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SACD

Johnny Cash – Silver (1979) [Reissue 2003] [SACD / Columbia – CS 86791]

adminMarch 28, 2026 5 Views

Title: Johnny Cash – Silver (1979) [Reissue 2003]
Genre: Country
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Silver was a below-average Cash outing, due both to the routine material and the mixed attempt to update his sound with more modern production techniques. Brian Ahern, who produced Emmylou Harris, was at the helm of a set that often put a more contemporary sheen on the sound with filters and phase shifters. Plenty of session help was on hand as well, sometimes on trumpet and French horn, and it’s usually not a great sign when the list of players on some tracks run to more than a dozen. The idea was probably to make Cash sound less old-fashioned; the ironic result was to make it sound more dated and flat than most of the rest of his catalog, without comparing to his better recordings in the quality of the content. Still, erratic production can’t smother Cash’s strengths, and the record’s not terrible, just uninspired. Some of the better songs include his reading of Tom T. Hall’s “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore”; a cover of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” (a song that’s hard to ruin) with contributions from Ricky Skaggs, Wayne Jackson, and the Carter Family; and veteran cohort Jack Clement’s memorably titled “West Canterbury Subdivision Blues.” George Jones adds harmony vocals to “I’ll Say It’s True,” and the 2002 CD reissue on Columbia/Legacy adds two previously unreleased duets with Jones on remakes of the late-’50s Cash recordings “I Still Miss Someone” and “I Got Stripes”.

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2 min read

SACD

Johnny Cash – I Walk The Line (1964) [MFSL 2020] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2197]

adminMarch 28, 2026 3 Views

Title: Johnny Cash – I Walk The Line (1964) [MFSL 2020]
Genre: Country
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Originally released in 1964 on Columbia, produced by fellow Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Don Law, and featuring note-for-note re-recordings of several staples Johnny Cash made for Sun Records – including the title track, “Hey Porter”, and “Big River” – as well as several new originals, I Walk the Line cemented the singer’s place as the leading country artist of the era. Indeed, as the original liner notes state, “I Walk the Line offers Johnny Cash, renowned storyteller-in-song, at his creative and performing best”. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1967.

Now, for the first time in more than five decades, you can experience it in true-to-the-source mono courtesy of Mobile Fidelity’s meticulously restored reissue. Mastered from the original mono master tapes and limited to 2,500 numbered copies, the audiophile label’s hyper-clear disc broadcasts the inimitable sonics of the Man in Black’s cut-from-bedrock baritone, earnest acoustic strumming, and hand-in-glove band with utmost clarity, directness, and realism. Much has been rightly made about the sparse, deceivingly simple boom-chicka-boom sound of Cash’s righthand men, otherwise known as the Tennessee Three: bassist Marshall Grant, guitarist Luther Perkins, and drummer W.S. “Fluke” Holland. On this collectible edition of I Walk the Line, the trio’s steady, fundamental rhythms and fresh, driving beats resonate with a presence, solidity, and immediacy unavailable on any other Cash recording. Such are the advantages associated with going back to mono, which gets right to the core of the rough-and-tumble country tenor of songs such as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line.”

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2 min read

SACD

Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968) [Remastered Reissue 1999 (2002)] [SACD / Columbia – CS 65955]

adminMarch 28, 2026 4 Views

Title: Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968) [Remastered Reissue 1999 (2002)]
Genre: Country
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Folsom Prison looms large in Johnny Cash’s legacy, providing the setting for perhaps his definitive song and the location for his definitive album, At Folsom Prison. The ideal blend of mythmaking and gritty reality, At Folsom Prison is the moment when Cash turned into the towering Man in Black, a haunted troubadour singing songs of crime, conflicted conscience, and jail. Surely, this dark outlaw stance wasn’t a contrivance but it was an exaggeration, with Cash creating this image by tailoring his set list to his audience of prisoners, filling up the set with tales of murder and imprisonment — a bid for common ground with the convicts, but also a sly way to suggest that maybe Cash really did shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Given the cloud of death that hangs over the songs on At Folsom Prison, there’s a temptation to think of it as a gothic, gloomy affair or perhaps a repository of rage, but what’s striking about Cash’s performance is that he never romanticizes either the crime or the criminals: if anything, he underplays the seriousness with his matter-of-fact ballad delivery or how he throws out wry jokes. Cash is relating to the prisoners and he’s entertaining them too, singing “Cocaine Blues” like a bastard on the run, turning a death sentence into literal gallows humor on “25 Minutes to Go,” playing “I Got Stripes” as if it were a badge of pride. Never before had his music seemed so vigorous as it does here, nor had he tied together his humor, gravity, and spirituality in one record. In every sense, it was a breakthrough, but more than that, At Folsom Prison is the quintessential Johnny Cash album, the place where his legend burns bright and eternal.

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2 min read

SACD

John Mayer – Heavier Things (2003) [SACD / Columbia – CH 90746]

adminMarch 28, 2026 6 Views

Title: John Mayer – Heavier Things (2003)
Genre: Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

John Mayer’s big-label debut was a multiplatinum breakthrough success whose sensual anthem “Your Body Is a Wonderland” scored him an unlikely Grammy for Best Pop Vocal. That out-of-the-box succes–and more than a few critics grousing that Mayer’s muse was cloned from Dave Matthews–primed him for the typical sophomore slump. Instead, Mayer delivers an album whose tone and title suggests a gentle, tongue-in-cheek rebuke to his naysayers. Propelled by the subtle ambitions of an expanded pop-jazz framework (largely courtesy of Sheryl Crow/No Doubt/Jellyfish producer Jack Joseph Puig), Mayer’s breathy vocal tack now suggests a detached, conflicted, and significantly less precious incarnation of Michael Franks. But, the way he weds fluid pop hooks to lyrical concerns whose self-obsessions are undercut by telling dollops of self-deprecation from the my-spirit’s-too-big/smart-for-my-body laments of “Clarity,” the upbeat single “Bigger Than My Body,” and the bluesy plea “Come Back to Bed” to the cautionary, melodically-rich “Daughters” and even the antimaterialist agitprop of “Something’s Missing” should clearly draw in listeners.

Don’t take the title of John Mayer’s Heavier Things literally. Mayer offers nothing heavy on the follow-up to his breakthrough hit, Room for Squares — nothing heavy in the music and nothing heavy in the lyrics. No, Mayer is smooth, slick, and streamlined on his second or third album (it all depends if you count his 1999 debut, Inside Wants Out, half of which was re-recorded for Room for Squares, which itself was released in two different incarnations), playing things straight and following the blueprint his big radio hit, “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” provided. The title Heavier Things does reflect his new directness, lacking the lithe playfulness that resulted in a Hank Mobley joke, of all things, for an album title last time out. That extends to the rest of the album — the humor and interesting wordplay have been toned down, leaving very little ambiguity. Actually, there’s little left unexplained on the record, with every song on the album spread across several grids explaining where they were written and how many beats per minute they are, breaking them down into keywords, charting what “suggested target points” on the body the song should hit (tellingly, not one track is targeted at the crotch), and even grouping the songs together by key. The latter is a bit of a mistake, since it shows that for all those jazzy major and minor seventh chords gliding by in his songs, he’s keeping his songwriting pretty simple, sticking to D, E, F, G, and A, with a G minor thrown in for good measure. This, of course, is not really a problem for listeners, since most listeners don’t care how a song is written as long as it sounds good, but this does confirm that he’s kept things simple, concentrating on how the record sounds and feels. And, as a piece of mood music, this is really quite effective, delivering on how “Your Body Is a Wonderland” sounds, with some really nice lush, laid-back textures and songs that are melodic without being truly catchy. It’s music that floats through the speakers nicely and never leaves much of a lasting impression; it’s how a jazzier, laid-back, less adventurous, and MOR-oriented Dave Matthews would sound. Mayer is now more of a record-maker than songwriter, which will undoubtedly dishearten those who liked the song-oriented Inside Wants Out, but those who just enjoyed the sound and feel of Room for Squares should feel right at home.

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4 min read

SACD

John Mayall & Friends – Along For The Ride (2001) [Audio Fidelity SACD 2003] [SACD / Audio Fidelity – AFZ 016]

adminMarch 28, 2026 6 Views

Title: John Mayall & Friends – Along For The Ride (2001) [Audio Fidelity SACD 2003]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

By the time this was released in 2001, John Mayall was more known for the people who played in his seminal British band, the Bluesbreakers rather than his own accomplishments. The success of 1999’s Padlock on the Blues afforded Mayall the opportunity to fulfill his dreams and gather an all-star lineup of blues and rock luminaries. “A World of Hurt” and “That’s Why I Love You So” both typify the good but not great groove that permeates Along for the Ride. Better tracks “Yo Yo Man” and “Early in the Morning” are easygoing blues that feature the great rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. Fellow Fleetwood Mac and Bluesbreaker alum, the reclusive Peter Green plays acoustic slide guitar on “Yo-Yo Man.” “So Many Roads” has Mayall dueting with Otis Rush, and it soon becomes a contest on who sounds more disgruntled. The playful “Testify” features vocals and subtle guitar lines from blues phenom Shannon Curfman. This ends on the strong note. The powerful and wry “She Don’t Play By the Rules” has Mayall with arguably the strongest and most subtle band with Mick Taylor on lead guitar and Andy Fairweather Low on acoustic guitar. Along for the Ride is produced, engineered, and mixed by David Z. Despite the camaraderie, a lot of the hooks here don’t stick, and fans of Mayall and superstar sessions will get the most from this effort.

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2 min read

SACD

John Mayall & Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (1966) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011] [SACD / Universal – UIGY-9043]

adminMarch 28, 2026 6 Views

Title: John Mayall & Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (1966) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011 # UIGY-9043]
Genre:
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Features the 2010 DSD mastering based on UK original analog tape. Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Kevin Vanbergen. Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton was Eric Clapton’s first fully realized album as a blues guitarist — more than that, it was a seminal blues album of the 1960s, perhaps the best British blues album ever cut, and the best LP ever recorded by John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Standing midway between Clapton’s stint with the Yardbirds and the formation of Cream, this album featured the new guitar hero on a series of stripped-down blues standards, Mayall pieces, and one Mayall/Clapton composition, all of which had him stretching out in the idiom for the first time in the studio. This album was the culmination of a very successful year of playing with John Mayall, a fully realized blues creation, featuring sounds very close to the group’s stage performances, and with no compromises. Credit has to go to producer Mike Vernon for the purity and simplicity of the record; most British producers of that era wouldn’t have been able to get it recorded this way, much less released. One can hear the very direct influence of Buddy Guy and a handful of other American bluesmen in the playing. And lest anyone forget the rest of the quartet: future pop/rock superstar John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint provide a rock-hard rhythm section, and Mayall’s organ playing, vocalizing, and second guitar are all of a piece with Clapton’s work. His guitar naturally dominates most of this record, and he can also be heard taking his first lead vocal, but McVie and Flint are just as intense and give the tracks an extra level of steel-strung tension and power, none of which have diminished across several decades.

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2 min read

SACD

John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy (1980) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] [SACD / Universal Music – UIGY-9650]

adminMarch 28, 2026 4 Views

Title: John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy (1980) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO

The most distinctive thing about Double Fantasy, the last album John Lennon released during his lifetime, is the very thing that keeps it from being a graceful return to form from the singer/songwriter, returning to active duty after five years of self-imposed exile. As legend has it, Lennon spent those years in domestic bliss, being a husband, raising a baby, and, of course, baking bread. Double Fantasy was designed as a window into that bliss and, to that extent, he decided to make it a joint album with Yoko Ono, to illustrate how complete their union was. For her part, Ono decided to take a stab at pop and while these are relatively tuneful for her, they nevertheless disrupt the feel and flow of Lennon’s material, which has a consistent tone and theme. He’s surprisingly sentimental, not just when he’s expressing love for his wife (“Dear Yoko,” “Woman”) and child (“Beautiful Boy [Darling Boy]”), but when he’s coming to terms with his quiet years (“Watching the Wheels,” “Cleanup Time”) and his return to creative life. These are really nice tunes, and what’s special about them is their niceness — it’s a sweet acceptance of middle age, which, of course, makes his assassination all the sadder. For that alone, Double Fantasy is noteworthy, yet it’s hard not to think that it’s a bit of a missed opportunity — primarily because its themes would be stronger without the Ono songs, but also because the production is just a little bit too slick and constrained, sounding very much of its time. Ultimately, these complaints fall by the wayside because Lennon’s best songs here cement the last part of his legend, capturing him at peace and in love. According to some reports, that perception was a bit of a fantasy, but sometimes the fantasy means more than the reality, and that’s certainly the case here.

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2 min read

SACD

John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll (1975) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] [SACD / Universal Music – UIGY-9649]

adminMarch 28, 2026 5 Views

Title: John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll (1975) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO

Although the chaotic sessions that spawned this album have passed into rock & roll legend and the recording’s very genesis (as an out-of-court settlement between John Lennon and an aggrieved publisher) has often caused it to be slighted by many of the singer’s biographers, Rock ‘n’ Roll, in fact, stands as a peak in his post-Imagine catalog: an album that catches him with nothing to prove and no need to try. Lennon could, after all, sing old rock & roll numbers with his mouth closed; he spent his entire career relaxing with off-the-cuff blasts through the music with which he grew up, and Rock ‘n’ Roll emerges the sound of him doing precisely that. Four songs survive from the fractious sessions with producer Phil Spector in late 1973 that ignited the album, and listeners to any of the posthumous compilations that also draw from those archives will know that the best tracks were left on the shelf — “Be My Baby” and “Angel Baby” among them. But a gorgeous run through Lloyd Price’s “Just Because” wraps up the album in fine style, while a trip through “You Can’t Catch Me” contrarily captures a playful side that Lennon rarely revealed on vinyl. The remainder of the album was cut a year later with Lennon alone at the helm, and the mood remains buoyant. It might not, on first glance, seem essential to hear him running through nuggets like “Be Bop A Lula,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Bring It on Home to Me,” but, again, Lennon has seldom sounded so gleeful as he does on these numbers, while the absence of the Spector trademark Wall-of-Sound production is scarcely noticeable — as the object of one of Lennon’s own productions, David Peel once pointed out, “John had the Wall of Sound down perfectly himself.” Released in an age when both David Bowie and Bryan Ferry had already tracked back to musical times-gone-by (Pin-Ups and These Foolish Things, respectively), Rock ‘n’ Roll received short shrift from contemporary critics. As time passed, however, it has grown in stature, whereas those other albums have merely held their own. Today, Rock ‘n’ Roll sounds fresher than the rock & roll that inspired it in the first place. Imagine that.

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2 min read

SACD

John Lennon – Walls And Bridges (1974) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] [SACD / Universal Music – UIGY-9648]

adminMarch 28, 2026 5 Views

Title: John Lennon – Walls And Bridges (1974) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO

Walls and Bridges was recorded during John Lennon’s infamous “lost weekend,” as he exiled himself in California during a separation from Yoko Ono. Lennon’s personal life was scattered, so it isn’t surprising that Walls and Bridges is a mess itself, containing equal amounts of brilliance and nonsense. Falling between the two extremes was the bouncy Elton John duet “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” which was Lennon’s first solo number one hit. Its bright, sunny surface was replicated throughout the record, particularly on middling rockers like “What You Got” but also on enjoyable pop songs like “Old Dirt Road.” However, the best moments on Walls and Bridges come when Lennon is more open with his emotions, like on “Going Down on Love,” “Steel and Glass,” and the beautiful, soaring “No. 9 Dream.” Even with such fine moments, the album is decidedly uneven, containing too much mediocre material like “Beef Jerky” and “Ya Ya,” which are weighed down by weak melodies and heavy over-production. It wasn’t a particularly graceful way to enter retirement.

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1 min read

SACD

John Lennon – Mind Games (1973) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] [SACD / Universal Music – UIGY-9647]

adminMarch 28, 2026 3 Views

Title: John Lennon – Mind Games (1973) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO

After the hostile reaction to the politically charged Sometime in New York City, John Lennon moved away from explicit protest songs and returned to introspective songwriting with Mind Games. Lennon didn’t leave politics behind — he just tempered his opinions with humor on songs like “Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple),” which happened to undercut the intention of the song. It also indicated the confusion that lies at the heart of the album. Lennon doesn’t know which way to go, so he tries everything. There are lovely ballads like “Out of the Blue” and “One Day (At a Time),” forced, ham-fisted rockers like “Meat City” and “Tight A$,” sweeping Spectoresque pop on “Mind Games,” and many mid-tempo, indistinguishable pop/rockers. While the best numbers are among Lennon’s finest, there’s only a handful of them, and the remainder of the record is simply pleasant. But compared to Sometime in New York City, as well as the subsequent Walls and Bridges, Mind Games sounded like a return to form.

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1 min read