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Well-known in the audiophile circle by her two vinyl releases
under the Sheffield Labs label, namely Growing Up in Hollywood
Town and West of Oz, Amanda McBroom ascended to fame in
the early 80’s from her own classic, The Rose, which was
adopted and sung by Bette Midler as the theme song for the
same-titled movie. More details on her illustrious career can be
found at the Amanda McBroom website.
The subject of this review, the JVC XRCD2 2003 release of
Dreaming, is re-mastered from McBroom’s original 1986 album
produced by her own label, Gecko Records. The performance
provides more than a glimpse into an earlier period of McBroom’
s career when she was more unworldly, as evident in the
unashamed directness of her fancies in Dreaming and Ship In A
Bottle, and the stern condemnation of war in For Nothing.
Contrasting many pretentious singers of the day, McBroom’s
occasional girlishness bodes extremely well not only in her
yearning for fantasies; her whispery tales of love and regrets
also come away as extremely convincing in Easy, When Hearts
Collide and Quiet Man. Here, amidst the accompaniment of
professional musicians, she sometimes conveys mature
messages that catches me off guard. Then even more
amazingly, out of nowhere comes the singular The Portrait,
McBroom’s very private, confessing composition dedicated to her
mother, which gives us a rare glimpse into the artist’s more
private thoughts.
This XRCD2 has exuberant sparkle throughout the spectrum,
rendering McBroom’s intonations reverberating and sumptuous,
and the abundance of details distinguishes itself from other
CDs. The dimensionality reproduced is a dramatic improvement
over the sonics of mass-market CDs in the acute delineation of
performers‘ localization, and the lively transients impresses
upon me in their lifelike subtleties.
Finally, I should mention that McBroom shows us a world of
precious idealistic stubbornness in her own interpretation of The
Rose, a version to which none can contest on its earnestness
and originality. Add to it the sound of XRCD2, and you have a
quintessential demonstration track, from a disc the pristine
sound of which will reside in your mind for quite some time.
This JVC production will assert its significance among your
collection of today’s best-sounding CDs. |
