Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-bit, FLAC*; Fantasy Records FAN-38974-02 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

This set by Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle started life as a series of gigs back in late 2014, and while it’s somewhat alarming to discover that the two performers are now heading for their bus-passes – both have hit the big six-oh – there’s an easygoing rapport between the two on this upbeat set of mainly jointly penned tracks. What’s even more remarkable is the way the two voices mesh together in flawless harmonies: they just fit like they’ve been doing this all of their professional lives. Even the cover versions here – among them Jagger and Richards’s ‘Ruby Tuesday’ – bring a fresh perspective to the songs, and while the recording isn’t by any means state-of-the-art or demo-quality, having a decidedly rough edge to it, it’s hard not to enjoy the ‘let’s just get together and share some songs’ freshness about it. It’s an album that’s difficult not to like. AE

Sound Quality: 80%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Despite offering a potential 45-48kHz bandwidth this 96kHz file’s content is filtered at ~28kHz (all except trk 3). This is just fractionally higher than I’d expect to see from – say – an upsampled 48kHz file, but it’s still rather odd... PM