Gary Paczosa mixes another one!!! Little Sparrow

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Bob Romano

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Well this has certainly been my year for SACD M/C surprises. It is abslolutely amazing what a new set of 4 matched speakers can do to improve your listening.

Though I really like the mixes on the Beck and Gabriel discs, my favorite mixes this year have all been from Gary Paczosa. He has mixed the Alison Krauss discs, Nickel Creek, and now I find Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow".

Man, what a well played and mixed sacd. This is another really aggressive rear channel mix. Dolly is always in the center solo but also spread across the front. Harmonies and backgrounds seem to mixed across the front as well but they seem to be mixed hotter in the rears. Instruments are well placed all around like as if you were sitting in Dolly's living room with the band sitting around you. You feel like you are right there. And once again a nice smooth bass track in the sub.

Several tracks just jump out at you. Collective Soul's "Shine" scared the crap out of me at first. I was not expecting a banjo from the rear right and I had it kind of loud. Then a guitar from the rear left and then the rest fills in. This disc is unbeleivably crisp and clear (completely on par with AKUS and Nickel Creek).

If you like bluegrass music... this is another can't miss!!

Other stand out tracks include:
Seven Bridges Road
Little Sparrow
Marry Me
A Tender Lie

My one gripe is not with the disc but the record company. The disc has a big sticker on the front that says HYBRID STEREO. If I hadn't turned it over and actually looked at it I would have never found the M/C logo at the bottom.

Dolly's other SACD is stereo only. I think it's called Halos and Horns. I would love to find some more mixes by Gary Paczosa. Anybody know any others?? I would also love to hear his mixing skills on music other than bluegrass.
 
Gary Pacoza has also done the engineering for the new Jerry Douglas Hybrid Stereo SACD on Sugar Hill.
 
I was wondering just how "blue grass" you'd classify this. I'm not a fan of that genre in particular, but I do like Dolly. Haven't heard any of the music from Little Sparrow because I've been avoiding the "blue grass" designation. Any suggestions?

And yeah, I love Nickel Creek's This Side SACD, but that's not exactly blue grass. Or is it, when compared to Little Sparrow?
 
If you have heard any of the Alison Krauss cds, especially "Live", and even Nickel Creek, the insturmentation is identical. As a matter of fact, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales and Chris Theile all play on Little Sparrow. I even think you could substitute Alison Krauss for Dolly and it would sound just like an AKUS cd. I think if you like Nickel Creek you will definitely like Little Sparrow. The only thing that is missing between Nickel Creek and Dolly is those odd little twists and turns that Nickel Creek does.
 
I think this lovely sounding album deserves its own Poll page. Dolly sounds truly sublime on this one and the playing is superb.
 
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