Virgin Records announces support of SACD


Here's the text of thier announcement:

VIRGIN PRESS RELEASE
May 11, 2001

Virgin Records Announces More SACD Titles
To Follow Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells

Following the successful release of Mike Oldfield's classic album Tubular Bells on multichannel SACD in November of last year, Virgin Records is proud to announce that it has begun actively planning its next SACD releases.

"The SACD of Tubular Bells continues to amaze us sonically," said Paul Bromby, Commercial Sales Manager and Head of Catalogue Marketing. "The great reaction that we got to Tubular Bells from the public and the retail trade, encouraged us to begin planning our next SACD releases."

Some classic Virgin titles that have been green-lighted for release on SACD are:

Human League - Dare
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon
Roxy Music - The Best of Roxy Music

"We're in the process of pulling tapes and evaluating what we've got in the vaults," said Bromby. "There are a lot of factors to consider with SACD. We want recordings that can best take advantage of the higher resolution of the format. And now that Sony and Philips have begun marketing their first multichannel players, we are also considering which titles might be appropriate for remixing for release in surround."

Although specific release dates have not been set for the upcoming SACD titles, Virgin is planning a steady stream of SACD releases in batches of three. There are currently an additional six titles lined up for release in 2001.

"SACD represents an opportunity to lift the music listening experience to a new level for consumers," commented Bromby. "We're approaching the remastering of our catalogue for SACD carefully and deliberately, so that the Virgin SACDs deliver on that promise."
tmartinjr9589
Sorry to be so sarcastic, but "Yippie, multichannel to save the poor, misled, hi-end audio devotee". I for one have no interest in multichannel SACD or DVD-A considering the attempts I've heard so far. I do hope that one or the other or both new formats prosper, but not if they are to be solely targeted to the HT market. Either they need to do a lot better than what I've experienced to date, or I'll stay with the "old" technologies. (This diatribe isn't intended against Tmartinjr - thanks for the update, actually - or anyone else for that matter. It's just how I feel about the direction that hi-end audio seems to be going lately. I'm all for new technology if it serves the reproduction of the illusion of a live performance. Otherwise, it's simply a distraction). Give me music, not FX. Just one poor, misinformed, music-lover's opinion.
Jcbtudes, sounds like you should be a SACD supporter. Where DVD-A has its roots in Multichannel and the stereo option is sometimes missing or poorly implemented and CD stereo not an option, SACD has its roots in CD and SACD stereo. All SACD discs have a separate stereo track. The Virgin SACDs have a stereo CD layer, stereo SACD track, and multichannel track.

Many CD, Vinyl, and SACD supporters hold your opinion. I have a 5.1 hometheater, but I typically listen to music in stereo--even many DVD-V concerts. For example, when I listen to the Neil Young DVD-V Friends Concert in stereo, Neil seems like 20 feet away. When I listen in 5.1 DTS, Neil sounds 100 feet away, bass is boomy, and everything fuzzy. It sounds like a real concert. I usually listen in stereo.

My SACD player is stereo only, and I do not have immediate plans to move to multichannel SACD--but someday I will--just to give me that option. When that happens, I'm sure that I'll still mainly listen to music in stereo.
I bought the Tubular Bells SACD and was not overly impressed with it (it really sounded dated). However, if it is causing Virgin to release its old catalog in SACD, my sacrifice may not have been in vain!