****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This review is for the K2HD version. As noone has yet to post a review of this CD and given it's price I felt compelled to do so. As I said I have mixed feelings about this disc, made and mastered in Japan.First the good. The sound quality is exceptional. I have a high end system that reproduces the nuances of this disc very well. I think to truly appreciate the sonics of this disc one will need a very resolving playback system. That doesn't mean it won't sound good on any system. It's just the better the system the more one will be able to appreciate it's sonics. I have been auditioning some of the higher resolution discs as of late and have been quite impressed with many of the formats such as K2, DXD, and Utra HD. (The sound of the Ultra HD format is extraordinary BTW.) This disc provides outstanding details without being bright. The overall sound is warm and smooth and subtleties are very well expressed. Much closer to the "analog" sound so many audiophiles desire than what your typical redbook CD provides. If your looking for exceptional sound quality this disc certainly provides it. Another positive is it includes all of the lyrics to all of the songs and it all comes in a very nice "book like" package. Also this isn't simply a remaster of Mr. Richie's 1992 "Back To Front". It includes two songs not on the original CD, "Dancing On The Ceiling" and "Stuck On You". Yet this leads me to the negative.This disc despite adding two more selections and being so well produced has the shortened, and in my opinion less likeable, "radio edits" of such classics as "Still", "Sail On", "Three Times A Lady", etc. For example, "Sail On" on this disc is the 3:53 version rather than the 5:30 album version. I find this very disappointing for a disc where so much went into it's mastering and production, not to mention price. Since it's obviously not simply a "better sounding" version of the original, by virtue of it's inclusion of two more songs, why not give us "better" sound of the better long versions and really make it something special? For this reason I can't give this disc a higher rating. If it had the long versions it would've easily gotten 5 stars. If you want the long versions I recommend the 2006 "Lionel Richie/Commodores Gold" 2 disc CD set by Hip-O. It features every song on this disc plus a lot more. It also has very good sound quality remastering which I've found to be the case with all of the "Gold collections"Gold [Original recording remastered]Commodores, Lionel Richie | Format: Audio CD. It's selling for far less than this disc. $15.38 from Amazon and even less from other sellers. I give the the K2HD disc A+ for sound, D- for music content, overall a C. If you want exceptional sounding short versions then get this disc. If you want exceptional sounding long versions take a pass on this. If you want the album versions go for the well remastered "Gold" set.
