DYLAN GETS SACD MAKEOVER

Columbia/Legacy will release 15 classic albums by Bob Dylan in the hybrid Super Audio CD format on Aug. 19.

These discs—the first recordings by any Sony Music artist to be issued in this format—will also feature restored artwork based on original album packaging.

These 15 titles mark the start of a long-term program to enhance and upgrade the sonic quality and packaging elements of one of the most important album catalogs in popular music.

Only one Dylan album, Blonde on Blonde, has been released previously in the standard Super Audio CD format. Blonde on Blonde, along with five other titles—Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home, Blood On the Tracks, Slow Train Coming and Love and Theft—will now be issued as 5.1 multi-channel releases with accompanying stereo mixes, in addition to their hybrid SACD versions.

The other 10 hybrid Super Audio CD titles are The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Planet Waves, Desire, Street-Legal, Infidels and Oh Mercy.

"The release of these classic Bob Dylan albums on hybrid SACD will extend the benefits of this exciting format to a much wider audience," says Jeff Jones, Senior VP, Legacy Recordings. "Each of these Dylan titles will be painstakingly remastered and reproduced to the highest quality standards."

Sony says Hybrid Super Audio CD discs feature a high-density layer that can provide high-resolution, multi-channel surround sound in addition to a separate two-channel stereo SACD version of the same music, and a layer with a CD version of the recording. The result is a hybrid disc whose full audio potential can be realized by the new generation of SACD players, and which is fully compatible with all other existing CD players on the market today.