Audiophile Digital

The Crickets
The ‘Chirping’ Crickets
Rollercoaster RCCD3801 (part mono)

Forget recent AI work with The Beatles reissues: it’s primitive compared to this, which may be the watershed moment in recording technology. Rollercoaster has extracted true stereo from the oft-repackaged Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ 1957 mono tapes. Fine LPs and CDs exist, but this CD changes everything. Forget the ‘reprocessed’ stereo of the past: here is the album in pristine mono, then stereo and lastly in stereo minus the twee overdubbed backing vocals. Inspiring The Beatles, The Hollies, Dylan and everyone who followed, it’s a debut with ‘Oh, Boy!’, ‘Not Fade Away’, ‘Maybe Baby’ and ‘That’ll Be the Day’ – incredible. One of the most important rock albums ever, now sounding better than you could imagine. KK

Sound Quality: 95%

Eric Deutsch
Decades
Octave Music OCT-0028 (gold SACD)

Like the jazz vinyl reissues opposite, this is an audiophile’s dream. It’s recorded so beautifully that you might find it hard to comprehend the technological chasm between this purely cutting-edge digital affair recorded and mixed in DSD and, say, Curtis Counce’s all-analogue sessions from 1957. This album deals with the sonic and historical gap through the material, too, the piano/bass/drums trio ‘exploring music from the decades of jazz’. Deutsch has chosen nine compositions by great pianists such as McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Timmons and Horace Silver, plus one of his own to revisit the 1950s and the sub-genres of the intervening years. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

Steely Dan
Countdown To Ecstasy
Analogue Productions CAPP135SA

Yet another disc to reaffirm my love for SACD, the Dan’s 1973 sophomore release is – for some – justifiably an even better work than the incredible debut. By this time, the group had established an audience hungry for more of their jazz- and soul-influenced material, with wry lyrics to place the group alongside Tom Waits, Warren Zevon and other deceptively cerebral artists. The range and variety of the material, as well as undeniably stellar production values, have made this an audiophile’s favourite. This writer finds ‘My Old School’ and ‘Pearl Of The Quarter’ irresistible and continually surprising even after a half-century. And the SACD sonics? Heavenly. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

Various Artists
Patterns On The Window
Grapefruit CRSEG3BOX142 (three discs)

Grapefruit and its stablemates are performing a huge service with box sets defined by location and era, this one a perfect companion to their earlier London-centric sets. The subtitle says it all, because the carefully selected 67 tracks truly exemplify the subject: ‘The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1974’. It’s an ear-opener if, like me, your eyes glaze over when you hear that offensive, doom-laden four-letter word: ‘prog’. Roxy Music, Brinsley Schwarz, Dr Feelgood, Nazareth, Thin Lizzy, Ronnie Lane, Sparks, Bryan Ferry – it’s a broad church, but the booklet explains all. As with Grapefruit’s other boxes, previously unreleased tracks will entice collectors. KK

Sound Quality: 85%