Chicago II Steven Wilson Remix Announced ! 01/27/2017

Yes, I have it and it sounds wonderful but I'm eagerly waiting to hear the Steve Wilson remix on vinyl. Do you know by any chance if the Chris Bellman vinyl is a pure analog vinyl release?

 

I don't recall but I seem to remember that Bellman himself participated in some discussions about it years ago in this forum.

 

Is there any one here knows for sure what source was used on Chris Belmann Chicago II vinyl and if he used some digital conversion in the signal chain?

 

From the "horse's" mouth! BTW, you, too, participated in that thread and even "liked" Bellman's response!!

 

Thanks for the info SteelyNJ!

 

I bet there was a digital clock in the room. For shame.

 

LOL!

 

Actually - I have been listening to the HdTracks and my BluRay player does not have gapless playback (when playing via USB) and it indeed makes many of these songs sound like they are cut off. Not sure if that's the same situation as the guy that posted Steven Wilson himself cut it (i.e. "Make Me Smile") off - but that's a possibility. Until I recalled the gapless issue, I thought "So Much To Say, So Much To Give" had it's ending cut off as well as other songs.

 

After all of my years of ranting and raving about the sound quality of this album... we finally have a great sounding CD. Thanks Steven Wilson. Now do "Asia/Alpha"

 

I don't yet have the Wilson remix, but just sold off the Bellman mastered Rhino Vinyl, I thought it sounded dreadful (I'm otherwise an admirer of Bellman!s work). Cooincidentally, at the same time a well priced DVD-A came up for sale here and based on some enthusiastic comments in the thread I decided to buy it, it was just a few dollars more than what I'd sold the LP for.

I've only listened to a few tracks in stereo off the DVD so far, but wow, so much better than the vinyl I sold off, the music came out from the thick layers of mud trapping it on the LP. If Wilson has improved things further that's great, and I look forward to finding out.

 

They are very different. The DVD-A remix has some pretty extreme EQ in an attempt to sound more hi-fi. The SW remix is much closer to the original mix, just with more pleasant EQ.

 

It's good that you are happy with the DVD-A remix of Chicago II but its excessive EQ hurts my ears.
On the other hand, the original stereo mix would always sound a little muddy regardless of whether they are released on CD or vinyl. MoFi did a good job in making the stereo mix more listenable but it's still the same dreadful original stereo mix.
I think the new Steve Wilson remix combines the good qualities of the DVD-A and the best sounding original stereo mix without the excessive EQ of the DVD-A and by sounding close to the original stereo mix.

 

Chicago was the group and album that really introduced me to rock and roll from my childhood in classical music. As a trumpet player it was a natural gateway. I remember checking it out of the library a couple years after it came out and being blown away. So I've been listening to this album a long time - but actually not that much since getting better sound systems at home and in the car, which tended to really reveal the sonic problems of the original recording and mix.

Steven Wilson has given this record back to me. On my first listen on my home system I was being pretty analytical for the first side - and then there was a teeny tiny hiccup in Anxiety's Moment that wasn't there before (maybe some tape damage on the multitrack, I guess - unless you're a trumpet player you probably won't notice). But by side 3 I was just immersed in the music and not thinking about the recording - which generally never happened before when the horns sounded too much like kazoos. I even really enjoyed It Better End Soon - and I never cared that much for it before.

What a fantastic, fantastic job by Steven Wilson. All previous versions had sonic issues that called too much attention to themselves. You can't totally get rid of the kazoo-iness of this recording (which resurfaces in Chicago VIII to a lesser degree), but I suspect this is as good as you can get. Some albums really do need remixes to live up to their potential and this is one of them. Extremely highly recommended.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the new Steve Wilson stereo remix of Chicago (II).
I think the two other classic years Chicago albums that need this kind of Steve Wilson remixing treatment are "Chicago III" (1971) and "Chicago VIII"(1975).

 

Dreadful? You are the first person I'm aware of to disparage that Bellman LP. Just goes to prove once again that we all hear things totally differently.

 

I am an admirer of Bellman's work, but what I heard listening to my copy of Chicago II was not good. I'd certainly like to hear an original pressing, that would give me much better sense of how faithful the Bellman version is to the tapes, one day I'm sure I will. In the meantime I quite like the DVD-A I just got, which others have commented they do not. Yup, all our hearing (and tastes) are different!

 

If you've never heard an original pressing I could understand why you might like the DVD-A stereo mix (I don't) and reject the Rhino Bellman LP. Having grown up with an original Columbia vinyl pressing, l appreciate the fine work Chris Bellman did to revitalize what was an inherently flawed source recording. The DVD-A is a somewhat radical remix. It might sound "good" but at the same time it's such a departure from the original mix that it sounds "wrong" to many of us who grew up with the original and have it firmly ingrained in our brains.

 

I completely appreciate your feelings about a remix sounding "wrong" to one's sensibility despite being sonically "good" to other's ears. I experienced that myself when I bought our host's version of "Elton John's Greatest Hits". It sounded like a thoroughly different recording than the one I've listened to since I bought the album as an 11 year old in the 1970's. I have both that original pressing and the early CD issue of this title, and they basically sound the same. Now what our host gave us on that DCC CD may in fact be closer to the master tapes, or it's sonic differences may just be as a result of the equipment and choices he used and made, but despite it's great fidelity I didn't enjoy it and sold it off.

We can also directly compare the situation with "Chicago II" with "Aqualung", another album with a muddy original we're used to, out host's excellent version of the original mix, or the Wilson remix which radically changed the sonics, and which many seem to regard as the best way to listen to this classic now that we have it. Even so I'm sure there are many whose ears prefer the original, thankfully we have options. As I posted earlier, I haven't yet heard the Wilson "Chicago II", but look forward to doing so soon.

 

To my knowledge, the DCC EJ GH is not a remix.

 

Is it firm that there will be a vinyl release of SW's Chicago II?

 

Scheduled for August, most likely a Barnes & Noble exclusive.

 

My review of Steven Wilson's terrific new stereo mix of Chicago's thoroughly progressive second album, Chicago (aka Chicago II). Wilson has, indeed, outdone himself this time, with a transparent mix available in CD or 24/96 digital download formats. No high res hard media or surround mix this time. But it doesn't matter; the stereo mix is *that* good.

Powered, as ever, by my Tetra 333 stack and OPPO PM-3 headphones/FiiO x5ii, it was a great opportunity to compare Wilson's work with the recent Quadio box's 24/192 remasters of Chicago's first nine studio releases, to really appreciate the benefits and potentials of remix over remaster.

==============================

It's rare that an opportunity presents itself to directly compare a high resolution remaster with a high resolution remix, but with last year's Quadio (Rhino) box set containing Blu Ray Audio versions (at 24-bit/192KHz) of its first nine studio recordings (including, curiously, a completely superfluous, early Greatest Hits package) and the recent, single-disc reissue of Chicago (also known, to many, as Chicago II), featuring a brand new stereo mix by remix go-to-guy, Porcupine Tree founder and now-successful solo artist Steven Wilson, there's a chance to do an (almost) apples to apples comparison. It's an opportunity to hear exactly why, in the right hands, a remix provides a far better opportunity to take a classic recording and bring greater clarity, delineation of layers, power, breadth and depth to the music than simply remastering from the original masters.

Why "almost"? Well, since the Quadio remasters are at 24-bit/192KHz, and despite being released on hard media on CD only, Wilson's Chicago remix is available as a digital download at a lower but still high resolution rate of 24-bit/96KHz, we're not talking exactly apples to apples. That said, it's a myth that 24/192 sounds "twice as good" as 24/96, and whatever differences there may be from the increased resolution of Quadio, Wilson's ability to go back, not to just the original master tapes used with Quadio but, instead, the original multi-track tapes - allowing him to rebuild the mix from the ground up - has resulted in an even more revealing listen than the admittedly fine version of Chicago found in the Quadio box.

Chicago comes from a group that may largely be thought of as a radio-friendly pop group responsible for early hits like the hard-rocking, enigmatically titled "25 or 6 to 4" and romantic ballad, "Colour My World." "Baby What a Big Surprise," was another relatively early pop hit from the group's ninth album of all-original studio material, 1977's Chicago XI. It was a transitional album curiously not included in Quadio; had it been, the box set would have represented the band's first full decade, from its beginnings as Chicago Transit Authority in 1967, through to guitarist/vocalist Terry Kath's tragic death, age 31, of an accidentally self-inflicted gunshot wound in early '78. Quadio would also have been a self-contained box set of every studio album that the guitarist recorded with the band that changed its name to simply "Chicago" for its second album, as well as every studio recording the band made with producer James William Guercio.

But listening to the radio - even the more experimental, stylistically unfettered FM radio stations of the late '60s and early '70s - where it was possible to hear, back-to-back, music by The Byrds, John Coltrane and Pink Floyd - never told the complete story of this horn-driven, rock-infused group from the USA's "Windy City."

Continue reading here....

 

Good review! I read it at AAJ this morning and was going to link it in the ongoing Steven Wilson Chicago remix thread here, but you beat me to it.

 

Thanks again....one thing I've learned is that being published is no longer enough (just like releasing records); you've got to make sure folks know about it. I've only recently started posting all reviews at this forum, though I've been a member for awhile; so, for me, when an article of mine is published, I spread the word to 7 social media platforms (and, on Facebook, share the post to anywhere between 5 and 10 Facebook groups, depending on the subject), two bulletin boards (now that the All About Jazz forum is, sadly, no more) and a few Yahoo Group email lists. It really makes a difference. As soon as I spread the word you can see the read counts start to climb significantly faster. It takes 15-30 minutes but is well worth it.
Cheers again!
John

 

Everyone who likes this album should watch the video attached to the AAJ review ("In the Country" from Tanglewood, July '70). It's great!