Maurizio Colonna – Rock Waves (2010/Intermusic Blu-spec CD/Top Music
International)
Sound:
B+ Music: B
PLEASE
NOTE:
This Blu-spec
Compact Disc is only available from our friends at Top Music International,
will play on virtually all CD players and can be ordered at the link below. This is our first time covering this format.
Doing
Rock instrumental work is not easy, with the usual result a disaster and often
turning into a joke, elevator music or filler, but Maurizio Colonna is an
exceptional talent and has released an impressive album of such covers called Rock Waves that is far better than you
might expect. This also includes some
covers you may not have heard of. The
added bonus is that this album has been issued as the Top Music label’s premiere
Blu-spec CD release. Not to be confused
with the Blu-ray Profile 3.0 (aka BD-Audio) format or any software that is
Blu-ray only compatible, this is a new kind of CD that plays on all CD players,
but has more accurate sound reproduction since Blu-ray technology is used to
manufacture it, but more on that later.
For
technophiles, here are the specs for how the disc was made:
The
Project re-mastered by Povee Chan
32Bits/192kHz
High Resolution Mastering
SADiE DSD
Digital Precision
Mastering
Monitor: Almarro M1A
Monitor
Amplifier: Octave Jubliee Preamp
Power
System: Isoclean Power Conditioning System
Mastered
with Ensemble Cable & Silver Audio Cable
Plays on
all CD Players
Made in Japan by Sony
Here are
the songs as follows, including who originally recorded it:
1)
Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
2)
Pink
Floyd Suite: Another Brick In The Wall/Atom Heart Mother/Shine On You Crazy Diamond
3)
Bridge Over Trouble Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
4)
Tears In Heaven (Eric Clapton)
5)
La Canzone Di Marinella/La Citta’ Vecchia (Fabrizio de Andre)
6)
Private Investigations (Dire Straits)
7)
Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple)
8)
Il Mondo Che Vorrei (Vasco Rossi)
9)
Hotel California (The Eagles)
10) Nothing
Else Matters (Metallica)
11) Englishman
In New York
(Sting)
12) (Can’t
Help) Falling In Love (Elvis Presley)
13) Fields
Of Gold (Sting)
14) My Way
(Claude Francois/Frank Sinatra)
Tracks 1,
2, 3 and 9 were particularly impressive in playback and I consider this
instantly one of the best CD demo discs I have and have heard to date. Audiophiles will be impressed and many will
ask why standard CD production is not halted and swi5tched over to this kind of
CD immediately.
The PCM
2.0 Stereo makes hearing the sound interesting in a way it has not in the
format for its 25+ year existence. When
you enjoy a format, you start accepting its limits if it is good for anything
as CD is, but the improvements here are impressive, making this a CD on the
level of the best XRCD series and 24K Gold CD releases we have covered and
experienced over the years. Of course,
the recording has to be top rate and this one is, but the way this is made is
also key. To explain it directly, jitter
is cut down severely in playback as a Blu Laser Diode cuts the pit mold to be
far more accurate and this makes it easier for a CD red laser to read it. The moister-resistant polymer polycarbonate
used for Blu-ray is also used to make this disc, making for an improved CD disc
that will surprise those used to the old format.
Sony has
already issued around 100 limited edition titles (some of which have never seen
an audiophile release outside of vinyl, but some which already had been issued
in the even better Super Audio CD format) that also draws on the RCA/BMG/Arista
holdings they just permanently acquired.
Those are all imports in Japan
only and there is no sign this will come to the U.S., but if this disc is any
indicator, these are titles in a format that is worth your time and Rock Waves
is newer than most of the recordings Sony has issued to date. A paper foldout with brief notes is also
included.
To find
out more about ordering, start with this link, then go to the HOW TO ORDER tab
on the left-hand side column:
http://www.topmusic.com/tm-bscd7014.5.htm
The
direct order link is:
http://www.topmusic.com/to-order.htm
- Nicholas Sheffo
