Huey Lewis And The News – Small World (UHQCD)

Small World, Huey Lewis And The News’ fifth and final album for Chrysalis Records, was released on June 10, 1988. It failed to build on the huge success of “Fore!” and “Sports”, which was attributed to the band’s departure from their popular sound: For the first time, the band members wove Jamaican, Latin American, and African elements into their music and reinforced themselves with Stan Getz (saxophone on “Small World”), Bruce Hornsby (accordion and backing vocals on “Old Antone’s”), and the legendary horn section of “Tower Of Power.” Frontman and singer Huey Lewis explained the album’s origins: “I’ve recorded four albums with my band so far, and they were all stylistically in the same vein. I felt it was time for a drastic change: it had to be more idiosyncratic, more sophisticated and also more musically surprising. It was important for us to do something different – something we could be proud of as musicians.”

The band was formed in 1979 through the merger of members of the group “Clover,” which included Huey Lewis (vocals) and Sean Hopper (keyboards), and “Sound Hole,” which included Johnny Colla (saxophone, guitar), Mario Cipollina (bass), and Bill Gibson (percussion). A year later, Chris Hayes (guitar) joined the band, which was then renamed “Huey Lewis And The American Express.” Bob Brown, the band’s manager, secured a record deal with Chrysalis, who insisted on a name change: “Huey Lewis And The News”.

As part of the “High Resolution Masterpiece Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive reworking of this pop-rock classic. The limited edition MQA-UHQCD features the 2023 DSD master (352.8 kHz/24 bit) converted from the digital files (44,1 kHz/16 bit) made of the original analog tapes. The exclusive Japan edition comes in mini LP format (cardboard sleeve with OBI stripe), based on the cover of the original US LP release. The booklet contains liner notes and lyrics from the album. The original album is complemented by 3 rare bonus tracks, making “Small World” a must-have for collectors!

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

1. Small World (Part One)

2. Old Antone’s

3. Perfect World

4. Bobo Tempo

5. Small World (Part Two)

6. Walking With The Kid

7. World To Me

8. Better Be True

9. Give Me The Keys (And I’ll Drive You Crazy)

10. Slammin’

Bonus Tracks

11. Small World (Single Version)

12. Small World (Extended Dance Mix)

13. Small World (Part One & Two)