Asia Alpha and Styx Pieces of Eight Audio Fidelity SACDs

I also was charged last night for it. So it should be delivered sometime in the next 5 days or so.

 

I pre-ordered both from Deep Discount last week, thinking they would ship for the release date of Sept. 15, but they are already listed as "backordered" on the website--never got shipping confirmation for either disc, but other items on the same order have shipped with confirmation. Amazon also has them listed as "backordered," and Acoustic Sounds has them listed as "shipping Sept. 2017," so go figure.

 

Has anyone gotten their Alpha yet?

 

Not here

 

Best Buy is now telling me I'll have it by Saturday October 14th.

 

Shipped Sept.20 so ought to be here early next week

 

After being told all week (and as recently as this morning) that the CD would be delivered today, I got an "important notice" on my orders page just now saying I need to "approve" a delay of aprox. 1 month (Updated Delivery Estimate: October 9 - October 25). I've never seen that before. If it's delayed, fine; but, why do they need me to "approve" it?

 

Acoustic Sounds website says they will have it this Tuesday the 26th. I plan to order from them along with a few of their new Decca Classical SACDs!

 

Did you order from Amazon? Sometimes for some reason they ask the customer to approve the order when it's delayed. So if you were told your CD would be delivered today as of this morning then how could it be delayed if it was already shipped?

 

Color me disappointed. Neither of these albums should have been considered for the A.F. release program. In sonic terms they are both anodyne productions and trying to wrestle any more life out of them must have been a trial.
In artistic terms, STYX is a whisker ahead, the ASIA was contrived and dated the day it was released. I totally get these were radio friendly mixes, but the years have not been kind. The music exists in the upper mid to high band with lower frequencies only popping up occassionally. It is downright fatiguing.
It's going to take a Jeff Beck album from A.F. to erase the memory of these two turkeys.

 

I was thinking of getting these. Can you be more specific about how they compare to the original CD's? Alpha suffered from a terrible mix and the whole album being drenched in reverb so I didn't expect much of an improvement. However Pieces of Eight was actually recorded pretty good. The original 80's CD of Pieces of Eight is very thin sounding and has no punch at all. Do you have the original CD's for both titles? I was really hoping at least Pieces of Eight would sound a lot better then the 80's CD release. Anymore specifics would be greatly appreciated. How did you get the discs so quickly? I know other forum members in the US still haven't received their copies.

Thanks

Scott

 

Has anyone received these yet?

 

Received both albums here in Sweden on Wednesday.

 

Great. Can you give us some information on how they sound compared to the old 80's CD's.

Thanks

 

Well it is 00.30 here in Sweden right now so I'm off to sleep.

 

Tease!

 

Hi Scott. I suspect the foreign orders go out early to try a match the U.S. release.
Your own description of the ASIA album is right on the money. It is a cold and lifeless production that was aimed at radio. Any time an instrumental line springs out, it seems the backing just smears. Who-ever had control of the reverb during the sessions was peaking.
The vocals are multi tracked to the point of being quite lacking of any personality or distinction. I thought it might breath on a valve system, but no luck there. Anodyne is the word that covers it. I tossed my old Cd years back for the same sonic problems we hear now.
PO8 has a few moments when the cloud lifts, but is was an overly busy mix in the first place. I will give a shout for the bass, it sits out nicely. Some tracks have indeed a bit more focus, and the ones that shine are, I note, all anchored by that nice bass. This transfer could not be described as 'thin' so obviously some improvements have been bought.
Of the two, go for the STYX. One would need cloth ears to enjoy ASIA on a decent system. Maybe road trip would do it justice.
After the third play of ASIA I had a strong mental image of Kevin Gray pushing back from the desk and sighing,
" At least I tried".

 

Yes regarding Alpha nothing short of a remix can save this album. Too bad that Steven Wilson didn't remix it as it needs a brand new remix. Everything is drenched in reverb and there is pretty much no separation of instruments.

So do you have the old 80's CD of PO8? I would be interested in some feedback when doing an A/B between the old 80's disc and the new remaster as far as levels go/EQ etc. If it's just a slight improvement I probably won't bother. I didn't like the AF of The Grand Illusion at all so I hope PO8 was remastered differently as I felt with GI there was no improvement on the AF when compared to the old 80's CD. It's kind of strange that AF chose Alpha since the original sounds really bad and the mix is terrible. I did like the AF of ASIA S/T and that album for an 80's album was recorded very well.

 

PO8 will be the first Styx cd not to have been on the original AM+ series that gets a proper remaster here in the USA. It has to sound better than the original cd. The original LP sounds awesome.

 

I just received my copy of Alpha and am listening now. I have never heard this album before so can't compare to previous issues. However, in my opinion after hearing four songs this SACD is a complete turd. The music is awful compared to the first Asia album which I like, and the sound quality is abysmal. This may be the worst SACD I have ever purchased. I cannot believe some people claim to like this album better than the debut. I don't think I will even be able to finish the disc.

 

I will PM you my address.

 

I am not completely giving up yet. I will listen to it again and see if maybe it grows on me as I spent a hard earned $24 on this disc. The Asia debut took a while to grow on me so I hope it is the same with Alpha but based on my first listening I'm not too optimistic.

 

I can understand not liking the sound on "Alpha", but I think the songs are just as strong as the debut. I ordered PO8, but haven't ordered this yet as short of a remix, I just don't think the sound will ever be improved from my existing CD.

 

Wow I will have to give it another chance maybe I was in the wrong mood or the poor sound was affecting me. Anyways I'm cleansing my ears now with one of the new Analogue Productions Decca classical SACDs. Albeniz "Suite Espanola". Heavenly sound and music compared to what I just heard from Alpha.

 

I recommend saving your money and sticking with your original CD. Even compared to most of my old original 80s pressings of music from this era the new Alpha SACD sounds bad.