Sergio A&M compilation on SHM-CD

[Mike]

Sergio Mendes A&M compilation is now available in SHM-CD format.

Track listing:
1. Mais Que Nada
2. The Look Of Love
3. One Note Samba/Spanish Flea
4. Agua De Beber
5. Constant Rain (Chove Chuva)
6. Watch What Happens
7. For Me
8. Night And Day
9. With A Little Help From My Friends
10. Roda
11. Batucada
12. Upa,Neguinho
13. Fool On The Hill
14. Scaborough Fair
15. The Dock Of The Bay
16. Pretty World
17. Nowegian Wood
18. Chelsea Morning
19. For What It's Worth
20. What The World Needs Now

I just ordered it from Amazon Japan, but it’s available from CDJapan too. I should have mine by the day after tomorrow; I’ll report more on it after I listen to it.

Mike

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Pretty nice comp. It's good to see another track from FOOL on there besides the two hits that always get included.

I'd have made a couple of changes though....would have left out "What the World Needs Now" in favor of "Ye Me Le," and I would have bounced "One Note Samba/Spanish Flea" and put in "Day Tripper" or "Going Out of My Head."

 

[Mr Bill]

...and naturally it kicks off with "Ma(i)s Que Nada"...

--Mr Bill

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Yeah...if I was playing it, I'd put it on "shuffle" for sure!

Seems like Sergio's compilations always have really cheesy covers...what's up with that? Even the American ones have been nothing to write home about (except the original GREATEST HITS which is a classy cover).

 

[Mike]

They’ve also reissued Sergio’s Atlantic Records albums on SHM-CD.

Beat of brasil
Favorite Things
In Person at El Matador
Great Arrival
Swinger From Rio

You can see them at HMV japan

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/search/index.asp?target=MUSIC&category=1&adv=1&keyword=Sergio+Mendes&site=


I’m tempted to get these too, even though I already have them on regular CD.

Mike

 

[Rudy]

I wouldn't sweat it: the "SHM" is more marketing hype than anything else. Yes, the CD is physically better (the readability by the laser is improved), but as I found with some Supertramp SHM CDs I heard, the mastering on those discs is horrible. I have "Crime Of The Century" on the gold Mobile Fidelity CD, and the dynamics are fantastic. The SHM version is "squished"...the louder sections have no more impact to them. One can only hope these newer batches of Sergio CDs sound better, but often, the older CDs are less "futzed with" than the newer ones and actually may sound better. For the A&M era, Verve in the U.S. actually did a really nice remastering job on all of these.

To put it another way: I doubt many of us could even hear the difference between a regular CD and an SHM CD that had the same mastering.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

So SHM is the "Monster Cable" of CDs, eh?

 

[Mike]

The SHM-CD’s arrived; and along with the B66 compilation I also picked up “Great Arrival”. In my opinion, without the benefit of anything other than my untrained ears, I think the SHM-CDs sound better. The compialation was marginaly better than the same CD in the non-SHM format. However, the new “Great Arrival” sounds far superior to my old copy and it comes in a neat gatefold mini LP jacket too!

All the best,
Mike

 

[Harry]

I decided to pull the trigger on this BEST HITS compilation. The SHM-CD angle was enough to intrigue me, as my only other disc in that material is the Carpenters 40/40 set.

On that set, as well as this disc, I can hear some improvement in the highs. It doesn't just sound like an EQ boosting, just a smoothness in those really high frequencies - the percussion, the "S" sounds, etc.

Still it's all very subjective, and I don't know that if I did a blind test whether or not I could tell the difference.

That said, it's an interesting compilation, one that's largely, but not completely in chronological order, something atypical for a Sergio compilation. "The Look Of Love" appears a bit earlier than it should, and "What The World Needs Now" ends the set, but should have fit in a few tracks higher up.

What really bugs me the most are the typos. Look at Mike's list above. Those aren't HIS typos on "Nowegian" and "Scaborough" - those "R's" are missing from the back panel track listing, as well as the insert track listing. (We'll forgive the "Mais" spelling!). The only place that these tracks are spelled correctly is in the lyrics insert.

As for the artwork, I don't mind this one at all, as it's an homage to the outline artwork used on the back of EQUINOX. Even the font choice screams "60's" to me - and it's always nice to have a prominent A&M Records logo gracing things.

Since I didn't get the standard CD version of this compilation back in 2008, this one makes a decent addition to the collection.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

So SHM is the "Monster Cable" of CDs, eh?

Yep. It's more marketing than anything. Maybe 0.01% of the listeners can hear a difference between an SHM and a standard CD, but with the same mastering on both, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference...and you'd need to hear it over a very high end CD player to hear the difference anyway (like the Sony SCD-777ES we listened to last Friday). As I understand it, SHM is just a different type of plastic on the disc, which reportedly has better clarity and is easier for the laser to read.
Having said that, the Supertramp SHM discs I heard were the worst Supertramp I've ever heard on CD. Absolutely horrible. Just proof that even with better technology (SHM), it doesn't do anything to improve bad mastering.

The ironic thing is that Monster Cable's products aren't all that great to begin with!

 

[Mike]

As for the artwork, I don't mind this one at all, as it's an homage to the outline artwork used on the back of EQUINOX. Even the font choice screams "60's" to me - and it's always nice to have a prominent A&M Records logo gracing things.

I like the art work too, Harry.

I went ahead and picked up the rest of the Sergio Mendes SHM Atlantic Records CDs, and I'm glad I did -- they sound great and are an improvement (IMHO) over the previous releases.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Rudy]

Those Atlantic albums never did sound that hot--I bet these do sound better!