Quadrophenia / The Who Sell out - SHM-SACD May release

When just music, won't do.

http://www.criterion.com/films/27775-quadrophenia

 

Agreed. My copy is very *quiet*, but I never thought it sounded that great.

 

Thanks for the advice. The only versions I currently own are the original Japan Polydor CD, the Mono Classic, and the stereo Classic with an oversized spindle hole.

 

Initial listen and isolated future listens to the sound of the mono mix on sacd just didn't do it for me. Can't say the sound of it unduly impressed me or was greatly to my liking. Bass (perhaps not just limited to bass guitar) but primarily it and its low end echo/reverb sounded too boomy to my ears in many songs and cast a shadow and trail over other parts of the music I was listening to. I wasn't exactly in the mood to listen to Sell Out as I could use some time off from it, but I was anticipating to enjoy it, and the listening experience was nothing special for me. I also thought the mids and highs sounded perhaps too dark for my taste and just not exciting to me. Each song had its own specifics. Will try the stereo mix tonight. Cheers. Don't mean to be a drag, and don't want to get caught up in analyzing it to death to come up with the perfect adjectives I'm trying to think of to explain it for myself, but through my player and both headphone and speaker sets, I just wasn't feeling it.

 

Mine hasn't shipped yet, but...that's pretty much the sound of the mono mix; not great.

 

I guess a word I thought of later re: describing my impressions of the mono and on sacd was as sounding a little 'cold' to me (without trying to sound melodramatic or too critical, or like I know what the hell I am talking about) and i wish I could say the sound via my components, in my room, and through my speakers and headphones, that the sacd of the stereo mix as well blew me away, but on the first few listens it hasn't either. I mean, in comparison to Sell Out deluxe, I can turn the volume up significantly more with the sacd and listen to the music, but that hasn't translated for me into a sound that I find appreciably more enjoyable. Louder in that sense did not turn out to better, for me, yet. I do think the deluxe is louder than it needs to be and might be a tad bright, but for now, until I can listen with fresher ears to the sacd, again, I just wasn't feeling or into the music, or sound of it on the sacd, in any significantly 'better' way, but I'm defintiely willing to try again...

 

I'll just add that, to me, when listening to the stereo mix on my sacd the sound of the organ in the right channel in Relax and the periodic cymbal/percussion flourishes that have a clanging/sibilant effect on me in Silas Stingy (in the right channel too, iirc) caused me to have to turn the volume down on both songs. Because I had the volume already lowered when listening to my deluxe cd's, it did not bother me as much. Townshend's heavy vocal in the mix and strong tonality in either (or both) I Can't Reach You and Our Love Was, Is (sorry, can't remember which right now) had the same effect on me. The intro to Rael sounded as miserable as ever. I can only listen to the bonus version(s) of that song as the definitive one(s), imo. Tattoo does sound great, imo, on my sacd! The bright and t(w)angy sound of the lead electric guitar on Odorono in the right channel has the same effect on me as the above instances, whereby in this case it sounds perhaps a little loud as an overdub and perhaps sounds as if the tone of it is more different than the overall tone of the sound of the rest of the song? A penny's worth of my initial impressions/experiences listening so far. Be nice for everyone else to embrace and enjoy it more than what I have written. Cheers!

 

It's definitely good to hear impressions from you. How would you compare the sound to other Who albums out on SHM-SACDs, if you have any others?

 

Well, thanks, I only have my own ears and equipment to go by, and unfortunately I can't always rely on them to be true, but am glad that the options to buy these kinds of releases are afforded to the fans. I had the WN sacd and after a few listens I decided that for me it didn't really do it for me. I seem to have had a similar reaction with Sell Out, though I would venture WN is a consistently better recording to begin with. Just couldn't find that marriage of tonality with volume, that either gets my foot tapping or my imagination going. I have to buy the Tommy sacd and hope that is the one for me. I'm looking forward to it. It's great that we have them available in this manner to listen to.

 

I did as soon as I committed to the SACD format I knew I had to search out Quad!! Luckily I found it on Amazon Marketplace.

 

An additional year to evaluate "Sell Out."

Thoughts? Specifically, how does it compare to the singl-disc NON SACD 1995 release (the version with that nice thick booklet of liner notes/photos)?
Thanks!

 

Totally different. The SACD has the original mono and stereo mixes, no bonus tracks. The 1995 CD has a stereo remix and a ton of bonus tracks.

 

I like the SHM-SACD sounds great on my system plus I like the mixes! Personally I'm not a CD guy if I buy anything it's usually because of a recommendation from the group. I usually but only SHM-SACD's or SACD's when it comes to that format.

 

Good to know. I've enjoyed the bonus tracks and did not know the 1995 mixes were not the original versions. Is the fidelity of the SACD about the same as the '95? (which I think is quite good). Thanks.

 

It's really not possible to compare them. Different mixes, often significantly different. One could argue some of the original mixes are more "lo-fi", but the SACD is a faithful transfer of them (even if it could arguably use some tweaking in spots).