Special Section: Audiophile Discs

Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s The Way Of The World (1975) [2005, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Earth, Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of The World (1975) [2005, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s The Way Of The World (1975)
[2005, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 330 MB (CD-Layer) + 2.05 GB (DSF) + 0.99 GB (FLAC) + 2.09 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2016 | Genre: R&B
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Earth, Wind & Fire has delivered more than its share of excellent albums, but if a person could own only one EWF release, the logical choice would be That’s the Way of the World, which was the band’s best album as well as its best-selling. Continue reading “Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s The Way Of The World (1975) [2005, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

McCoy Tyner – Sahara (1972) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

McCoy Tyner - Sahara (1972) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

McCoy Tyner – Sahara (1972) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Image + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 312 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.33 GB (DSF) + 979 MB (FLAC) + 1.98 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2029| Genre: Jazz
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

After the death of John Coltrane, his longtime pianist McCoy Tyner was in something of a musical quandary. Keeping up with his mentor through the incredible explorations of the early ’60s, he seemed to have some difficulty navigating the even further out territories explored in the two or three years before Coltrane’s death in 1967. Continue reading “McCoy Tyner – Sahara (1972) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (1991) [2014, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (1991) [2014, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (1991)
[2014, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 317 MB (CD-Layer) + 2.38 GB (DSF) + 1.08 GB (FLAC) + 2.42 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2140 | Genre: Country
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

This Grammy-nominated disc heralds the origins of the highly acclaimed acoustic duo of Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) and David “Dawg” Grisman (mandolin). They had been chums for years by the time they began their direct partnership in earnest on December 7, 1990, with a nine-song set at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley, CA. Over half of that material would be reworked the following spring — for inclusion on this disc — at Grisman’s newly appointed, plush, and well-lit Dawg Studios. Continue reading “Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (1991) [2014, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Gerry Mulligan Meets Scott Hamilton – Soft Lights & Sweet Music (1986) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Gerry Mulligan Meets Scott Hamilton - Soft Lights & Sweet Music (1986) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Gerry Mulligan Meets Scott Hamilton – Soft Lights & Sweet Music (1986)
[2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 285 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.73 GB (DSF) + 865 MB (FLAC) + 1.77 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2017 | Genre: Jazz, Cool
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Starting in the late ’50s, Gerry Mulligan recorded a series of encounters with fellow saxophonists that included such immortals as Stan Getz, Paul Desmond, Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster. In 1986 he resumed the practice for this one date on which his baritone is matched with the tenor of the young great Scott Hamilton. The music, which includes warm ballads and fairly hot romps (five of the seven songs are Mulligan originals), consistently swing and are quite enjoyable. Continue reading “Gerry Mulligan Meets Scott Hamilton – Soft Lights & Sweet Music (1986) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Pat Martino – East! (1968) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Pat Martino - East! (1968) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Pat Martino – East! (1968) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 246 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.55 GB (DSF) + 804 MB (FLAC) + 1.58 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2018 | Genre: Bop, Jazz
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Despite the title and the cover of this CD reissue (which makes it appear that the performances are greatly influenced by music of the Far East), the style played by guitarist Pat Martino’s quartet is very much in the hard bop tradition. Continue reading “Pat Martino – East! (1968) [2006, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Mike Marshall – Gator Strut (1987) [2004, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Mike Marshall - Gator Strut (1987) [2004, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Mike Marshall – Gator Strut (1987) [2004, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF-Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 2.20 GB (DSF) + 1.01 GB (FLAC) + 2.26 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 7001 | Genre: Country
Update: DSF Tracks have been added

Mike Marshall is much like Mark O’Connor, a virtuoso on several string instruments, an innovative composer and arranger who refuses to be pigeonholed stylistically, and also an alum of David Grisman’s band. Numerous Grisman alumni turn up on this 1984 release, including violinist Darol Anger, bassists Todd Phillips and Rob Wasserman, guitarist Tony Rice, and even Grisman himself, along with dobro player Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck on banjo, violinist David Balikrishan (who would later co-found the Turtle Island String Quartet with Anger) Continue reading “Mike Marshall – Gator Strut (1987) [2004, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Jim Hall – Concierto (1975) [2003, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Jim Hall - Concierto (1975) [2003, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Jim Hall – Concierto (1975) [2003, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 377 MB (CD-Layer) + 2.76 GB (DSF) + 1.20 GB (FLAC) + 1.13 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2012 | Genre: Post Bop, Jazz
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Guitarist Jim Hall is the sort of musician who displays such technical expertise, imaginative conception, and elegance of line and phrase that almost any recording of his is worth hearing. Still, Concierto ranks among the best albums of his superb catalog. Continue reading “Jim Hall – Concierto (1975) [2003, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Dave Alvin – Blackjack David (1998) [2002, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Dave Alvin - Blackjack David (1998) [2002, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Dave Alvin – Blackjack David (1998) [2002, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Image + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 287 MB (CD-Layer) + 2.05 GB (DSF) + 980 MB (FLAC) + 2.09 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2007 | Genre: Folk, Country
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Dave Alvin earned his crown as “the King of California” the hard way. A fourth-generation Californian, Alvin worked his way through various incarnations in order to arrive at this point. A longstanding monumental force in Los Angeles and California music, Alvin is essentially a blues player who writes and performs what he terms “American folk music.” Continue reading “Dave Alvin – Blackjack David (1998) [2002, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

B.B. King & Eric Clapton – Riding With The King (2000) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

B.B. King & Eric Clapton - Riding With The King (2000) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

B.B. King & Eric Clapton – Riding With The King (2000)
[2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Image + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 486 MB (CD-Layer) + 2.53 GB (DSF) + 1.15 GB (FLAC) + 2.57 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Audio Fidelity | US | Cat#: AFZ 211 | Genre: Blues Rock
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

The potential for a collaboration between B.B. King and Eric Clapton is enormous, of course, and the real questions concern how it is organized and executed. This first recorded pairing between the 74-year-old King and the 55-year-old Clapton was put together in the most obvious way: Clapton arranged the session using many of his regular musicians, picked the songs Continue reading “B.B. King & Eric Clapton – Riding With The King (2000) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Procol Harum – A Salty Dog (1969) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Procol Harum - A Salty Dog (1969) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Procol Harum – A Salty Dog (1969) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Image + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 357 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.65 GB (DSF) + 823 MB (FLAC) + 1.70 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2192 | Genre: Classic Rock
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

This album, the group’s third, was where they showed just how far their talents extended across the musical landscape, from blues to R&B to classical rock. In contrast to their hastily recorded debut, or its successor, done to stretch their performance and composition range, A Salty Dog was recorded in a reasonable amount of time, giving the band a chance to fully develop their ideas. Continue reading “Procol Harum – A Salty Dog (1969) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Ry Cooder – Paradise And Lunch (1974) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Ry Cooder - Paradise And Lunch (1974) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Ry Cooder – Paradise And Lunch (1974) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 194 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.51 GB (DSF) + 684 MB (FLAC) + 1.55 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2159 | Genre: Blues
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

Paradise and Lunch is the fourth album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released on June 8, 1974 on Reprise Records. The album is composed of cover versions of jazz, blues and roots standards and obscurities recorded at the Warner Brothers Studios. Continue reading “Ry Cooder – Paradise And Lunch (1974) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Judy Collins – Colors Of The Day: The Best Of Judy Collins (1972) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Judy Collins - Colors Of The Day: The Best Of Judy Collins (1972) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Judy Collins – Colors Of The Day: The Best Of Judy Collins (1972)
[2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Image + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 370 MB (CD-Layer) + 6.67 GB (DSF) + 2.57 GB (FLAC) + 2.05 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Audio Fidelity | US | Cat#: AFZ5 220 | Genre: Folk
Update: CD-Layer & DSF Tracks have been added

An excellent collection of some of the best tracks from Judy Collins’ early Elektra albums, Colors of the Day will both entertain and leave you wanting more. Lovingly programmed (it leads off with her excellent country-pop hit “Someday Soon,” an Ian Tyson classic), this is Collins at her finest. Earlier explorations into folk-pop (“Both Sides Now”), British folk (“Sunny Goodge Street,” “In My Life”), and gospel (“Amazing Grace”) clearly show her eclecticism. Continue reading “Judy Collins – Colors Of The Day: The Best Of Judy Collins (1972) [2015, Audio Fidelity Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Willie Nelson – Always On My Mind (1982) [CBS Mastersound, CD-Quality + Hi-Res Vinyl Rip]

Willie Nelson - Always On My Mind (1982) [CBS Mastersound, CD-Quality + Hi-Res Vinyl Rip]

Willie Nelson – Always On My Mind (1982) [CBS Mastersound, CD-Quality + Hi-Res Vinyl Rip]
Vinyl Rip | Hi-Res / FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 96kHz | CD-Quality / FLAC Tracks / 16bit / 44.1kHz
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 727 MB (Hi-Res) + 208 MB (CD-Quality) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: CBS Mastersound | US | Cat#: HC 47951 | Genre: World, Country
Half-Speed Mastered

Whether intentionally or not, the first album after a greatest-hits collection always raises the curtain on a new era, and in Willie Nelson’s case, the difference between the era recapped on 1981’s Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) and the one started with 1982’s Always on My Mind is startling. Throughout the late ’70s, Nelson’s freewheeling, organically eclectic music was not just the biggest thing in country, it was also some of its best, most adventurous music. Continue reading “Willie Nelson – Always On My Mind (1982) [CBS Mastersound, CD-Quality + Hi-Res Vinyl Rip]”

Ry Cooder – Boomer’s Story (1972) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Ry Cooder - Boomer's Story (1972) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Ry Cooder – Boomer’s Story (1972) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
CD-Layer / EAC Rip / FLAC Tracks + Cue + Log
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 214 MB (CD-Layer) + 1.58 GB (DSF) + 734 MB (FLAC) + 1.63 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2154 | Genre: Blues
Update: DSF Tracks have been added

Boomer’s Story, Ry Cooder’s third record, continues his archeological dig through music’s familiar and forgotten past. As was the case with his previous recordings, he not only looks to the masters — including blues legend Sleepy John Estes, songwriter Dan Penn (both of whom appear here) and the great Skip James — for material, but to lost and neglected pieces of American folk and blues, as well. Cooder adds the traditional title-track, which opens the album, and Lawrence Wilson’s “Crow Black Chicken,” which dates back to the late 1920s, to this collection of discoveries — both of which are handled with just the right balance of personality and reverence. Continue reading “Ry Cooder – Boomer’s Story (1972) [2017, MFSL Remastered, CD-Layer + Hi-Res SACD Rip]”

Eagles – One Of These Nights (1975) [2022, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Eagles - One Of These Nights (1975) [2022, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]

Eagles – One Of These Nights (1975) [2022, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]
SACD-ISO / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
DSF-Tracks / DSD / 1bit / 2.8224MHz
FLAC Tracks / 24bit / 88.2kHz
Full Scans Included
Total Size: 1.80 GB (DSF) + 873 MB (FLAC) + 1.83 GB (ISO) | 3% RAR Recovery
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | US | Cat#: UDSACD 2232 | Genre: Country Rock

The Eagles recorded their albums relatively quickly in their first years of existence, their LPs succeeding each other by less than a year. One of These Nights, their fourth album, was released in June 1975, more than 14 months after its predecessor. Anticipation had been heightened by the belated chart-topping success of the third album’s “The Best of My Love”; taking a little more time, the band generated more original material, and that material was more polished. Continue reading “Eagles – One Of These Nights (1975) [2022, MFSL Remastered, Hi-Res SACD Rip]”