HiRez Poll Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds - BLACK MOTION PICTURE EXPERIENCE [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2017 Multichannel SACD release from Dutton Vocalion of the Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds' albums "The Black Motion Picture Experience" and "Music For Soulful Lovers".



The Black Motion Picture Experience
1: ACROSS 110TH STREET (Johnson; Womack)
2: SLAUGHTER (Preston)
3: BEN (Scharf; Black)
4: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (R Strauss) from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey
5: SUPERFLY (Mayfield)
6: TROUBLE MAN/“T” STANDS FOR TROUBLE (Gaye)
7: SHAFT (Hayes)
8: LOVE THEME FROM LADY SINGS THE BLUES (Legrand)
9: FREDDIE’S DEAD (Mayfield) from the film Superfly

Music for Soulful Lovers
10: SOULFUL LOVE (Camillo; Bogart)
11: I’M GONNA LOVE YOU JUST A LITTLE MORE BABY (White)
12: BREAK UP TO MAKE UP (Gamble; Bell; Creed)
13: YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE (Wonder)
14: NEITHER ONE OF US (Weatherly)
15: PILLOW TALK (Robinson; Burton)
16: KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG (Fox; Gimbel)
17: IF YOU DON’T KNOW ME BY NOW (Gamble; Huff)
18: LOVING YOU HURTS SO BAD (Camillo; Sawyer)
19: CALL ME (COME BACK HOME) (Green; Mitchell; Jackson)
20: STAY WITH ME (Camillo; Sawyer)

All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

Remastered from the original analogue tapes.
CDSML8531

 

[bmoura]

This is an enjoyable one.
A 4 channel mix of studio musicians led by producer Tony Camilo as they give an Easy Listening treatment to R&B classics.

Favorites here include Shaft, Superfly and Pillow Talk.
The sound quality isn't up to today's standards - not a surprise since it's a '70s era recording.

I'd give it a 9.

 

[blue.monk]

The first half of this two-fer (The Black Motion Picture Experience) is terrific. Slick and smooth orchestrated instrumental arrangements of some hits of the day, with good fidelity and an excellent quad mix - and featuring some A-list studio jazz musicians. The second half (Music for Soulful Lovers) while maintaining most of the musicians and a similar approach to the material is a major decline in quality for me. The fidelity is much weaker (with the drums in particular suffering from a very distant and muddy sound) and the mix, while still discrete, is much less satisfying. This latter LP also has several tracks featuring a female ensemble providing lead-less backing vocals, which is fine by me. Unfortunately there are also two tracks with Holmes providing some rather wooden spoken passages intended to seduce the ladies. Oh boy. Barry White, he ain’t.

Another plus is the excellent and informative liner notes by steelydave. I can recommend this disc for the first half only. A 9 for the first LP, 6 for the second. I’ll round up for a generous 8 overall.

 

[par4ken]

Firstly I never would of bought this if it wasn't in surround, that being said it's pretty much what I expected and it wouldn't be fair to give it a low rating based on content alone. The first album "Black Motion Picture Experience" has sound quality that reminds me of a Q8 tape, but with less hiss and a bit better top end. The mix is adequate but having just being blown away by Deodato this mix pales by comparison. I like the Curtis Mayfield penned tracks "Superfly" and "Freddie's Dead" the most. I would describe this as easy listening soul.
The second album "Music For Soulful Lovers", I would describe as easy listening pop that descends into the realm of elevator music. Not what they call pop or popular today but what was referred to as pop/popular back in the seventies. My favourite track is "Loving You Hurts So Bad" is somewhat out of place and would almost fit better with the first album. Fidelity wise I think that this one sounds better than the first album, the surround is about the same.