SHM CD Deep Purple and Blind Faith REVIEW

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I listened to two of the new CD Japan SHM CDs last night,
Shades of Deep Purple and Blind Faith, both SHM SACD.

Shades of Deep Purple is mastered in such a way that is kind
of typical of the late 60’s/early 70’s hard rock albums. It’s intended to be
played LOUD. It just doesn’t sound right if it’s not LOUD. It’s kind of bass
heavy but it’s the kind of bass that you feel more than hear, yet when it’s
missing the sound seems to have lost everything, especially if it’s not being
played LOUD.

I had the average levels at about 105dB at the listening
position, and it probably could have used another 5 dB or more. My speakers are
now 35+ years old and all original so I really don’t feel like pushing my luck
on a new recording that I’m listening to for the first time. My wife said the
pots and pans in the kitchen were rattling so I guess that’s good enough.

I have the original LP of this recording but no need for
comparison. My LP, while in “good” condition, is one of the few in my
collection that are old enough to have been played repeatedly on a Zenith
console stereo I bought back in High School when I thought Zenith was the best
you could get (ROTFLMAO).

It was nice to really hear all of Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar
work for the first time. There’s a lot more coming through on here than I ever
heard on the LP, lot’s of little rhythm guitar licks that were previously
buried in the mix. And Jon Lord’s keyboard work on that dirty keyed Hammond B3,
amazing stuff, kind of like a second lead guitar.

Some of the songs still come through a little “dorky” IMO,
somewhat amateurish arrangements while others like their cover of the Beatles
Help are really quite good. There’s a number of bonus tracks not on the
original LP, mostly out-takes versions. I had to laugh at the bonus track of
Hush. Now I don’t feel so bad for some of my very earliest bands I was in. It
was nice to hear Deep Purple sound just like a good old fashioned garage band.

The Blind Faith SHM SACD, now this is nice! I turned this one
down a little, average levels around 90-95dB. All the fine textures of Clapton’s
guitar work and Ginger Baker’s amazing finesse on percussion come through on
this with sparkling detail. I remember the drummer from one of my bands back
then had Baker’s solo down pat. Steve used to always remark about how many drum
stick clicks he heard from Baker’s solo. Steve, I got news for you, there’s a
lot more than three times that Baker hit his sticks together (smile). There’s
really not much more I can say except that I have the original LP of this recording
also but no need for comparison here either. This was probably as close to
listening to the original master tape as I’ll ever get. And it is a very good
recording. I really enjoyed it.