4 stars for the music, and an extra for the luscious sound
Jason P. Gold | Long Beach, CA | 05/07/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It is amazing to me that the balladeers of the late `60s and early `70s don't get any airplay on the classic rock stations. JT was, and remains, one of the best. He has one of the easiest to listen to voices I can recall hearing. Whether backed by only a six string guitar or the entire band, you can just sit back, close your eyes and relax. The songs on this album are classic JT, with no throw-away material. With the SACD version, you get very high quality sound reproduction. This recording is wonderfully warm, clean and open. You can hear the air around JT's voice. My breathing slows down listening to this SACD. This was the first SACD I purchased several years ago, and it still gets listened to more than many of the more recently purchased SACDs simply because of its sheer aural beauty.
Why buy the SACD? After listening to DVD-A and SACD for some time, I really have gotten to dislike listening to CDs because CDs sound harsh and brittle. CDs produce listening fatigue in minutes. It is hard to explain the subjective difference between the sound produced by SACD and DVD-Audio and the sound produced by a CD. Essentially, it is like trying to reproduce cool seaside air with the dry brittle air blowing out of an airconditioning nozzle in a jet airplane. In a very literal sense, the CD format is like playing a violin with a hack saw -- there is simply no way to smooth out the saw teeth sufficiently to make it sound correct. SACD and DVD-Audio fix the problem by giving you enough data to filter out the audible errors created by digitizing analog sound.
Enjoy!"
As good at it gets
L. Harris | Winter Haven, FL USA | 12/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've been listening to James Taylor since he first came to prominence in the early 1970s. I can think of no other voice that moves me more or another artist who makes me feel as if all is right with the world than this man at his peak, as he is here. This is wonderful James Taylor. I could do without 'Hangnail,' but everything else is as good as it gets, which is quite an accomplishment for an artist who was one of the most popular in his field 35 years ago.
On a technical note, I have a 7.1 audio system to do this justice. The result is amazing. The multichannel mix is well done. Generally subtle, every once in a while the rear channels have a surprise that reminds me why I have full range speakers with 200W amps for the rear channels."