Heathen (Multichannel/Stereo) [Super Audio CD - DSD]

David Bowie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 10, 2002)
• Please Note: Requires SACD-compatible hardware
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Super Audio CD - DSD
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00007FNRF
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,916 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sunday

2. Cactus

3. Slip Away

4. Slow Burn

5. Afraid

6. I've Been Waiting For You

7. I Would Be Your Slave

8. I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship

9. 5:15 The Angels Have Gone

10. Everyone Says 'Hi'

11. A Better Future

12. Heathen (The Rays)

13. When The Boys Come Marching Home

14. Wood Jackson

15. Conversation Piece

16. Safe

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant!, February 19, 2003

By 

"zootycoonlady" (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heathen (Multichannel/Stereo) (Audio CD)

heathen on sacd is INCREDIBLE! okay, for those of you who don't know what an sacd is: instead of having 2 channels, left and right audio, it has 6. front left, front right, front center, back left, back right, and subwoofer. heathen is amazing because the CENTER SPEAKER PLAYS ONLY DAVID BOWIE'S VOCALS. you can hear his actual singing a LOT clearer, and it sounds like you're actually at a concert! (you can also try to turn down all the other speakers and listen to him a capella. interesting.)

the music opens up as well. instruments that hadn't been heard before can now be heard clearly. the music takes on a more rounded sound that's WAY more exciting to listen to. songs that benefit greatly from being put into sacd form are Sunday, 5:15 the Angels have Gone, and Took a Trip on A Gemini Spacecraft.

also, 4 extra songs are added into this sacd, all of them fabulous, but on the mellow side. my favorite is "wood jackson." listen to how david sings the word "sha-a-ame!" amazing, david bowie's vocals are getting better every year.

one downside to an sacd: you can't play it on a regular cd player. but don't let that stop you from getting your hands on this.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Music and Great Surround Mix!, August 25, 2003

By 

Richard S. Taylor (Rayle, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heathen (Multichannel/Stereo) (Audio CD)

I bought this sacd because I just had to have some more rock in multichannel (you can only listen to Dark Side of the Moon so many times) and I was not just surprised but actually floored by it -- it is so good. The music all fits together and it is one of those records that draws you in and keeps you in Bowie's world to the last note. The surround mix is second only to DSOTM and is a strong argument for full-range surround speakers. Demonstration quality surround -- far superior, for example, to the Police "Every Breath You Take" album. Very highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SACD is the definitive version, May 1, 2003

By 

Walter von Wegen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heathen (Multichannel/Stereo) (Audio CD)

To really hear "Heathen" in its full glory, you really do need the SACD version--not only is it fuller sounding, but the little details are suddenly there, ones that got buried under the layer of harshness on the CD mix.

The PCM-encoding that CD sound is based upon is simply too crude for releases like "Heathen." Tony Visconiti's production became really intricate on Bowie albums like "Low", "Heroes", "Lodger" and most famously, "Scary Monsters", and this album is no exception.

With the exception of Slow Burn, none of these songs are very catchy at first listen. Instead they rope the listener in gradually, with each listen--and the extra details and richness of the SACD version really accelerates this appreciation of how good this music really is.

Add to the fact that you've got 4 bonus tracks that are also in super-high fidelity, and this becomes a must for anybody with a SACD-capable player and a good sound system.

I give it 4 stars because it's not one of the most immediate albums Bowie's ever done, but it's great for rainy days.