Hotel California: My unfinished? journey

So, Hotel California is one of my favourite Albums. Definitely in my top 50. Eagles are in my top 20 bands I think.

First Physical copy i bought was the DVD-A 5.1 back in 2001. I was blown away by the instrument separation and clarity from the 5 channels. (This was before i discovered vinyl). I soon started buying any DVD-A by my favourite artists. I remember Rumours was also amazing.

So, when i finally discovered vinyl in 2005 I decided to get hotel california on vinyl. I got a regular vintage USA press. condition was about Vg++. Not NM. Anyway I immediately felt let down. I thought maybe i got a bum copy so i bought another and it was the same. So i decided to buy the kevin gray RTI copy in 2009. This was much better. It had audiophile qualities. But i wasnt getting that euphoric feeling i had with the DVD-A. So then i get the bernie grundman cut in 2014. It was extremely similar to the KG cut but i felt this had a little more "life" and KG was slightly duller. Been living with the BG cut for the past 4 years feeling pretty satisfied but never overwhelmed.

Well, today while listening ...I had it. So i pulled out the DVD-A.....I am going to retire my vinyl copy to the closet.
because of the 5.1, joe walsh's intro to life in the fast line is right in your ears on the rear channels. felder's intro to victim of love coming from both the left main and left rear speaker making it sound much bigger and clear. Hearing a bunch of details in the mix was amazing again.

IDK... Maybe i should try the DCC vinyl or the MFSL vinyl? Those will be my last chance for vinyl on this title. However the stereo mix will be the same....And the wonder of the 5.1 mix is was grabs me.

Speaking of 5.1 mixes, is it just me or were the 5.1 mixes better back in the early days of 5.1 with DVDA and early SACD? To me it seems like now a days Sound quality seems to get sacrificed a lot. I was listening to the fleetwood mac 5.1 DVD mixes from the box sets. i listened to the white album, tusk and mirage. Tusk was terrible sounding. The mix was not too bad but when the sound quality is that meh. It kills the point. white album was better but still not amazing. mirage was better still but to me the rumours DVDA 5.1 was still the best. I also heard a lot of steve wilson mixes and while the mixes are decent to great a lot of times the sound quality just doesnt hold up to a well mastered Stereo recording. From his YES remixes I think only Fragile had exceptional sound quality.

Ok, journey and rant over

 

Forget the MoFi, just get the DCC. It's much better than any other release. You actually don't know how bad those other ones sound until you've heard the DCC.

 

All depends on who mixed the surround mix. Hotel California was done by the master Elliot Scheiner.

Steven Wilson also does great surround mixing.

 

I have a lot of 5.1 mixes, and it is all down to the engineer's preference. Check out Bob Marley in 5.1 and Earth, Wind and Fire. There are a lot of Blu Ray Audio 5.1 discs that sound good too.

 

I agree with the statement about Wilson, his work on Jethro Tull and Yes and many others is outstanding.

 

My original Canadian pressing is quite excellent. Sorry about your frustration!

 

I'm late to this party, but I'm currently listening to the DCC CD and hearing detail I haven't heard before, including the drums actually sounding like drums. It is wonderful.

I don't have (and don't want) a 5.1 setup, but my wife has the SDE of Hotel California, which includes the bluray 5.1. I don't plan on listening to it again.

 

Greetings from Europe, as this is one of my all time favorite albums and there were no other relevant threads open, posting here. I have an Canadian Vinyl of this masterpiece that sounds great. The Canadian press I have looks like VG+ due to inner sleeve scaffolding, but plays EX- and these can be had for a 1$/1£/1€ (+shipping) get one! I paid 5€ this year but I bought in a physical record store, so support for dealers is included in (my) price.