One thing that DVD-Audio and SACD have in common this far in their ugly format war is that neither is selling discs in the volumes that they would like to. Some SACD hybrid titles have done quite nicely, like Dark Side of the Moon and the Bob Dylan catalog, as have DVD-Audio titles like Metallica’s Black album, Queen’s A Night at the Opera and The Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds. However, if you walk into most independent record stores and ask for SACD or DVD-Audio they look at you like you are crazy. Literally, a salesman at Rhino Records in West Los Angeles reacted this way just yesterday. He told me as he pointed at the wall of vinyl that he has only had three people walk into the store asking for DVD-Audio or SACD. Every day, he said, “People ask for vinyl.” Little did he know there was an entire Bob Dylan ...

Rolling Stone Magazine and Sony Electronics are have announced a creative cross promotional plan designed to get mainstream consumer support for the SACD format. Rolling Stone will be compiling their own “Top 500 Albums of All Time” list. As part of their Best of issue will be a hybrid SACD that has many of the better songs for Rolling Stone readers to enjoy. The list of the songs to be included has yet to be announced but both a CD compatible stereo version and an SACD surround sound track will be included on the disc. Through additional partnerships with retailer Circuit City and Clear Channel’s radio syndication, consumers will then be encouraged to take their hybrid SACD to stores and experience the higher resolution that SACD has to offer in return for potentially winning one of 45,000 prizes. Some of the prizes include SACD compatible DVD Dream Systems and music titles like Bob Dylan's ...

Stylish 80’s rocker, Robert Palmer died of an apparent heart attack in a hotel in Paris last night. Palmer is best known for his highly polished MTV mid-1980’s videos that featured provocatively dressed women rocking out to his equally provocative pop-rock songs. Palmer’s career started in 1974 with the album Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley. In 1979 he really broke through with “Bad Case of Loving You.” In the 1980’s Palmer became a worldwide star with song from the album Riptide some specifically “Addicted To Love.” Palmer later worked with members of Duran Duran in an act called Power Station to rack up hits like “Some Like It Hot,” “Communication” and a cover of T-Rex’s “Get It On.” Source: e-online.com, Umusic.com

Chicago based schizophrenic singer-songwriter Wesley Willis died at age 40 this weekend after fighting a long bout with chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. In a world filed with far too many copy-cat performers, boy bands, teen divas and overall wanna-be’s, Wesley Willis was truly one of a kind. Literally, nobody sounds like or can write a song like Wesley Willis. Vocally Wesley couldn’t find a tune with radar. His atonal melodies are the first musical cue you pick up on when discovering his music. His pre-programmed and highly formatted tracks (both live and in the studio) came straight out of his keyboard and drum machine and were deconstructed to the absolute basics resulting in refreshingly pure songs. But what makes the music of Wesley Willis unforgettable is his lyrics. With tunes like “Rock and Roll McDonalds” “The Chicken Cow” and “I Am Sorry That I Got Fat” you can’t help but to find humor in ...

Music consumers and AudioRevolution.com readers frequently wonder why record labels don’t adopt new music technologies more quickly. From the outsider’s perspective the music business moves in slow and highly paranoid ways. As for the paranoia, consumers are right – the music business has long been overly concerned about piracy (remember the fight over DAT) and now with MP3 files flowing by the millions, they have reason for real concern. But why can’t the major labels just adopt DVD-Audio, SACD or Windows Media 9 as a new format and move on? Why can’t they load up commercial file sharing sites with all of their catalog songs? The major reason has a lot to do with the artists and their contracts. Popular musical artists are historically signed to long-term, 7 album deals that are subject to an amazing level of negotiation between the label and the band’s management and or legal team. These deals, ...