A Major Source of Joy
If you own no Elvis, this is a great place to start. A sparkling collection of raw rock, pop and wail. Songs get progressively more pop/sugar ballad down the list; the listener can feel the influence (sigh) of the market on the choice of songs. There are some bizarre songs like "Wooden Heart", but many keepers that make the disc a real treasure. I can't help wondering what Elvis would think of the "Conversation" remix. Hmmm.
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1st Class Audio, Slightly Missed Opportunity
I have tortured over whether this DVD-A release of Elvis Presley deserves a 4 rating or a 5. It seems a bit unfair to award a 4 though, as it's been beautifully and carefully mixed for 5.1 sound. Apart from that, anyone that releases music on a hi-res format (DVD-A or SACD) deserves to be praised in my opinion. It's high time that the standard CD died out, and made way for these better formats. On the other hand, this release is a bit of a missed opportunity, as it doesn't offer any other audio options, apart from compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 or high definition MLP 5.1. Although this means that anyone with a DVD player can play this disc (something to be praised), why weren't stereo and/or mono options offered? This is exactly what was offered on the superb Beach Boys Pet Sounds DVD-A. Such options surely widen the appeal of these releases, pleasing both those that insist that music should be released in the originally released format, but also offering a new twist for those that like surround mixed music. As mentioned briefly before though, I feel the 5.1 mix has been very subtly arranged, creating a very "delicate" surround feel.
What else do you get for your money? Well, the disc comes in a standard CD jewel case, as opposed to the more common DVD-A Super Jewel Box. It appears to have a generic booklet supplied, which would have also been provided with the CD release, and a one sheet sleeve mentioning the benefits of DVD Audio. All the tracks listed by Amazon amount to about 80 minutes of music - which is good. A slight pity that absolutely no video or on screen info is provided about the disc, but at least somebody had the confidence to do a DVD-A release in the first place. We need a lot more hi-res releases!!
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