Top 5 DVD-A & SACD Recordings out there

[Angry Neighbors]

Just got a player that plays DVD audio's & SACD. What's the best sounding CD's in that format. I know it will differ in tatse but what's your top 5?

[Dusty Chalk]

DVD-A:

Blue Man Group, Audio
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000038A2S.01._PE22_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Queen, A Night at the Opera
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Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi
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(only three I have -- been meaning to pick up Mutter's version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons)

SACD:

Dredg, El Cielo
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000ALFXX.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
the two sets of Hilary Hahn violin concertos
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005RIN5.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006LWQH.01._PE17_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Piazzolla, Touched by Tango and Tango (The Elegy for those Who Are No Longer
http://www.iclassics.com/data/selection/233851/2338517202l.jpghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00003ZA8P.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Holst's Planets: Mark Elder/Halle' Orchestra and NYP/Bernstein
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00008J2QM.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006B1MY.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[dld]

Music Direct has this release listed as a recommended favorite, either SACD or DVD-A. Thnx

[Dusty Chalk]

Some description on the Blue Man Group SACD please...Music Direct has this release listed as a recommended favorite, either SACD or DVD-A. ThnxDVD-A, not SACD.

It's all instrumental music -- sort of in the Cirque du Soleil vein, except cooler. If you can imagine Mike Oldfield's QE2 meets twangy guitar, epic proportions, lots of nice dynamic swells and 6db shifts (imagine going from one speaker to two). Lots of percussion -- in addition to a bunch of invented PVC-based instruments (tuned percussion), they usually tour with multiple drummers (at least 3 or 4). Silly guys -- they did those Pentium III commercials from a few years back. Their next album, The Complex is a favourite of mine of 2003 (they added vocals on this release), and is going to be released on DVD-A in 2004.

They've an ear for fidelity -- both CD's are HDCD, just to give you an idea.

I highly recommend the live DVD -- I was at those shows, and they were amazing. I'll be picking it up at some point.

Don't know what the surround mix sounds like, I only just finished setting my surround system back up yesterday, and Run Lola Run was first into the drawer after Koyaanisqatsi (the movie, not the previously recommended DVD-A).

[dld]

Great CD. Think I'll put it in the car for tomorrow's road trip. Haven't played in it a year or so. Soon as I saw the movie, I knew I HAD to have the soundtrack

[Dusty Chalk]

Follow-up -- the surround mix is of the "silly" variety -- every thing that the reviewers hate, they do. Instruments in all channels, so that the listening position ends up being in the center of the band, but in their case, it works. It's amazing. You can hear the multiple drummers as separate drummers. And even though the guitar is used as more of a rhythmic instrument and the percussion as tuned, it just works to amazing groovaliciousness. Highly recommended. Highly highly. In fact, I'm going to go back and revisit The Complex, it may have to go into my top 10 of 2003.

Oh, and lots of nice deep bass. They have these huge drums, and you know, the huger, the deeper. And they recorded them impeccably well. Exquisite subwoofer show-off material. Just make sure your room isn't hermetically sealed, because you might just start a nosebleed.

[Dusty Chalk]

If you want a taste, on Thursday, December 11th between 4 and 6pm EST/3 and 5pm CST, Blue Man Group will perform on Nickelodeon’s hit show, “U-Pick Live.” They are scheduled to perform a number of pieces live on the air, including a few twists on some classic BMG pieces that were created for this television event.

Sure wish I had Nickelodeon.

You can also try and check them out here (http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/videos.asp?artistID=1045306).

[headknocker]

Here are another one....

Big Phat Band's "Swingin' For The Fences"...Big Band at its finest...great stuff. I noticed that Ken Pohlman used it to audition a set of speakers in Sound and Vision several months ago.