Nat King Cole

Love Is The Thing - Analogue Productions CAPP 824 SA (SACD)

Arguably the finest album of standards he ever delivered – the opener is ‘When I Fall In Love’, for goodness sake – this stunner sounds so good that Analogue Productions has released it on both 2x45rpm vinyl (to be reviewed soon) and SACD. But not just any SACD: its layers are set up so you can enjoy it in mono, stereo, three-channel and, if your processor has worthy rear-channel extraction, in surround. However you choose to play it, the sound is so silky and natural that you’ll use this as a demo disc. Of course, this is first and foremost about the music. Cole rarely sounded better, with the signature vocal textures and perfect phrasing suggesting that, yes, he probably was the greatest vocalist of the 20th century.

Sound Quality: 95%


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