HiRez Poll Joel, Billy - 52ND STREET [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Billy Joel - 52nd STREET


  • Total voters
    69
After listening to The Stranger SACD first, not quite as enthralled with 52nd Street. But considering The Stranger's super strong song selection and near immaculate surround presentation, it would be impossible to meet or exceed that experience.

52nd Street starts off strong with 3 radio hits, from therein most of the songs were at best vaguely familiar. I suspect I may have heard this album in its entirety maybe once or twice before. The immediate connection isn't there with 2/3 of the songs but I'll come back again soon and give it a chance.

The surround mix is on the "very good" level, nothing interesting. Very workman kind of presentation. This is an older album, there may not have been as much discrete material on the masters to work with. Giving it a 9, unlikely the mix will "improve" in time but perhaps my enjoyment of tracks 4 onward will.

Looking forward to Piano Man at the end of February 2024. My expectations tempered after hearing 52nd Street and realizing these earlier Billy Joel albums present some challenges for the surround mixing engineers.
 
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