Nat "King" Cole - Love Is The Thing

Included with this deluxe reissue is a 2,800-word essay by Chris Hall about the album.

All tracks except 5 and 6 playable as Mono, Stereo or Multichannel. Tracks 5 and 6 are Mono only and are not included on the Multichannel layer.

Analogue Productions' Blue Note and Nat "King" Cole Reissues WIN A Positive Feedback 2010 Brutus Award!

"...if you haven't picked up every one of the Blue Note and Nat King Cole reissues from Chad Kassem and company at Acoustic Sounds, you're really missing out!" - David W. Robinson, Positive Feedback, Issue 52

"...Thanks to the gorgeous remastering and improved quality afforded by the format, you'll hear every breath, as if you were in the studio alongside Cole himself during a recording session." - The Second Disc, December 2010

"It's the power and the grace of the song, of Gordon Jenkins' arrangements, of Nat's pure and sometimes eerily florid tone - and to discover this 1957 knee-bender in 2010 is to show you can spend the rest of your life discovering musical beauty made long before you were born. If you have SACD capability, there'll be stardust in your room." Top 10s of '10 - Metro Times, Detroit, December 29, 2010

"...not just any SACD: its layers are set up so you can enjoy it in mono, stereo, three-channel and, if your processor has worthy rear-channel extraction, in surround. However you choose to play it, the sound is so silky and natural that you'll use this as a demo disc." Sound Quality = 95% out of 100% - Ken Kessler, HiFi News, November 2010

"...Cole's voice is closely-miked, producing the sensation of a giant, solid, three-dimensional apparition between the speakers. Playing the opener, 'When I Fall in Love,' for a visitor inevitably results in bulging eyes of disbelief and involuntary sighs and 'wow!'s. It never fails... I wouldn't go through life without a copy of Love is the Thing and this one is easily the best yet and probably the best you'll ever hear or be able to buy unless the master tape ends up on the auction block." Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 - Michael Fremer, musicangle.com

This has been a totally no-expenses-spared project. Using the original three-track work tapes from Capitol's vaults, mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman along with DSD specialist Gus Skinas bring you an entirely incomparable SACD experience. In addition to the stereo mixes, this SACD includes a three-track transfer for multichannel playback and the original mono mix taken from separate microphone feeds, mixing consoles and tape machines at the original sessions. In order to master from the three-track masters, AcousTech had to be outfitted for three-channel playback. That meant Kevin Gray had to find a third identical monitoring channel chain (including mixing board, amplifier and speaker) as well as a three-track playback headstack and also a three-track preview head for the vinyl cutting system.  It was a massive assignment. We've spent a fortune to include these extra bells and whistles and to make this a truly historic reissue.

Love is the theme for twelve ballads of heavenly strings orchestrated by the distinctive Gordon Jenkins, sympathetically backing the intimately expressive and supremely musical voice of the incomparable Nat "King" Cole. Featuring such legendary classics as "Stardust" and "When I Fall In Love," this album topped the charts upon its release, is among its era's finest, most stylistically defining recordings of popular music and continues to enchant listeners to this day.

Love Is The Thing was recorded in finely polished monaural and more minimalistic 3-channel stereophonic versions, each with dedicated microphones, console, mix and recorders. Each offers a different sonic perspective. The monaural recording was heard on the original hit records while the stereophonic recording offers the potential for a stunning wide-range realism. Using the original first generation full-track mono and 3-track session tapes from Capitol's vaults and custom headstacks, console and monitoring chain installed at AcousTech specially for these releases, mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman along with DSD specialist Gus Skinas bring you an entirely incomparable SACD experience.

For this deluxe hybrid SACD, both mono and stereo versions are available in standard resolution on the CD layer and high resolution on the DSD stereo layer, while the stereo versions are also available in 3-channel high resolution on the DSD multi-channel layer. In addition a 2,800-word essay by Chris Hall about the album is included. No expense was spared to make this the ultimate digital version of this album and a truly historic reissue.

Originally released in 1957.

"...I know these recordings like the palm of my hand, but your three-channel, stereo, and mono restorations have so completely rocked my world that I have been on a cloud for two weeks...I cannot believe the amount of color and nuance that you extracted from the masters. Thanks to the magic you have done with these master tapes, I have had my favorite singer live in my living room for two weeks. I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful musical experience and the great emotions I have felt, hearing this music as if for the first time. BRAVO!!!" - Roberto-Juan Gonzalez, Acoustic Sounds customer

Read some glowing praise for the quality of these SACD reissues here:

http://puresuperaudio.blogspot.com/2010/05/nat-king-cole-sacd-project-launch.html