Nat King Cole – The King of Sound – TopMusic International Stereo-only hybrid SACD TM-SACD9006.2, 53:49 **:
This disc may seem rather odd and superfluous to Westerners, but the Asian market for recorded music is quite different. The reasoning behind this SACD appears to be as a promotional/giveaway disc for the Asian importer of Tivoli Audio table radios, who are well represented thruout the note booklet and on the cover – even as part of the album title. But that seems strange since Tivoli doesn’t offer a SACD player.
This disc may seem rather odd and superfluous to Westerners, but the Asian market for recorded music is quite different. The reasoning behind this SACD appears to be as a promotional/giveaway disc for the Asian importer of Tivoli Audio table radios, who are well represented thruout the note booklet and on the cover – even as part of the album title. But that seems strange since Tivoli doesn’t offer a SACD player.
These are 17 Nat Cole hits from the 40s and 50s so it’s a surprise they are really in stereo. Perhaps they were re-recordings made in the late 50s when stereo had become a reality. Some notes about this would have been welcome. The sound was very good, and it was enjoyable to hear these classics again, but they are really not SACD material. So my main question about the disc would be “Why?” Perhaps these tracks are old enough that they are now in the public domain and no credits or licensing payments are required. It seems to me the best way to present this material to audiophiles would be on a 180-gram vinyl remastering, which I understand is available from ABC Records of China, remastered by Mark Levinson.
TrackList: Unforgettable, Mona Lisa, Nature Boy, Smile, Sweet Lorraine, For Sentimental Reasons, Tenderly, Blue Gardenia, A Blossom Fell, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, Route 66, It’s Only a Paper Moon, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Too Young, For All We Know, Answer Me My Love, Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup.
– John Henry
