artist: Studio Voodoo album: Studio Voodoo format: DVD-Audio label: DTS Entertainment release year: 2001 performance: 8 sound 8 reviewed by: Richard Elen The possibility of dance clubs using surround replay systems has been explored experimentally for some years, particularly in the U.K., where clubs in the Midlands started installing Ambisonic surround sound systems in the ‘80s. It’s an incredible idea, and as soon as the venues are ready for it, here’s the music.

Ludwig Van Beethoven, Symphony No 9 Op. 125 Europa Philharmonica Budapest Orchestra & Choir Maximianno Cobra, Conductor Hodie "Essentia" Series DVD-Video and DVD-Audio Versions available | Performance 7 | Sound 7 | If you are at all familiar with other performances of Beethoven’s Ninth, this interpretation will probably shock you, and not necessarily in a nice way. The immediately evident departure from the norm is that the tempi have been reinterpreted by the conductor, Maximianno Cobra, in a way that results in many of them being reduced to something close to half their normally-rendered speeds. Apart from that, the performance is excellent and the recording is quite respectable too, given the multi-mic approach employed.

artist: Various Artists function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); album: Immersion format: DVD-Audio label: Starkland release year: 2001 performance: 0 sound 0 reviewed by: Richard Elen The intention of producer Thomas Steenland in putting this disc together was to commission various electro-acoustic music producers and composers to create surround works for a "millennial" DVD-Audio disc. The pieces had to be produced in the first quarter of the year 2000 for release later the same year. As a result, the interesting group of artists, represented here by 10 very varied tracks, were not given an enormous length of time to create their pieces.

artist: Take 6 album: Take 6 format: DVD-Audio label: Warner Music Group/Reprise release year: 2001 performance: 8 sound 8 reviewed by: Richard Elen Like Aaron Neville’s Devotion (see link below), this is also, at least nominally, a gospel album, and it too contains a number of traditional numbers, in virtually every other respect it is in a completely different genre. This is a re-working of the group’s debut album that is not as eponymous as it might seem: it actually has a title if you read carefully.

artist: Foreigner album: Foreigner format: DVD-Audio label: Atlantic Records release year: 2001 performance: 7.5 sound 7.5 reviewed by: Jerry Del Colliano Camaros, mullets and armless t-shirts were in vogue when Foreigner was the indisputable king of rock ‘n’ roll in the very early 1980s, when their self-titled album laid claim to the title of Atlantic Records largest-selling record internationally. Foreigner was Foreigner’s landmark album, laden with hits and a developed style that has defined a genre of music that has since been archived with millions of spins on classic rock radio and been loved by generations of listeners. Foreigner is a bit cheesy to this member of Generation X, yet their musical talent and, more importantly, their songwriting gifts give them staying power more than 20 years after their call to glory.