George Bensons Songs and Stories on SuperDisc

New Version of The Jazz Legend’s Album Features Unprecedented Tonal Depth and Richness, Plus Exciting Behind-the-Scenes Video Material

Monster Music and The Concord Music Group today released 10-time Grammy Award winner George Benson’s new album Songs and Stories on High Definition Surround Sound SuperDisc. The Monster SuperDisc version of Songs and Stories is now available at select Best Buy stores today for a suggested retail price of $24.95 (the original version (in traditional stereo) by the Concord Music Group & Monster Music was released in the U.S. in August). The SuperDisc version features the entire album as well as exciting, behind-the-scenes video footage.

To give fans a new level of audio and video quality, the Monster Music SuperDisc of Songs and Stories has been mixed in Monster High Definition Surround (HDS). Like Monster Music’s previously released SuperDisc release of George Benson and Al Jarreau’s Givin’ It Up, the remastered SuperDisc marks a major step forward in the evolution of audio quality, delivering Monster’s own highest fidelity stereo and surround experiences in Dolby Digital and DTS for both home theater systems and iPod/MP3 players.

Monster HDS is specially engineered to capture music’s true harmonic depth and tonal richness and sound significantly different than traditional surround sound. HDS selectively places artist and instruments around the room for the ultimate listening experience, and unlike DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, HDS on a SuperDisc plays in any DVD player. Notably, Monster HDS is also an interactive music experience, allowing listeners with a home theater system to select their own “Surround Experience,” choosing to be “in the studio” of a live recording or “in the room” sitting next to the band.

Additionally, to provide users of portable music players, including iPods and iPhones, as well as computer users, with easy access to the enhanced tracks, the SuperDisc includes digital music files specially encoded in Dolby Headphone surround, allowing users to enjoy a virtual surround sound experience from any pair of headphones on any portable music player.

Noel Lee, Head Monster, noted: “I founded Monster 30 years ago because I was obsessed with finding ways to make music sound better, and of all the products we’ve introduced one of the most exciting ever is our new HDS technology. Our HDS SuperDiscs are capable of capturing nuance and subtlety in the music that has literally never been heard before, including true harmonic depth and incredible tonal richness. The goal is to reproduce music the way the artist heard it in the studio, and the way it was intended to be heard. Everyone here at Monster is particularly excited about the release of Songs and Stories.”

Comments George Benson, “HDS gives the music another dimension that you didn’t think existed. You just have to experience it because it puts you right in the middle of it all–where the music comes alive.”

Songs and Stories is Benson’s second album on the Concord Records/Monster Music label. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century. Some were written specifically for this new recording, such as Bill Withers (who came out of retirement to write “A Telephone Call Away” for George), Rod Temperton’s “Family Reunion” and Lamont Dozier’s “Living in High Definition”; while others, including James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience.

Songs and Stories was produced by Concord’s Grammy winning, creative head John Burk and renowned bassist/composer/producer Marcus Miller. Benson, Miller, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Jubu and drummer John Robinson make up the core unit for the project. They were joined by special guests: guitarists Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Wah Wah Watson and Norman Brown, vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Patti Austin, keyboardist David Paich, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright along with several others.

More About Monster Superdiscs
SuperDisc plays music in High Definition Surround (HDS) and works with any DVD player. Every SuperDisc recording has been carefully remixed and remastered to bring out the best performance possible from today’s home theater and car stereo systems. You’ll hear more clarity, punch, dynamics and vocal presence than the regular CD. Encoded directly from the master recordings at the highest resolution possible these digital music files will sound better than if you “ripped” the music from the CD yourself.

Tech Notes

• Superdiscs are not DVD Audio discs, they are compatible with any DVD player.
• Surround audio encoded in Dolby Digital (448kbps) and DTS 96/24 (1.5Mbps)
• Digital Music Files: WMA (192Kbps), AAC (320Kbps)