Title: Born – At The End Of The Day (2005)
Genre: Pop Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Born Stuyven is a Dutch singer/songwriter, rock & roll style who made a name with his previous bands Thunderin’ Hearts & Enos. “At The End Of The Day” is his debut solo album. This sentimental rock & roll album contains a couple very strong songs.
Title: Gustav Leonhardt – Bach: Goldberg Variatione (1965/2024)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO
![Friedrich Gulda - Bach: Das wohltemperierte Klavier [4 SACDs] (1972-1973/2020)](https://imghd.xyz/images/2025/02/27/ddeb56d3e0ba8460e6b40b89a4c7e08b.jpg "Friedrich Gulda - Bach: Das wohltemperierte Klavier [4 SACDs] (1972-1973/2020)")
Title: Friedrich Gulda – Bach: Das wohltemperierte Klavier [4 SACDs] (1972-1973/2020)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO
90th anniversary of Gurda’s birth and 20th anniversary of his death, one of Gurda’s greatest masterpieces recorded on MPS from 1972 to the following year. The latest reissue reproduces a variety of touches and textures better than ever before! Mastered only in the analog domain and converted directly to DSD! New reissue from the original MPS analog tape in Japan. Excellent recording. World’s first SACD release! This is a masterpiece among masterpieces, session-recorded by MPS, a former West German jazz label, from 1972 to the following year. The brilliant technique and rare inspiration of Goulda, who was in his early 40s at the time of recording, have long reigned as the top historical recording of the “law of averages” played on the piano. They have been reissued many times since the LP era, but their sudden revival on the MPS label in 2015 on CD brought back their fresh, crisp tone and made a huge impact on fans and non-fans alike. This latest reissue is not only the first SACD, but it is also a permanent reissue with the original jacket design. The MPS label was sold to Polygram in 1983, and in the CD era was reissued on the PHILIPS label, but in 2014 it was transferred to the Edel Group, which owns Berlin Classics and other labels. Later, in June 2015, the aforementioned CD, reissued from the original analog master tapes stored at MPS, was released, and as you know it was quite controversial at the time. The CD is no longer available, but for this reissue, the original MPS analog master tapes were used, and the mastering was done by the famous engineer Christoph Stickel, just as we have done for the previous Berlin Classics releases. The mastering was done with the utmost care to preserve the best possible sound quality in the package, so you can enjoy Gulda’s performance with more precision and density than ever before. The piano tone has a heavy weight to it, and the sound is more natural and easier to listen to than ever before. The more you listen to this superb masterpiece, the more deeply you will appreciate it, and it has been beautifully revived in high sound quality.
For this reissue, the master tapes were flown from the label to Vienna-based mastering engineer Christoph Stickel’s studio, mastered in the analog domain, and then digitized using separate systems for DSD for the SACD layer and PCM for the CD layer. The project was then digitized into a product. This project realized the ideal method of mastering as far as currently conceivable. The effect is remarkable: it is possible to reproduce the quality of the master tapes with extreme fidelity, and the mastering in the analog domain only and direct DSD conversion have further enhanced the sound quality. The manual also includes a photograph of the outer box of the original analog master tape used in this project. ＜Mastering engineer (including DSD conversion): Mr. Christoph Stickel – in Vienna. He was in charge of mastering the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra’s self-produced recordings as well as the ECM SACD project (2017~) for Tower’s Jazz project. SACD layer: Directly converted to DSD after mastering in the analog domain from a new analog master tape in the home country CD layer: Similarly mastered in the analog domain. CD layer: Similarly mastered in analog domain, digitized at 96kHz/24bit in high quality, then converted to 44.1kHz/16bit Each digital data is not transmitted, but flown in on an optical disc
![Anner Bylsma - Bach: Suites for Violoncello Solo, BWV1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1992/2019)](https://imghd.xyz/images/2025/03/22/8a9ad54b21e73c8c717c762a203cbeb7.jpg "Anner Bylsma - Bach: Suites for Violoncello Solo, BWV1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1992/2019)")
Title: Anner Bylsma – Bach: Suites for Violoncello Solo, BWV1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1992/2019)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO
Anner Bylsma, a cellist with a long history of baroque cello activity, passed away on July 25. He was 85 years old. Bilsma was born in February 1934 in The Hague, the Netherlands, and was one of the leaders of the Dutch antique music movement, along with Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord) and France Brugghen (flute and recorder). In honor of Mr. Bilsma’s achievements, we are releasing his representative masterpiece of Bach on SACD hybrid. This is Bilsma’s second recording of Bach’s “Suite for Unaccompanied Cello” in its entirety. In 1979, Birsma recorded the complete works on baroque cello (SEON label), which was highly acclaimed worldwide, and in this new recording made in 1992, he uses a Stradivari called “Servais” made in 1701, the so-called “modern cello,” to present a new approach to this infinite This new recording, made in 1992, uses a Stradivari cello called the “Servais” (1701), or “modern cello,” to shed new light on this “cello bible” with its infinite possibilities. This is a bold challenge by Bylsma, who is always in pursuit of new possibilities.
Title: Staatskapelle Dresden, Kurt Sanderling – Borodin: Symphony No. 2, In the Steppes of Central Asia – Franck: Symphony in D minor (1960-1964/2021)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO
A project for the 10th anniversary of Sanderling’s death. The “superb performance” recorded in 1960 has been revived in the present age. Including the famous Franck. The performance is reproduced in high sound quality. New reissue from the original ETERNA analog tape. World’s first SACD release! Mastered only in the analog domain and directly converted to DSD! The 11th SACD hybridization of the latest reissue project of ETERNA’s original analog tapes in Japan. It is also known as an excellent early stereo recording by ETERA. The thick sound from the beginning gives a dignified atmosphere similar to Kleiber’s, and this is one of the best recordings of this piece as well as the aforementioned Kleiber and the old PHILIPS Kondrashin & RCO live recording. Furthermore, the Sanderling recording is a session recording and was made by C. Streuben at the time, so there is no doubt that it is an exceptional recording that fulfills both performance and recording requirements. The recording also reminds me of the DECCA Martinon & LSO recording of the same period. The original analog master tape, which has been carefully preserved, is still in its original condition, and the freshness of the sound is astonishing. The sound image is solid, and the energetic sound that seems to respond to the tune of the piece comes right before your eyes, giving you a truly authentic performance. It is amazing to hear the Russian sound, which has been lost in modern times. You will now realize the Russian toughness and explosiveness, and the low center of gravity and high level of the German orchestra. (1/2) Tower Records (2021/02/19)
This coupling includes the two original Borodin pieces, plus Franck, also recorded in 1964 with SKD, and. In the past, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (recorded on 0301779, released at the same time), which was recorded at the same time, would have been standard in the CD era, but since the Franck floats, we have recombined them for this release, considering the time coupling of the CD layers. This Franck is another performance that beautifully reflects the SKD’s beautiful tone, and it is a masterful performance that highlights the fluidity of Sanderling’s playing, which is not blatantly obvious in the verses. Although not a showy performance, the high sound quality of this reissue allows the listener to appreciate the orchestra’s sound of the time even more. For this reissue, the master tapes were flown from the label to the studio of Christoph Stickel, a mastering engineer living in Vienna, where they were mastered in the analog domain, and then digitized by separate DSD for the SACD layer and PCM for the CD layer. The project was then digitized into a product. This project realized the ideal method of mastering as far as currently conceivable. The effect is remarkable: it is now possible to reproduce the quality left on the master tapes with extreme fidelity, and the mastering and direct DSD conversion in the analog domain only has even greater sonic benefits. The result is a performance that is so clear and resolved compared to its predecessor that further appreciation of the performance can be expected. The commentary also includes the original analog master tapes used in this project, as well as the following information
![Babyface - The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/13/xtR3Q.jpg "Babyface - The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001]")
Title: Babyface – The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001]
Genre: R&B
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is pop’s best melodic writer since the heyday of Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. On The Day, Babyface makes that connection explicit by cowriting “How Come, How Long” with Wonder, who also contributes a duet vocal, a harmonica solo, and longtime bassist Nathan East to the session. Even more impressive is the fact that the eight songs Babyface wrote for The Day without his hero’s help also boast yearning melodies and ear-opening chord changes that are absolutely Wonder-ful.
The Day was the first album Babyface released after being elevated into a virtually guaranteed hitmaker in the mid-’90s through his work with Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Madonna, and Mariah Carey, among many others. The album confirms his skill for subtle, inventive songwriting and accessible, polished yet soulful production. Babyface can straddle the line between hip-hop and traditional soul better than nearly any other artist, as evidenced by the hits he has orchestrated for other artists. On his own, he is still compelling — his voice is as smooth as silk, and nearly as seductive — but it doesn’t quite have the force of personality as his greatest productions. Nevertheless, The Day qualifies as state-of-the-art mid-’90s soul, featuring a handful of terrific songs, and a lot of extremely pleasurable filler. [The 2001 reissue adds historical liner notes and three bonus tracks: remixes of “Everytime I Close My Eyes,” “This Is For the Lover in You,” and “Everytime I Feel the Groove,” the last of which was previously unreleased and not found on the original album in any form].
![Babatunde Olatunji - Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/13/kQypAOR.jpg "Babatunde Olatunji - Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004]")
Title: Babatunde Olatunji – Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz, Afrobeat
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
The Nigerian-born drum master leads an ebullient ensemble of guitarists, singers and percussionists through a series of spirited meditations on the nature of love. Lust, kinship, sensuality, courtship and spirituality are the themes Olatunji uses to fuel his joyous infectious playing. Highlights include “Mother, Give Me Love”, “Don’t Know Why My Love”, “Spell Mónisola” and more.
The drums were a daily backdrop to life in Babatunde Olatunji’s birthplace, the fishing village of Ajido, some forty miles outside Lagos. He arrived in America in 1950 and traveled on a segregated “Jim Crow” train to study at Morehouse College. “I started the whole music thing to protect my sanity,” he explains. Stunned by the ignorance of his fellow students, who assumed all Africans lived among lions in the jungle, Olatunji began inviting them to drum and sing in his rooms and discovered his life’s mission as Africa’s musical ambassador. Babatunde Olatunji’s words are sung in his tribal language, Yoruba, and the drums that surround him – his ashiko, the big, curvaceous mother drum, the smaller, cylindrical djembe, the djun-djun and the talking drum – transmit the message as eloquently as the lyrics. Each track invokes another face of love and tells stories of Olatunji’s own life. On “Spell Mónisola”, Olatunji sings of his American-born granddaughter going to study at her grandmother’s school in Ibadan, Nigeria, as he articulates the young girl’s name in drumbeats. The travails of romantic love are addressed on “Saré Tete Wa”, yearning as it begs, “Lover, please come running back to me”. Fear of commitment permeates Long Distance Lover, and a parallel anguish fuels the doomed passion of “Don’t Know Why My Love”. Upbeat dance floor lust grooves through “What’s Your Number, Mama?”, in which a dancer’s devious routine to acquire a love object’s phone number vies with his mental calculations of her measurements. A more abstract love, the intimate conspiracy between dancer and drummer, inspires “Bebí Alolo” and “Love Drum Talk”.
![BozBabatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/13/qvv0OPQ.jpg "Babatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002]")
Title: Babatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002]
Genre: African
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Drums of Passion is an album released by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji in 1960. Unquestionably, it was the first recording to popularize African music in the west, becoming immensely successful and selling over five million copies. In 2002, it was released as a single layer stereo and 5.1 SACD by Columbia Records. In 2004 the album was added to the National Recording Registry.
Having come to USA. from his native Nigeria to study medicine, percussionist Babatunde Olatunji eventually became 1 of the 1st African music stars in the States. He also soon counted jazz heavyweights like John Coltrane (“Tunji”) & Dizzy Gillespie among his admirers (Gillespie had, a decade earlier, also courted many Cuban music stars via his trailblazing Latin jazz recordings). And, in spite of it being viewed by some as a symbol of African chic, Drums of Passion is still a substantial record thanks to Olatunji’s complex & raw drumming. Along with a cadre of backup singers & 2 other percussionists, Olatunji works through 8 traditional drum & chorus cuts originally used to celebrate a variety of things in Nigeria: “Akiwowo” & “Shango” are chants to a train conductor & the God of Thunder, respectively, while “Baba Jinde” is a celebration of the dance of flirtation & “Odun De! Odun De!” serves as a New Year’s greeting. The choruses do sound a bit overwrought & even too slick at times (partly due to the fact that most of the singers are not African), but thankfully the drumming is never less than engaging. The many curious world music fans who are likely to check this album out should also be sure to look into even better African drumming by native groups like the Drummers of Burundi & the percussion outfits featured on various field recordings. (The 2002 CD reissue on Columbia/Legacy adds the track “Menu Di Ye Jewe (Who Is This?)”, which was recorded at 1 of the 1959 sessions for the album, but was previously unissued in USA).
![Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/08/LYf7A8T.jpg "Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013]")
Title: Boz Scaggs – Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Departing from the Steve Miller Band after a two-album stint, Boz Scaggs found himself on his own but not without support. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, his friend, helped him sign with Atlantic Records and the label had him set up shop in Muscle Shoals, recording his debut album with that legendary set of studio musicians, known for their down-and-dirty backing work for Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, among many other Southern soul legends. The Muscle Shoals rhythm section, occasionally augmented by guitarist Duane Allman, gives this music genuine grit, but this isn’t necessarily a straight-up blue-eyed soul record, even if the opening “I’m Easy” and “I’ll Be Long Gone” are certainly as deeply soulful as anything cut at Muscle Shoals. Even at this early stage Scaggs wasn’t content to stay in one place, and he crafted a kind of Americana fantasia here, also dabbling in country and blues along with the soul and R&B that grounds this record. If the country shuffle “Now You’re Gone” sounds just slightly a shade bit too vaudeville for its own good, it only stands out because the rest of the record is pitch-perfect, from the Jimmie Rodgers cover “Waiting for a Train” and the folky “Look What I Got!” to the extended 11-minute blues workout “Loan Me a Dime,” which functions as much as a showcase for a blazing Duane Allman as it does for Boz. But even with that show-stealing turn, and even with the Muscle Shoals musicians giving this album its muscle and part of its soul, this album is still thoroughly a showcase for Boz Scaggs’ musical vision, which even at this stage is wide and deep. It would grow smoother and more assured over the years, but the slight bit of raggedness suits the funky, down-home performances and helps make this not only a great debut, but also an enduring blue-eyed soul masterpiece.
![Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra - Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/08/kWkp6He.jpg "Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra - Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004]")
Title: Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Every orchestra has a characteristic sound & personality that identifies them through the ages, & in the case of the Boston Symphony Orchestra it is their contoured string & wind elegance, panache & suavity that marks them out as the premier Francophone American orchestra. With Seiji Ozawa at the helm, a conductor much identified with French repertoire, these Quad recordings of Maurice Ravel, accomplished during his long tenure as music director, are afforded the sonic treatment they deserve & are now able to receive given the latest SACD technology employed by Pentatone enabling the release of the full spectrum of sound captured by a previous eras sound engineers.
For classical connoisseurs, multichannel recording is state-of-the-art reproduction, and they regularly seek out the finest recordings in the super audio format. Among those discs are some important discoveries from the past, including rare quadraphonic recordings from the 1970s that are being remastered for the new technology. Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra made these quadraphonic recordings of orchestral works by Maurice Ravel in 1974, and they were remastered in 2014 by PentaTone as part of an ongoing project to preserve these early experiments in multichannel sound. Ozawa had a magical touch with Ravel, and his performances with the BSO of Le tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique, Ma mère l’oye, Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Une barque sur l’océan are among the most transparent interpretations of the period. What quadraphonic recording added were exceptional depth, crisp details, and ideal separation of the parts, so the brilliant solo and sectional writing in Ravel’s scores stood out with the clarity and presence of chamber music. This hybrid SACD can be played on SACD players and conventional CD equipment with stereo playback, but even with that limitation, the spatial dimensions of the orchestra come across with astonishing verisimilitude. Highly recommended as a sonic showcase of the highest quality.