Forums dot lukpac.org

I couldn't find this discussed anywhere:

I bought the SACD hybrid of "Schoolboys," because I had never heard the thing and managed to find it for $4 (!!!). Now, the back cover claims to have SACD surround, but the disc seems to be two channel only.

Was this an artwork error? Odd, as the others in the series correctly note that they're just two-channel only...

My "Muswell Hillbillies" SACD has a sticker over that part of the case with the correct info. I guess there was an error on the case. I suppose this is the case for some other titles as well.

Ahh, OK. Were any actually surround?

I think the SACD sounds pretty good, but I've never heard any other version of the album.

No, I don't think any of them were surround. It's interesting that they released these as SACD's at all, especially since they were remastered as redbooks not too long before.

Nope, no surround. There was a lot of speculation at the time that these were sourced from the digital masters created for the CD reissues.

Bob Ludwig did the CD remasters, and the one I've directly compared to the SACD (Give The People What They Want) sounds *real* close. (Someone else is credited for the SACDs on the digipack -- the booklet is reused from the redbook issue and contains an incorrect credit for Ludwig.) If you've got the Ludwigs, there's no reason whatsoever to get the SACDs if Give is representative.

I don't have both anymore, so I can't do a sync test on the hybrid CD layer.

Ryan

I only bought the hybrid of "Schoolboys" because I thought it might be surround (i.e. an actual justification for the SACD purchase). Bah.

The SACDs were mastered by Alan Silverman, BTW. He has posted on several threads about them at Hoffman under the name "tweaker". The one I compared was Muswell Hillbillies, and there is only a subtle difference between the Ludwig and Silverman versions.