Volume - I Issue - IV Network AAA U U DDDD IIIII OOO A A U U D D I O O AAAAA U U D D I O O A A U U D D I O O A A UUU DDDD IIIII OOO BBBB IIIII TTTTT SSS B B I T S BBBB I T SSS B B I T S BBBB IIIII T SSS & Audio Software Review (c) Copyright 1987 by Michael A. Murphy All original materials Copyright by the Author ======================================================================== CONTENTS Editorial Compact Disc Reviews 1) Live In Australia - Elton John 2) Famous Blue Raincoat - Jennifer Warnes Record Reviews 1) Sammy Hagar 2) Waiting For A Miracle - Bruce Cockburn 3) Big Life - Night Ranger 4) Red Hot Rhythm & Blues - Diana Ross 5) I'm No Angel - Gregg Allman Singles 1) Sixteen With A Bullet - Scott Morgan Equipment Reviews * By Dave Holmes * 1) Conrad-Johnson Sonographe SD-1 CD Player ======================================================================== EDITORIAL Welcome to the fourth issue of Network AUDIO BITS & Software Review! This issue contains reviews of two excellent Compact Discs, some hot Rock & Roll LPs, some not so hot Rock & Roll LPs, a controversial single from Detroit rocker Scott Morgan And a Compact Disc Player review from Dave Holmes. Looking towards future issues... I hope to make this a monthly venture soon. Right now issues are coming out every six weeks or so. One thing that would help matters greatly would be for someone (or more than one) to become a regular or semi-regular reviewer. Please contact me (MURPH@MAINE.BITNET) if you are interested and I will furnish you with review guidelines and we can discuss other details of reviewing. Also, anyone interested in writing classical reviews would be most welcome. At some point in the next issue or two I plan on reviewing some Jazz material. Jazz reviewers would also be most welcome. Please send me a query for material you wish to review so as to avoid duplication or unsuitability. Now, on to the reviews! ======================================================================== Sixty Years On I Need You to Turn to Live In Australia The Greatest Discovery Elton John Tonight Producers: T Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word Engineers: Gus Dudgeon and R The King Must Die Clive Franks A Take Me to the Pilot MCAD-8022 C Tiny Dancer Released: 1987 K Have Mercy on the Criminal Total Disc Time: 73:58 S Madman Across the Water Source - Compact Disc Candle in the Wind SPARS Code - DDD Burn Down the Mission Your Song Performance: 10 Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me Sound Quality: 10 Elton John has dusted off some of his early tunes and treated us to a truly excellent live performance of them. All of the songs on this disc were originally recorded from LP's recorded in 1976 or earlier, the most recent album represented being "Blue Moves". He has also given these grand old tunes a magnificent backing by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra along with his own band. Seven of his earlier albums are represented here. Six songs are taken from his American self-titled debut LP. Two songs each from "Blue Moves" and "Madman Across the Water". And one song each from "Caribou", "Tumbleweed Connection", "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player", and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". All of the songs are from albums that Elton did while signed to the MCA/UNI label. It must have been difficult to decide on these particular 14 songs for Elton's live performance and indeed for this recording. Throughout the early '70's Elton John and Bernie Taupin co-wrote a number of hits and a number of other critically acclaimed songs. Enough good music to fill several compact discs. Though this one is full right up to its gills at 73 minutes and 58 seconds playing time. The songs here, though, show Elton at his best. And the completely digital recording brings Elton and the orchestra right into your listening room with amazing clarity. Elton John has always been a showman. He has toured the world several times over with his regular backup band. He's toured briefly as solo piano with only a drummer. And now he's got a full orchestra backing him and his band. The orchestra gives these early tunes a new flavor. "Your Song" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" close out the disc and the little extra orchestral touches only add to the feeling and the music. "The King Must Die" has a very full-bodied sound with the orchestra booming throughout the chorus. The casual Elton John fan will probably recognize only half of these songs. Younger fans, who are only familiar with his more recent works, may have trouble recognizing any of these songs. Anyone who has grown up with Elton John will doubtless recognize almost all of these songs and also enjoy the very fine live reproduction of them as 12-18 year old LP's tend to be a bit the worse for wear. Elton is in fine voice, though he is showing his age a bit. This concert was also recorded shortly before Elton had throat surgery, though there is no indication of any voice problem. Perhaps the inclusion of an orchestra kept Elton from doing too many vocal acrobatics. Songs that he usually cuts loose on in concert are not included here. Songs such as "Rocket Man", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Benny and the Jets", and "Crocodile Rock." These songs were also big hits for Elton and the musical emphasis here leans away from his best known songs. This disc is also recorded from the second half of his concert. The first half was performed with Elton's thirteen piece band and he may have done these songs in the first half. This disc is a must for any Elton John fan, new or old. It will rekindle memories for those who know these songs well. It will provide younger fans with a sense of where Elton John comes from, with some of his history. ======================================================================== Famous Blue Raincoat First We Take Manhattan Jennifer Warnes Bird on a Wire Producers: C. Roscoe Beck and T Famous Blue Raincoat Jennifer Warnes R Joan of Arc Engineer: Bill Youdelman A Came So Far For Beauty Cypress 661 111-2 C Ain't No Cure For Love Released: 1986 K Coming Back to You Total Disc Time: 41:36 S Song of Bernadette Source - Compact Disc A Singer Must Die SPARS Code - DDD Performance: 10 Sound Quality: 10 Jennifer Warnes has been trying to get record labels to let her do an album of Leonard Cohen songs for a long time. At times, she's been laughed at. Well, Cypress records and Jennifer Warnes are getting the last laugh. Cohen has been stereotyped over the years as a master of gloom for his many songs and poems. Warnes has surprised us and given us an album that revels in the uplifting, joyous aspects of these songs. Warnes is best known for her duet with Joe Cocker on the song 'Up Where We Belong', the title theme for the movie 'An Officer and A Gentleman.' She also had a pop hit in the late '70s with 'Right Time of the Night.' With 'Famous Blue Raincoat' Warnes has taken Cohen's music and given his songs excellent treatment. She has been singing backup for Cohen off and on for fifteen years and knows his songs almost as well as Cohen himself. And this familiarity and knowledge boosts the music, lyrics, and emotions to a level that would not be possible for another singer to achieve. I'm very happy to say that Warnes chose to record these songs digitally rather than in analog format. The sound is virtually flawless. The songs are sharp and crisp where they are supposed to be. They are warm and subtle where they are supposed to be. It's a shame that this isn't the sort of music that makes it on the radio. 'Famous Blue Raincoat' is easily one of the best pop albums of 1986 and the Compact Disc is one of the best discs I've ever heard. Stevie Ray Vaughan puts in an appearance with his guitar on 'First We Take Manhattan', which is one of the best cuts on the album. 'Joan of Arc' is a wonderful duet that Warnes performs with Cohen himself. 'Bird on a Wire' is also one of the discs highlights. There isn't a bad track on this disc. The whole album is packed with both the emotion of the songs and the emotion of the singer. The combination is overpowering. ======================================================================== Sammy Hagar When the Hammer Falls Sammy Hagar Hands and Knees Producers: Sammy Hagar and T Give to Live Edward Van Halen R Boys' Night Out Engineer: David Thoener A Returning Home Geffen GHS 24144 C Standin' at the Same Old Crossroads Released: 1987 K Privacy Total Disc Time: 45:03 S Back Into You Source - LP Eagles Fly What They Gonna Say Now Performance: 9 Sound Quality: 9 Sammy Hagar has always been a driving, straight ahead rocker. From his days with Montrose in the '70s to his recent vault into the Van Halen limelight Sammy has been an aggressive singer, songwriter and stage persona. Even after the extremely successful first album with Van Halen, Sammy has kept his hard edge on this solo lp. Still under contract to Geffen Records, he could easily produce enough slipshod music to fulfill his contract while continuing to play with Van Halen. But that's not Sammy's style. He has put out a quality LP that rivals his most recent solo effort (VOA) as his best work ever. Eddie Van Halen does help Sammy out here. He plays bass and co-produces along with Sammy. Sammy handles all the guitar work. The best tracks on this album are "Give to Live", "When the Hammer Falls", "Returning Home", and "Hands and Knees." "Give to Live" and "Returning Home" slow down the tempo a bit, but still rock. "When the Hammer Falls" and "Hands and Knees" kick it into high gear and don't slow down at all. There are no duds in the rest of the tunes. Sammy's always been a kick-ass type of musician and this is definitely a kick- ass type of record! This album picks up right where VOA left off. And with the publicity generated by Hagar's Van Halen move, this album should do very well. And deservedly so! Sammy's been doing quality work with only limited success since his days with Montrose and his subsequent solo career. And Sammy only seems to get better with every album. Sammy has dedicated this record to all his fans that are still fans after all the years of changes. Changes that have almost always propelled Sammy Hagar forward. And I don't think he's lost many fans along the way. Now is his chance to pick up a few more. ======================================================================== Going to the Country One Day I Walk It's Going Down Slow Mama Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long All the Diamonds in the World Burn Waiting For A Miracle Silver Wheels Bruce Cockburn Laughter Producers: Various T Wondering Where the Lions Are Engineers: Various R Tokyo Gold Castle 171 005-1 A Fascist Architecture Released: 1987 C The Trouble With Normal Total Disc Time: 88:00 K Rumours of Glory Source - LP S The Coldest Night of the Year You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance Lovers in a Dangerous Time Performance: 10 If I Had a Rocket Launcher Sound Quality: 9 Peggy's Kitchen Wall People See Through You Call it Democracy Stolen Land Waiting For a Miracle Gold Castle Records has released a double album compilation of Bruce Cockburn's works. The compilation is comprised of songs spanning his career, from 1970-1987. Most of these songs have not been released in the U.S. as Cockburn is a Canadian artist whose albums have not always been released in the U.S. This compilation contains his two most recognizable hits "Wondering Where the Lions Are" and "If I Had a Rocket Launcher." It also contains two new songs, "Stolen Land" and "Waiting For A Miracle." Cockburn is a virtuoso Guitarist. His styles range from folk to jazz to reggae inflected rock. His songwriting themes range from protest songs to folk songs to fundamentalist christian songs. "Waiting For A Miracle" spans the length of Cockburn's career. And within such a long period of time there are many songs that deserve to be on this album, but can't be because there just isn't much more room. The songs here are representative of his music. There's a little of everything and every song here is a winner. This would be an excellent album for someone who doesn't know a lot about Cockburn's music, and doesn't want to buy all of his albums to find out what he's about. Chances are, after hearing the songs here, a lot of people will be looking for his older albums. Some of the more recent are available in the U.S. But to get his older albums you'll have to find a record store that sells Canadian imports, or they can be found still in Canada. Four of the songs contained on the lp have been re-recorded later than the original sessions. Those four songs are "Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long", "Fascist Architecture", "The Trouble With Normal", and "Rumours of Glory." ======================================================================== Big Life Big Life Night Ranger Color of Your Smile Producers: Kevin Elson, Night T Love is Standing Near Ranger & David Foster R Rain Comes Crashing Down Engineer: Kevin Elson A The Secret of My Success MCA-5839 C Carry On Released: 1987 K Better Let it Go Total Disc Time: 42:15 S I Know Tonight Source - LP Hearts Away Performance: 5 Sound Quality: 6 The fourth Night Ranger album comes off as being either too slick or not slick enough. A good portion of the album sounds like a cross between Styx and Aerosmith, a combination that does not work. Add a few more rough edges to the music and this record could rate as high as a 7 or an 8 for performance. With the exception of one or two songs, this album is basic formula rock with no feeling and a band just going through the motions. The one song that works on this album is 'The Secret of My Success' from the movie of the same name. This song was the only song produced by someone other than Kevin Elson & Night Ranger. Elson is producing his first Night Ranger album. The producer change could account for the lack of emotion and feeling on this fourth album. "It's not what you say, but how you say it" is a quote that applies here. Were the production better, perhaps some of the potential feeling and emotion would show through on the final recording. There are two songs here which disappointed me greatly. Because they have a chance to be so good, yet they don't even come close. "Rain Comes Crashing Down" is the first of these two. The music here sounds very tentative, as if no one wanted to really get into this song and give it all they had. "Hearts Away" could have been a very pleasant surprise to close out the album. Alas, after a slow, meandering start filled with keyboards and an excellent vocal, the guitars screamed and the drums boomed. I was expecting this to happen, which is why I was so disappointed. I was hoping the song would continue the way it started instead of turning into a predictable ending of noise. This song could have been so much better. But it would've been out of place with the rest of the songs on the album. Add some raunch to the tunes here and you just might find that it is a very good album. As it stands, it could be a lot better. ======================================================================== Red Hot Rhythm And Blues Dirty Looks Diana Ross Stranger in Paradise Producers: Tom Dowd and Luther T Summertime Vandross R Shine Engineer: Larry Alexander A Tell Me Again RCA 6388-1-R C Selfish One Released: 1987 K Cross My Heart Total Disc Time: 38:11 S There Goes My Baby Source - LP It's Hard For Me to Say Shockwaves Performance: 6 Sound Quality: 8 This is a disappointing album in that it does not live up to its title at all. The first song, "Dirty Looks", promises so much. Diana Ross is at her sultry best. Her voice is the focal point of the mix and this song does get rather heated up. The rest of the album is cool in comparison. "Stranger in Paradise" could have picked up where "Dirty Looks" left off. But the booming drums overshadow Ross's breathy, shallow vocal. They effectively drown her out. "Summertime" is written by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson. Ross's interpretation is excellent, but it would fit in better on Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" disc (reviewed earlier). The orchestral backing just doesn't quite sound much like R&B to me. "Shine" has the same problem as "Stranger." Diana's voice is hidden in the production instead of 'shining' out in front. The rest of the album is better produced, but there's nothing special. "There Goes My Baby" could have been a little funkier. It reminds me of muzak. "Selfish One" and "Shockwaves" are beefed up Supremes-style songs. And on "Tell Me Again" Diana's voice shines again. The only song that truly lives up to the album title is the first track, "Dirty Looks." In several places the music loses sight of Diana and her voice. And face it, Diana's voice should be the focal point of any album which she records. When the music and Diana are together, the sum is greater than the two parts. When they are not, they fight for attention and they both lose. ======================================================================== I'm No Angel I'm No Angel Gregg Allman Anything Goes Producer: Rodney Mills T Evidence of Love Engineer: Rodney Mills R Yours For the Asking Epic FE 40531 A Things That Might Have Been Released: 1987 C Can't Keep Running Total Disc Time: 40:39 K Faces Without Names Source - LP S Lead Me On Don't Want You No More Performance: 5 It's Not My Cross to Bear Sound Quality: 8 Perhaps if I expected less of this album I would have thought more of it. But I was definitely surprised at the style of the music here. The Allman Brothers Band broke ground for many Southern rock groups, like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker among others. I was expecting more of this musical style from "I'm No Angel". Instead, Allman has delivered some pretty forgetable pop. Six of the ten songs here were written or co-written by Gregg Allman. All of these songs seem to be very personal to Allman. It's as if he were lamenting all the things that have not turned out the way he expected or wanted them to. And there have been a lot of ups and downs in Allman's life. His brother Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident back in the '70's. And a year later another member of the Allman Brothers Band was killed three blocks away in a motorcycle accident. Allman has also had an off-again/on-again marriage to Cher. "Lately more than ever now,/My mind keeps drifting back in time..." could be the key words to this album. From "Things That Might Have Been," these lyrics say in a few short words the feeling I get from listening to this recording. The four songs not written by Allman all loosely share this same sort of feeling with the exception of "Don't Want You No More" which is an instrumental. But even that title falls into the theme here. "Don't Want You No More" and "It's Not My Cross To Bear" are by far the best tunes on this album. These songs live up to what I expected the rest of this album to be like. Take the candy coating off of the rest of the album and there may be something here. For anyone who's interested, Don Johnson performs co-lead vocals on the track "Evidence of Love." ======================================================================== Sixteen With A Bullet b/w Detroit Scott Morgan JukeBox SM8745 Total Time: 06:50 "Sixteen With A Bullet" spins a tale of teen violence in Detroit. Scott Morgan is a veteran rocker in the Motor city and has stirred up some controversy with this single. The beat is hard and fast and so is the message on this guitar-driven song. For information/prices, write to: Jukebox Records P.O. Box 441915 Detroit, Michigan 48244 ======================================================================== Product Review: Sonographe SD-1 CD Player Manufacturer's Specifications ----------------------------- Number of Channels: 2 Frequency Range : 2-20,000 Hz, +/- 0.3 db Dynamic Range : 96 db S/N Ratio : 100 db Channel Separation: 96 db (20-20,000 Hz) THD : 0.003% (20-20,000 Hz) Wow and Flutter : quartz crystal precision D/A Conversion : 16-bit equivalent through quadruple oversampling with digital filter and two 14-bit D/A converters (176.4 kHz) Error Correction : Cross Interleaved Reed Solomon Code (CIRC) Dimensions : 16 17/32" W by 3 3/4" H by 11 13/16" D Warranty : 1 year parts and labor As we all know CD's are a very controversial issue in audiophile circles. The well known arguments of what's better, analog or digital, as well as the ongoing debate as to whether or not CD players sound alike or there really are audible differences (although at this point it is becoming far more accepted). In all fairness to our gentle readers I have to admit that I am of the camp that happily co-exists with both the analog and digital mediums. I'm not ready to say that one is inherently better than the other, other than the obvious advantage of no surface noise with CD's and the potential for a longer life with the storage medium. I find it quite easy to switch back and forth between media and find things I like very much in both. I've also had the sometimes dubious pleasure of listening (for extended periods of time) to about 5 different CD players in my system and can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that CD players do not all sound alike. In fact I would be more inclined to say that the differences are even more pronounced than the likenesses. It is this quest for sonic excellence in the digital domain which brings us to this issue's review of the Conrad-Johnson Sonographe SD-1 CD player. The Sonographe offers basic programming of up to 20 tracks in any order as well as repeating the same track or repeating a group of preselected tracks. It also allows for slow and fast scanning, the longer you hold down the scan button the faster it scans. All fairly standard features these days. There is no numeric keypad for easy entry of tracks, you must cycle through them by pressing the forward or reverse track buttons and then press the program button for each track you want to listen to. I don't know how they go about programming it with the remote control since I don't have one and Conrad-Johnson doesn't sell one. According to reliable sources the Magnavox remote for the 2041 will work (there is a jack on the back of the unit marked "remote"), I just haven't gotten around to picking one up yet. Some of you are probably already cringing at the thought of anyone purchasing a CD player that costs $700 dollars and offers very few of the amenities that have become synonymous with the CD medium, especially in light of the fact that CD players are getting so cheap these days. My only complaint lies in the fact that it doesn't come with a remote control!! Now I'll be the first person to admit that most of the "features" that come with the players are not all that useful (to me at any rate). As long as I can program it to play what I want to hear in the order that I want to hear it FROM WHERE I'M SITTING , I don't care what else it has. As if you couldn't tell by now this is truly my pet peeve with this machine. Just because a CD player is aimed at the usually snobbish and tweak oriented audiophile community doesn't exempt it from being convenient to use. In light of the $700 dollar price tag I think they could probably afford to toss one in too! Now, for those of you who are not aware of this, the Sonographe is a heavily modified Magnavox 2041B CD player. The Phillips/Magnavox machines are THE machine to modify. It seems just about every audiophile player uses it for a base to work from. Having heard a stock un-modified Magnavox 2041 I can readily see why it is the machine of choice. The PS Audio CD-1A, both new Mission players, not to mention the Cambridge Audio and the California Audio Labs Tempest (which uses tubes for all the analog stages) are built off of the Magnavox 2041. Now you may ask what all they're doing to manage to boost the price on the Magnavox which can typically be found for as little as $130, to the $700 price tag. Well according to Conrad-Johnson "The Sonographe SD1 adds discrete analogue audio circuits and advanced low impedance power supplies designed by Conrad-Johnson to bring the sophistication of the audio circuitry to the same level as that of the digital processing." Basically all that is left of the original Magnavox are the A/D converters, laser tracking mechanism, and chassis. Having had mine open I can also tell you that the quality of workmanship on the modifications is top notch. It also looks like they replaced the main board with a copper laminated PC board to cut down on RF interference. I couldn't verify this because I didn't have an un-modified 2041 to look at but I can't imagine Magnavox spending the extra money for one of those on their bottom line CD player. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bad mouthing Magnavox, it just doesn't seem very likely. Now that you know where the extra money has been spent the question you're probably asking is "Is it really worth the extra $570 big ones?". In my case the answer is an emphatic yes! Never before have I heard CD's sound this good. My previous player was stolen among many other things and so I had been listening to my roommates Denon DCD-1000 for a few weeks whilst waiting for the insurance check. The longer I listened the less I wanted to listen. The most pronounced problem with it was an utter lack of depth to the soundstage presentation. It needs to be stated that this is a common problem in virtually every CD player I've listened to! The height was also noticeably lacking and the horizontal placement of instruments was far too choppy, there being obvious clustering of the instruments close to the speakers. This is not so common a problem, every year brings a plethora of better sounding CD players than the previous year. Since I have both the album and CD of a number of releases it was quite easy to determine that the CD player didn't image, or sound for that matter, nearly as good as the turntable. Sure, the surface noise was gone, but so was all the acoustic space information normally present in all but the worst recordings. Then along comes the Sonographe. Once again the soundstage is of the correct dimensions, good depth and width and excellent placement of instruments. The midrange is excellent giving a truly eerie quality to well miked recordings, you could really swear the performer is in the room with you. The bass response is very deep and very tight, better than any others that I have heard to date, aside from the PS Audio which I would rank as dead even. The high frequencies are also well extended and natural without the edgy and grainy sound present in a number of the cheaper Japanese players. The primary differences between the Sonographe and PS are in soundstaging ability. The Sonographe spreads a slightly wider soundstage than the PS, other than that I really couldn't tell any other differences between the two players. I had more than ample time to grow accustomed to the sonic signature of the PS before hearing the Conrad-Johnson. If it weren't for the $100 price difference between the two players it would be easy to highly recommend either of them, as it is the list on the C-J is $695 while the PS sells for $790. The PS is more likely to be discounted though and therefore the price difference could be quite a bit less. I could easily live with either one of these players for a very long time. As it stands right now my top choice for a CD player would be either the Conrad-Johnson or the PS Audio. The differences are very subtle and could very well be inaudible on a number of systems. Both of these are much better than most of the competition and have earned their right to co-exist in a really top notch system. Reputedly both the Mission players are also supposed to be quite good, however I've heard from a couple of dealers complaining about quality control problems and of returned units for service. Not to mention the price on the top line Mission is $1000 and I believe the next model down is $800. The only difference being that for your $1000 you get a remote control and pure digital filtering (how generous). An honorable mention has got to go to the Phillips/Magnavox line in general. As I said earlier I had the opportunity to listen to one in my system for a few days and most of the gripes with the other CD players I've heard simply don't exist with the 2041. There is still no depth to the soundstage but the lateral image is very good and natural. The entire frequency response is also very open, there being just a small amount of high frequency grain. In comparison to my roommates Denon the difference is staggering. The Magnavox was roughly half the price and sounded MUCH better! For anyone on a tight budget the Magnavox is definitely the player of choice, or any of the Magnavox based machines for that matter. There are also a few places doing modifications to the analog stages of Magnavox players, the price generally being around $300. Probably worth the expenditure, assuming your player is out of warranty of course since the modification will void it. DMH ========================================================================