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The Music
Released in 2000, "Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul)" is Gloria Estefan's
third all-Spanish album, after "Mi
Tierra (My Homeland)" (1993) and "Abriendo
Puertas (Opening Doors)" (1995). Even for a fan, this album is a
new experience. For me (not Spanish-speaking), the experience is a
delightful one, though not entirely foreign. Familiar is Gloria's strong
and beautiful voice, the mesmerizing beats of the percussion instruments in
her band, and the mix of danceable beats, ballads, and love songs. For
the exception of the last two songs, Gloria's personal involvement in the
compositions of the songs in this album is notably less than her typical English
albums. Her husband Emilio, however, is involved with the composition of four
of the songs.
Thoughtfully, the insert lists all song titles in English as well as the
English version of the lyrics (Spanish titles and lyrics are a given). See the track
listing in the left column.
So if you're a fan of Gloria Estefan, don't let your
unfamiliarity with Spanish stop you from adding this album to your
collection. The Spanish
vocals are beautiful and goes to prove that music is an international
language. Gloria's expressive and heart-felt performance brings
the meaning home for me. Die hard and casual fans alike will find much
to like in this album.
The Recording
Epic (Sony Music) re-released this hot-selling album to
SACD as a stereo-only recording. Though a multi-channel re-mix version
release is possible as a future release, the stereo DSD
(Direct
Stream Digital) recording offers an unprecedented level of fidelity and
stereo imaging that approaches the quality of the studio master.
Considering this album was recorded in stereo, this is as good as it gets.
Admittedly, SACD's sonic improvements are sometimes too subtle for the casual music listener and are best heard with a
high-resolution, high-performance audio system. In my playback
system, I enjoyed the high resolution recording immensely. The
stereo imaging is very well-defined, depicting each instrumental sound clearly
its proper space. Musical details of the acoustic guitars, horns,
percussion instruments, and the orchestra are accurately rendered. Factor
these improvements together, what you get is richly textured music that is
presented in a wide and expansive soundstage.
For audiophiles and serious music enthusiasts who only
care for the original 2-channel stereo recording, this SACD certainly meets
that need and offers unprecedented detail and stereo imaging. But for
the more casual music enthusiasts and multi-channel music fans that already
have this album in CD form, I would suggest waiting for the possibility of
Sony Music releasing a multi-channel re-mix version (which will certainly
include the high-resolution stereo recording from this SACD). I don't
know for sure if that's going to happen, but it may be worth the wait if
you're not in a hurry for an SACD version. For me, this stereo SACD
gives me the precise imaging and high-resolution audio that I'm looking for
in a stereo release.
Disc Compatibility Notice
This stereo Super
Audio CD (SACD) can only be played back on an SACD player or a DVD
player that supports SACD playback (look for the SACD logo). It cannot
be played back on a regular audio CD player, CD-ROM drive, or DVD-ROM drive.
Buy this SACD album from:
> Amazon.com
for $19.98
Support this site: buy through our links.
Related reviews: Gloria
Estefan's "Greatest Hits" SACD.
For additional information: visit the Gloria
Estefan web site and the Sony
Music web
site.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony ES
SCD-C555ES Super Audio CD 5-disc
player, Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
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