'glossy', or overly slick, to me. So, I am hearing these CD layer only, albeit on a very superior digital setup.

The Blue Train is a fine remastering. Here the Hoffman forum model is played to directly - it's a very 'quiet' remastering, relatively low in volume, tonally very correct, highs just slightly rolled off to ensure older ears aren't offended. Comparing to my Japanese RVG remaster, it certainly is better - but those RVG's are still very nice sounding, going deeper into the room, wider to the side walls, and having a percussive, metallic top end. Tonally the AP gets it better. Otherwise, the RVG is very good. Fortunately, THE RVG does not contain the 2 bonus tracks included on the AP which may help sell another round of Blue Train, but detract more than add to the legend of this classic.

A brief word on those much derided RVG remasters. Initially, when they first started appearing in Japan, I was astonished at the range and detail they possessed, a very wide and deep soundstage and air around the instruments that even these AP remasters don't have. But that top end I initially found sizzling hot and ear bleeding. What I came to learn is that the RVG remasters are the single most system specific remasters ever made. They are not for every system, in fact, I contend that they are not for most modern systems - the very digital digital players, the multi driver speaker systems with the typically bright metal dome tweeters. They only sound right on very natural sounding systems - NOT "hi-fi" or "audiophile" systems, audiophile meaning for this purpose expensive systems that are designed to produce very hi-fi effects, rather than organically natural sound. Nobody pays for natural sound. They pay for audio fireworks (expect in Japan). On the two pairs of speakers I have been using for the last decade or more - Tannoy in one case, PHY-HP in the other - and combined with the natural, un-digital sound of 47 Labs CD transports and DAC's, the RVG's sound superb. But they are so system dependent I acknowledge they are for most not going to work out.

The Hancock Maiden Voyage is even closer to the RVG. I care not a whit about RVG narrowing the stereo spread, in fact, I find it highly desirable to make solid decisions to optimize the sound for modern times. The RVG sounds very good, the AP better, again particularly tonally, but not so much that it renders the RVG obsolete. As usual, the Japanese cover art is far more faithful to the originals than AP's scan job. I have a few other AP Blue Note SACD's - Mobley's Workout, Dexter's Go and Dexter Calling, Lee Morgan's Sidewinder - within a few inches, all the same verdict - good, safe remastering, not totally displacing the RVG, not in the class of the Music Matters vinyl. They are not anywhere near the much lamented XRCD Blue Note series sonically. I would not go out of my way for them, if there are any you must have, get them from Amazon at the cut rate price only.


On to the Impulse offerings from Analogue Production. The Paul Gonsalves and Sonny Stitt is a rare example of a relatively neglected Impulse catching Chad's attention - I am sure this has more to do with Chad's limited knowledge of the music than a conscious title selection, likely Chad saw Sonny Stitt's name and figured it was a good one for his conservative crowd. But it's a great title, more for Gonsalves, 5 great hot blowing tunes with a fine rhythm section and this Gray remastering sounds very fine. I have nothing to compare it to, which is just as well - I encountered it on it's own terms, and it's very recommendable.

The Elvin Jones is a lesser title. Like McCoy Tyner, Elvin did not do anywhere near his best work on Impulse. McCoy only became McCoy once he retooled and hit Milestone, and Elvin only emerged as an individual leader on Blue Note - and fairly well in to his Blue Note tenure at that. Sonically, I did not find this one as good as the Gonsalves/Stitt, and the Ellington/Coltrane I also tried was better too. The plus of this series is that Gray is mastering them without Hoffman - so Hoffman's tin ear isn't a factor here. Where I have a Japanese K2 remaster to compare. it's really a tossup, so for the most part, I'll stick with those K2's which for Impulse I find really haven't been significantly bettered.

I really wish that Blue Note - Audio Wave XRCD series would be revived. Better yet, I wish for a XRCD Impulse series, with better titles than AP are willing to do.