Well, I happen to be a big Livingston Taylor fan. I have met him and seen him many times, and for those of you who only know him as "James Taylor's little brother", you are missing out on a great artist and performer. Even if you have never heard a note of his music, you should seek him out in concert. You will come out smiling and very glad that you went.
That being said, this album was originally created to showcase the Chesky audiophile CD line. As such, we have Liv here singing "familiar" songs that the average Joe would know. There are a few originals that Liv re-recorded for this release, but in my opinion they are no substitute for the original recordings on his studio albums. As far as the other titles go (the covers), I personally could do without Liv singing most of these, mainly because I know that the man is far too talented a songwriter to be singing these "standards". UGH!
Aside from "Fly Away", which is a great tune on it's own, the other non-Liv penned tunes are "just alright with me".
So, you now know that this is my least favorite of Liv's albums, and just my luck, Chesky has released this CD (which was also available as a DAD) as a multichannel SACD!!
Well, I could not find this disc anywhere, so I ordered it from Elusive Disc. I fired it up and played a bit of the tunes I liked, then dragged it upstairs to view the wav files.
I am sad to report that this is basically an ambience release, with a .1 LFE track. There is absolutely nothing in the center channel, and the rears merely echo the fronts at a lower amplitude with what sounds like a bit of delay or "space".
The effect, although pleasing, is rather disappointing. Even if they threw in a solo guitar or SOMETHING in the rears, I would have been pleased, but no.
Again, it is a very clear and nice sounding presentation. It does sound like he is in the room with you, and this album is not a big, over-produced thing where there would be a lot of room for the rears to shine. It is just a bit disappointing to a quad freak like me.
Those who like the ambience sound will be thrilled, however, as I said it is a great SOUNDING recording.
Anyway, I have rambled on long enough over an SACD that most of you will never hear.
Later
:-jon
