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AUDIOPHILE: DIGITAL COMPACT DISC SUPERAUDIO DVD BLU-RAY VINYL DOWNLOAD

THE FEMININE COMPLEX HELEN REDDY VARIOUS ARTISTS
Livin’ Love I Am Woman & Long Hard Climb STS 40th Anniversary In Sound Excellence
Modern Harmonic MHCD-204 Vocalion CDLK4627 STS Digital 6195 CD111
As The Go-Go’s continue to perpetuate the Dating from 1972/3 and continuing What I love about label samplers is that

myth that they were the first all-girl band to Vocalion’s crusade to make available via they afford audiophiles, who moan louder
play their own instruments, write their own SACD those long-inaccessible quadraphonic than anyone about prices, to get a taste of
songs and misuse apostrophes, Modern recordings of the era, the late Helen a company’s output without buying some

Harmonic finds more killer distaff outfi ts Reddy’s hit-filled third and fourth albums £50 release which turns out to be a musical
which predate them. This is from the late represent her commercial peak and they’ve void. This 15-track collection contains
1960s, with a pedigree based on the band’s acquired new relevance. The title track of vocals and instrumentals, jazz and classical
Nashville origins, though the cult status is the first of the pair says it all, a feminist material, taken mainly from STS’s back

due more to the original LP’s rarity than anthem that – while almost restrained by catalogue. Unique to it and thus adding
any hoped-for proto-Runaways punkishness. today’s protest methodology – reminds us value are five classical selections recorded

Reissued a few times, and augmented that ‘plus ça change’. She was a great belter at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw by pianist
by unreleased tracks, it’s soft rock in The as well as a crooner, and here her taste was Gabriella Rynveld-Käfer, better known to
Carpenters vein and could have been both impeccable and catholic, covering audiophiles as Gaby of Crystal Cable. The
overseen by Burt Bacharach. What surprises songs by Mann/Weil, Don McLean, Percy sound throughout is, of course, to high-end

is the sound quality, though you don’t have Mayfield, John Sebastian and others of note. standards, so consider this a handy demo
to be a musicologist to guess the era. KK And the production is superb. KK CD to carry with you shop-to-shop. KK
Sound Quality: 85% Sound Quality: 90% Sound Quality: 90%
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DON GRUSIN
Out Of Thin Air
Octave Records OCT-0001 (SACD + DVD)
PS Audio’s new label is unashamedly
‘audiophile’ in every way, ticking all the boxes
that entice the enthusiast. How so? This
inaugural release is 1) a double-disc affair,
containing an SACD and a DVD so you can do
your own comparisons, 2) the music itself is
superbly-recorded solo piano, all the better to
judge without distraction, 3) all the studio kit is
itemised and 4) the player is a jazz hero (whose
brother Dave is responsible for early audiophile
LPs). OK, maybe I just described a throwback to
the late 1970s, but this is a vibrant recording
that will make you sit up in your chair, so real is
the experience. It may not get played to death
in your system, but trust me: you will use it to
dazzle like-minded visitors. KK

Sound Quality: 95%
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