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Label: |
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Island - http://www.islandrecords.com/ |
Serial: |
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B000360736 |
Title: |
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Elton John: Elton John |
Description: |
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"Elton John"
Elton John |
Track listing: |
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1. Your Song
2. I Need You To Turn To
3. Take Me To The Pilot
4. No Shoe Strings On Louise
5. First Episode At Hienton
6. Sixty Years On
7. Border Song
8. The Greatest Discovery
9. The Cage
10. The King Must Die
11. Bad Side of the Moon
12. Grey Seal
13. Rock n Roll Madonna |
Genre: |
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Pop/Rock |
Content: |
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Stereo/Multichannel |
Media: |
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Hybrid |
Recording type: |
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Recording info: |
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Produced by Gus Dudgon
Surround sound produced, mixed and mastered by Greg Penny at Flower Surround, Ojai, California
Digital transfer by Ricky Graham at Sphere Studios, London
DSD editing by Gus Skinas at Super Audio Center, Boulder, Colorado
Original stereo mixes re-mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis Mastering, London |
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Review by peteyspambucket November 17, 2004 (17 of 17 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
YOUR SONG - Elton's voice is so lovely back in his 2nd album. It receives a gorgeous focus on the center channel. The guitars and harps are so clear that you can hear that they weren't perfectly in tune with each other. :-) The strings are in the rear channels and are very clear, and sound GREAT in the last note. Bass and percussion sound very lifelike.
I NEED YOU TO TURN TO - Harpsichord is isolated in the left channel, Elton in the center. The small string orchestra in mainly from the rear channels. The winding violin figures are clearer than ever.
TAKE ME TO THE PILOT - The bassline will vibrate your living room, and show you how progressive and soulful his writing always was. The various piano riffs move around in position. The guitar solo is clearer than ever.
NO SHOE STRINGS ON LOUISE - the funny background vocals are very clear, and you can finally hear that they are trying to "ham it up". Acoustic guitars are really clear, and come from the rear channels. The enhanced sound really captures the mood of the song much better than before.
FIRST EPISODE AT HIENTON - This song receives a great emotional boost from the clarity of the harp and guitar and the synthesizer being separated in the soundstage.
SIXTY YEARS ON - The harp solo is so clear! The string orchestra is very, very well isolated. The subtley of the instruments around the solo voice is the perfect balance.
BORDER SONG - HOLY MOSES, this sounds great. :-)
THE GREATEST DISCOVERY - The strings sound so gorgeous here, and it's recorded very close to the instruments. Elton's voice here highlights his great storytelling vocals. The bass drum is more prominent than before and changes the mood of the song a little. I wish the final calls from the brass were more prominent as they were in RBCD.
THE CAGE - Guitar solos and brass?? I didn't even notice them before! The synthesizer solo with rock your house.
THE KING MUST DIE - The percussion entrance is amazingly lifelike! The song builds to an exciting climax with layer upon layer of instrumentation adding up to make a stunning ending to the original content of this album.
The bonus tracks are great, and they have never ever sounded better. The original version of Grey Seal is SO different, and I have always liked this version better.
Like the others in this set of six Elton John SACDs that were released 11/9/04, the standard is very high. If you love the songs on this album, you must have this SACD.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Review by fredblue May 19, 2009 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
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I find this to be the second least enthralling of the Elton John SACD's from a Multi-channel sound quality and presentation point of view. Peachtree Road grabs that "distinction" but more of that when I come to review it later.
Despite that, this SACD is still incredible! That gives you an idea of how highly I rate the others! It is crazy how the remastering and remixing of this now 39-year old material enables the music to (at times) literally seem to leap out from the speakers in all directions, while seldom seeming gimmicky or out of place!
Even slightly tired "evergreens" like "Your Song" and "Border Song" are massively re-energised on this disc and the deeper cuts and fan favourites, such as "Sixty Years On" and "The King Must Die" are presented with such drama, at times it is breathtaking and you feel like you are really "hearing" this work in new and exciting ways.
Whether it's the impressive use of the rears to present the strings and the chorus of backing vocalists in a clarity I've never heard before in 20 years of listening to the LP/other CD releases, while seamlessly integrating them into the whole sound...
...Or the impressive "sharpening up" of the drums and bass, which always seemed so soft and lifeless, on RBCD in particular...
...Or that organ/mellotron solo in "The Cage" that now impressively resonates straight through you, when last time I heard it on rbcd it limped along in a mush between drums that once splashed around and now on SACD commandingly frill over the front speakers with the timbre of drums and not a wet milk carton!
So it's another essential M/C SACD for me, that is vastly superior to any previous edition I've ever owned.
While it is not as jaw-droppingly good as the likes of the SACD's of "Tumbleweed Connection", "Madman..", "Captain Fantastic.." or "Honky Chateau", it is still head and shoulders above a good few others I have and to say it has made me all but dispense with my old LP and rbcd's of this album is really the highest praise I can give it as these were previously treasured discs in my collection.
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Review by analogue February 24, 2009 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
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It's a little scary looking for classic rock albums on sacd. Its easy to pick up a wrong one and be disapointed.
Universal Music released 5 sacd's from the early part of Elton John's career. I believe the transfers were done using high resolution pcm 24/192. They were then transferred to dad for these releases.
The sound is magnificent and transparent. Music stands out three dimentionally, it's full and rich and warm........... Elton's voice is rendered incribly realistic with great presence. The sound is also warm and beware.............the bass is extremely heavy. The bass was truncated on the vinyl releases as it uses up to much space in the vinyl groove. Well it's here in full force and who would have thought???
I am not going to explain my thoughts on every single song on this sacd as I am sure you know them well. But instruments and voices are fantastic. The music of Elton;s early years is truly amazing and his voice during this period is really a marvel to listen to. He sounds awesome on this sacd.
Another classic rock album released in sacd and it;s a pleasure to hear it in all it's new found glory. A release like this really shows off the sacd technology.
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