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69 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here's the comparison of the DTS & SACD discs!!, April 1, 2003
NOBODY has written a comparison of these two multichannel releases, so let me be the first. I A/B'd the DTS 5.1 CD and this new SACD 5.1. I have two Pioneer DV-47Ai machines hooked up for this review and here is what I found: accoding to my SPL meter, the SACD is about 2-3db higher than the DTS CD. I can compensate for this via programming my Yamaha receiver to play the DTS version at the exact level. WHAT DID I FIND??? I will go out on a limb here, but the same surround mix was used on BOTH CDs. The edge goes to the SACD for better resolution of the cymbals and a very slightly more solid bass. A better way to describe it is that there is more air around the performers. The DTS feels a like the performers are closer together which sometimes gives the impression that Sting's solo vocals are clearer and steered a little more to the right of center stage on the earlier recorded tracks. However there is a presence on the SACD that is more immediate and less laid back. The DTS CD was one of the very best and would have been hard to beat under any circumstances. However eight years and more technology have produced an SACD that betters it ever so slightly. I guess my recommendation is for the SACD since it is a hybrid and has two additional tracks that were not available on the DTS version.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Police give classic a new meaning, February 8, 2000
The Police are a great, classic band like many of the others. But what makes them different is the dark, repetitive vocals along with the haunting music. Some of the songs such as "Spirits In The Material World" and "Invisible Sun" have real catchy music. "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Message In A Bottle" have repetitive but catchy lyrics. And others such as "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take" are examples of songs that are almost perfect in any way. I grew up listening to The Police, but only in the past year did I really know who they were, and I started listening more. The first thing I noticed is that The Police might have some of the strangest lyrics of any group or artist, but I can't think of ANY songs that are more catchy. I'll hear a song on the radio or play one of my cd's and it might be stuck in my head for an hour at the most. But when a Police song gets stuck in my head, it stays there the rest of the day no matter what I do. I recommend this album to anyone. It's just too bad that The Police didn't stay together long enough to make some more great, catchy songs and more classics like "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Every Breath You Take," and "Wrapped Around Your Finger."
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good place to start, May 2, 2000
By A Customer
I am a Police fan of 30 and have been a fan of the band since1978. This is an excellent CD to buy as an intro to the music of thePolice who, in my humble opinion, are one of the best bands to come out of Britain during the post-punk "New Wave" era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were also a band who I felt never totally fulfilled their potential, although they quit whilst still on top. I would totally disagree ... (that) the band is awful but the songs are good - yes the songs are great and have stood the test time - but no way were the Police an awful band. In Sting you have a brilliant songwriter and a first-rate bass player, in Andy Sunmmers a technically brilliant guitarist whose understated style and clever use of chorus and delay effects were exactly the right ingredient for Sting's songs, and in Stewart Copeland a superb drummer who again (like Summers) had a distinct and much-revered and much-copied style of his own. I was lucky enough to see the Police play live - in London in 1983 (their final official UK concert in fact) and they were a superb live band. The sound for a 3-piece band was awesome. If anything the records never really did their songs justice as the power of their live sound seemed to be diluted on vinyl - even more so on CD. The Police were respected by the reggae community for bringing reggae into the mainstream (reggae artists have even made tribute albums covering the band's songs) and they also earned the respect of musicians in the jazz world - mostly for their approach to improvisation onstage (something very few of today's rock bands would try - take note Oasis & co). Their sense of space in the arrangements is superb - just listen to the interplay between the instruments on Walking On The Moon, for example. The band's early material was a clever fusion of rock and reggae (Roxanne, Can't Stand Losing You, Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, etc) and it's these songs that are the real timeless classics along with, of course, Every Breath You Take - which simply has to be THE most perfect pop song ever written. It is flawless. Sorry Queen fans, but Bohemian Rhapsody just does not do it for me. Sure, it wins all the polls for this sort of thing but Every Breath You Take is THE definitive all-time classic pop song. Even Lennon and McCartney would have been proud of that one. Unfortunately the song has been misinterpreted as some sort of love song (whicn it isn't) and even Sting has laughed at the fact that it gets played by horrible nasty function bands at weddings and dinner parties. Function bands, Puff Daddy and anyone else who dares to mess with this song should leave it well alone. Anyway this CD gives you most of the band's hits plus a rather pointless "new" remix of Message In A Bottle, which sounds nothing more than a re-EQing of the bass. I would rather have seen the space filled with a good album track, say Bring On The Night or Tea In The Sahara, or even So Lonely - one of the early singles not included on this compilation. If you are new to the Police, this CD is a good starting point but if you want something more complete, check out the Message In A Box 4xCD box set - it's better value than buying all 5 albums and you get extra tracks too.
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