Get Lifted [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

John Legend | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 20, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000C1YPY4
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,420 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lifted By A Legend, October 23, 2010

By 

Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" (Brewer Maine) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Get Lifted (Audio CD)

During the time this album came out a lot of artists such as Jill Scott,Alicia Keys,Musiq Soulchild,Dwele and even R.Kelly were seeking to reconcile the musical goals of the neo-soul movement with the nearly impossible to avoid hip-hop influence. As hip-hop itself was drifting into more of an album medium than a singles one it seemed like that cross pollination of influences could fully function at last. Into this environment came John Legend,a protege of then up and coming hip-hop kingpin Kayne West. Legend was much like a lot of young people doing what he was doing: looking to bring his thick,emotional vocal style with his expressive piano playing and writing with some of the current hip-hop sounds. So what was it that set him apart. Well a lot of his had to do with his performance and presentation. Legend held himself with a strong dignity,tailored himself much in the manner of his mentors in terms of dress and posture and took out a lot of space in his songwriting for some strong concentration on the unqiue type of chord progressions of someone such as Stevie Wonder. The title song along with "Alright","She Don't Have To Know This","Number One","I Can Change That" and "So High all do an excellent job at realizing these influences-most are in the medium dance tempo with plenty of excellent piano work along with some of the more hip-hop inspired rhythms with rappers Snoop Dog and Kayne himself joining in along the way. From there to the family nostalgia celebrating "It Doesn't Have To Change" with it's strong gospel influences this album showcases the personal journey of John Legend himself,from the apologetic womanizer he comes off as at the beginning of the album to a man reaching maturity regarding love and life in general. He reflects very intelligently and honestly about his carousing ways and presents himself as someone whose had a lot to learn and yet more to come. He also celebrates his newfound success in the same manner with Miri Ben Ari on the gently rousing "Live It Up" These two aspects jell together on the album hit "Ordinary People",a beautifully played soul ballet of sorts featuring John accompanying himself on piano with lyrics that actually find him fully realizing his romantic sensabilities and the pros and cons of human nature. It's not only one of the strongest numbers here but a glue that holds everything together well. From this point on John Legend would (and continues to) grow and experiment musically and conceptually by leaps and bounds,often with astounding results. And for the most part this album fullfilled his wishes except,purposfully so for a few here and there that way he'd continue to have something to strive for.

5.0 out of 5 stars Monster SACD, October 21, 2011

By 

TripsCallerDoh (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Get Lifted (Audio CD)

I had not previously been exposed to John Legend but kept hearing his name. When I got an SACD player I decided to buy a few disks and check out the sound. Holy cow, this is an awesome disk. First of all, several of the songs are great. A good sub-woofer is helpful, I had to turn mine down to get the sound just right. The quality of the sound is unbelievable, lots of details. The surround mix is one of the better ones that I have heard. While it is in a totally different genre, I would rate the surround mix up there with Avalon, the better parts of Dark Side of the Moon and some of the Elton John releases. Really a must buy for anyone with a decent sound system and an SACD player. Wow!

2.0 out of 5 stars Flat, thats all, March 6, 2011

By 

Badger Fan "lj121746" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Get Lifted (Audio CD)

John Legend's voice is incredibly enjoyable to me and it shines on this album in SACD format. Unfortunately so do all of the production shortcuts that were taken.

There is zero depth to the sound and no sound-stage reproduction. The drums, bass, any brass, and in some songs, even the piano, sounds like they're coming out of my keyboard instead of my $5,000 dollars worth of audio equipment. The terrible beats in most songs, paired with SACD quality of the voice recording make you feel like John is beside you singing along to that keyboard produced beat. It's really an injustice.

That said, the song "Ordinary People" sounds great, because its just him and the piano. The piano also sounds much better on that track than on most other songs... Maybe they had a real piano, or maybe they just payed more attention to this song during production. The other song where the production wasn't terrible is "It Don't Have to Change." In this song he sings with a small choir and a piano. It has a soul/Baptist feel to it that I really like. The depth of the sound and clarity turned out well because there was no other instrumentation to it.

Aside from these two songs, the SACD version is a total loss on this album... It's sad really, because I love his music once in awhile.

Although most of the album was bad, I got the SACD for right around 10$ with shipping on amazon, so not too bad for two songs I really like.