The latest tactical move in the ongoing high resolution audio format war will be made this Monday when EMI (the label who in the U.K. released Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on hybrid SACD) will release the highly anticipated Pet Sounds album from The Beach Boys on DVD-Audio. The scuttlebutt is that EMI have more titles upcoming this year for the Fall-holiday selling season. Warner Brothers (WEA) has made it publicly known that they have as many as 17 DVD-Audio titles ready for release in September and more slated for release through the rest of the year. BMG is also rumored to have some R&B titles on DVD-Audio before the end of the year.

Warner Music Vision has just announced two DVD-Audio albums that will be released in the UK on July 28, 2003. The discs are Donald Fagen's 1993 second solo album "Kamakiriad", and Chicago's second album "Chicago II". Donald Fagen's Sci-Fi themed "Kamakiriad" features Dolby and DTS 5.1 Surround Sound soundtracks, as well as Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix. The eight-song album includes supplementary material including an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with Fagen and album producer Walter Becker, plus a Photo Gallery featuring 15 photographs, DVD-Rom web link, Song Lyrics and Production Credits. The album also includes the pop videos for the singles "Tomorrow's Girls" (starring comedy actor Rick Moranis) and the futuristic "Snowbound".

Much like blockbuster artists Eminem and 50 Cent, Metallica's upcoming, St. Anger, already in circulation, Elektra Records has moved up the release date of the new album, from Tuesday, June 10, to Thursday, June 5. Elektra and Metallica have taken this measure to ensure that counterfeit copies of the band's first studio album in six years do not proliferate in the marketplace. After vocal opposition to Napster (and peer to peer file sharing in general) in the past few years, Metallica unanimously approved the move, guaranteeing that fans get first crack at hearing the acclaimed disk the way the band intended: Loud and unadulterated.

Groundbreaking band Led Zeppelin redefined hard rock music and are one of the most influential musical acts of all time. Now after 35 years, they have sold more albums then any other rock band in history, except for the Beatles. To mark their 35th anniversary, Zeppelin has just released a double DVD containing five hours of previously unreleased live performances from 1970-1979, and triple live album called How The West Was Won, with performances from several California concerts in 1972. Source: www.msnbc.com/news/

Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me headlines the long awaited five title SACD release from Blue Note Records. Blue Note, a part of EMI, did the SACD deal before EMI pledged their allegiance to DVD-Audio and are now slated to release the following multi-layer titles on June 10, 2003: Norah Jones - Come Away with Me Dianne Reeves – The Calling Bill Charlap – Stardust Bob Belden – Black Dahlia John Coltrane – Blue Train (stereo – hybrid) Insiders at EMI who have a pre-release copy of the Norah Jones record tell AudioRevolution.com that the surround mix is subtle like being in the club with Norah and less like a more aggressive surround mix as you will find on the recently released Dark Side of the Moon. Little was known about the SACD release of the John Coltrane classic but it has sounded great on nearly every format is has been released on ...