i have always had respect and appreciation for young talented singers who bring classics/oldies with a new contemporary twist to the new generation of music lovers and in this respect, kudos to buble and david foster for reviving so many evergreen tunes in their last 3 studio albums, with audiophile-pleasing recording quality to boot.


since most of you have bought this album, i don't see the need to write a review. instead let's deal on its recording, which to me, scores at least a B+ in my sonics checklist. oh, this applies to US pressing only. those who have bought the malaysian pressing, like what reader nyaba said in his comment, it is good only for the dogs.

to appreciate buble's music, one must play loud, with at least 11 o'clock on your preamp volume pot. only then, the full intensity of the bass and dynamics will shine thru. and your system must have good highs, as there are plenty of brass instruments in the big band (what a band!). the highs must have sheen and adequate "brassiness" to make the band sound comes alive. in track #11, one of the best tracks in the album, a cover of elvis's calssic "always on my mind", one should hear the beautiful waves of of the string ensemble sweeping gracefully at the background. in lesser systems, this string section may be submerged or made insignificant. the piano lines have plenty of weights; one can feel every tinkling of the ivory with good density.

buble's music also has big dynamic swing and contrast, so your system mustn't be wimpy (puny 300B needs not apply, just joking). also the bass in buble's albums have been consistently good; it plumbs big depths so your system must do bass well.

buble's vocals are very textured and dense; it has plenty of emotions in the midrange. it must not sound thin!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good album for sure!!!
The Malaysian pressing is horrible though ,no better than the pasar malam versions[no kidding!!I've actually done the experiment myself

Michael Ng said...

Listened to it in your car today, great album, great songs! but your car audio didn't quite do justice.. nyehehe

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

nyaba, buying US pressing doesn't make us unpatriotic right? hehe.

mike, my car audio is for non-critical listening only, just like you don't spend big bucks on your home audio! the pot calling the kettle black! haha

Anonymous said...

I got mine, non-US pressing, from my woman as a gift - so I accept. Even non-US press, I found this album's fidelity to be better than the first two albums.

However, you may notice that the last 3 tracks in the 2nd CD (the MY packaging has 2 CDs) which are produced by David Foster have 'inferior' fidelity. Perhaps it was mixed/produced differently but compared to other tracks, these tracks were diffused, sounded more hollow with sloppy highs. U guys notice the same?

yoyoma said...

why everyone like the us pressing so much? I have not heard the rest but this cd selling in my country is fantastic recording.
cheers