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Review by compassionateman March 4, 2012 (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  |
Totally Hot!
This is the umpteenth version of Physical I've bought. Aside from the vinyl, cassette, video album/laser disc, the original US MCA CD was one of my first compact disc purchases. Since then, there has been the Australian version from 1998, the UK remaster from (about) 2001 (one of the best) and the most recent, the 2010 Japanese SHM CD edition.
The latter was actually one of the worst, to my ears. Overly compressed and bass heavy, there was a fair amount of clipping and distortion throughout as well. At least the MLPS was a triumph!
This 2012 SACD of Physical makes more commercial sense than last year's Come On Over. Physical became the best selling (non soundtrack) album of ONJ's career spurred on to further sales glory by the aforementioned video album which was re-formatted to become the 1982 TV special, Let's Get Physical.
Olivia only did 3 real 'rock' albums and Physical is certainly the most technically proficient. She was never really a rock singer but the songs on Physical are better suited to her voice than those on 1978's Totally Hot and 1985's Soul Kiss.
And this SACD is The Best The Album Has Ever Sounded. Yes, again! Physical isn't as musical an album as Come On Over. It was the 80s and there are synths, but the sound here is smooth, ballanced and completely natural. It's not artificially loud and there are significant improvements on all the material. However, it's the ballads that really shine. Falling, Carried Away and The Promise (The Dolphin Song) have new life breathed into them.
Opening track (and album highlight for me) Landslide is the most vocally demanding track for Olivia and can sound a bit screechy and annoying given the wrong treatment. Here it's just great and you can actually hear Olivia's voice tiring as she approaches the end of the song. Come to think of it, that's probably not a good thing!
The sleeve artwork is lovely and features the original gatefold along with a fold-out flap containing a reproduction of the picture/lyric inner. No poster, though. Never mind!
Summing up, this edition of Physical is amazing and I simply can't imagine it ever sounding better. True, a 5.1 mix would have been fun and there are no bonus tracks but I still can't recommend it highly enough.
Please can we have the Xanadu soundtrack and Totally Hot next?!
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Review by FagenFan August 8, 2012 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
What's the point of re-mastering this without any kind of mch mix?
Ok, for the sake of memorabilia, this is too good a money making opp for UM for to pass up, let's just do a quickie and get it over with.
Sonics wise, after volume level compensation, I actually found the sound to be a bit too smooth and lacking in "air" compared to my black triangle CD. The Japanese CD remaster (CP35-3065) is by no means bright, nor does it have artificial air. It just sounds less dull and flat compared to the SACD on my system. ONJ's voice also seems warmer and closer on CD. Its average DR is 14, while the new SHM-SACD's average DR is 12.
I've confirmed this on various headphones and two hi fi systems in the same room. YMMV of course. The SACD sounds dry and not very involving to my ears. Disappointed. But the idea of having ONJ's works on SACD is always hopeful of bringing newfound pleasure to fans like me. Hope to see Totally Hot and Soul Kiss remastered well on SACD someday. :D
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