Ending my Saturday night with the Elements Mix in surround, those Flux Fiddlers sound amazing on their own! I was initially bit skeptical about the element mixes but these warrant repeat plays. The other beautiful track is the full piano mix of Jealous Guy, Nicky Hopkins in full flow! The Evolution documentary tracks are next....
I have listened to the raw 5.1 mixes on disc 2, both the extended versions and the out-takes and all I can say is WOW (I could say something else but don't want to have my post deleted) These are crystal clear and totally discrete and just listening to John's guitar on "Crippled Inside", heck, listening to all 5 channels on "Crippled Inside" is worth the price of the box set alone (to me). I had forgotten how great this tune is, and it's 1000 times better in this super 5.1 mix. Other little things, if you remember, the McCartney Band on the Run Deluxe Book version did not have the quad mix included, and to add insult to injury, showed a picture of the STEREO 8-track with the title "Here is a picture of the quadraphonic 8 track". This release not only includes the original quad release better than it has ever sounded, along with the amazing 5.1 stuff on Disc 2, in the book there is a whole couple of pages dedicated to the original quad mix, with a picture of the quad masters, a quad ad from Billboard, the actual US green Q8 tape, and a look at the SQ label of one of the quad LP's. In this case, John's deluxe box blows Paul's out of the water. Band on the Run deserved this type of treatment, IMHO. This is a great release. Great job by Yoko & Co.
Apart from the "raw studio mix" and "take 1" which has previously been released in different versions. Was the demo the only new outtake of "Imagine" in this box set?
Imagine no 5.1s, no goddamn DR'ratings, no more delivery grieves - would the music still stand up for you as it does for me? Cause there's where Lennon spirit lies
Nice to have a thread devoted to content/sound etc for this set. I got the cd/blu-ray set but don't have 5.1 or much interest in it. I have like -many here no doubt - loads of Imagine bootlegs including the Vigotone sets so when this set was announced I was not that enthused. The blu-rays look good and I assume have everything that is on the cds - is that correct? I also am hoping that there is some material ie different unheard takes as opposed to different mixes of takes already booted on this set. The package itself looks good with some nice photos.
Now imagine (no pun intended) being able to remix the album on the fly by changing your position in the sound field to give greater prominence to the instruments that most interest you. 5.1 is not the best “listening” mix for the Raw Studio Mixes due to all the channel isolation, but it is the most analytic mix.
interesting that they showed the US Q8 and not the UK one. my disc 1 blu ray won't play on 2 different machines, the 2nd blu ray plays fine...a treasure trove on that disc alone!
I love that isolation, it feels very real to me and very quad from the 70's. The isolation works by combining with the other channels to create very discrete space of the musicians combining together as a whole in the listening room.
Any more comments on the vinyl. I read one member said both sides were noisy. Could be a cleaning issue in that case. Any one? ?
Unless you happen to LOVE that isolation. I was listening to "Crippled Inside" from the outakes section in the car and it was incredible. John's guitar sounded with such detail. Loving this release.
I've seen quite a few box sets in my day but this is about as thorough as it gets, just an A+ effort and leaves me wanting nothing except for blu ray 1 to play...I've now tried it on 2 Samsung and 1 Sony blu player and it simply will not load on any of them...but Blu ray 2 is awesome. nice stereo remix on the cd as well.
As I posted in another thread, the more I compare disc 1 with MFSL Gold version, the more I think the MFSL version of the 2000 remixes is the best. I wonder if in the 18 years that passed from that remix, the master tapes may have deteriorated somehow and lost their brillance, or is just a matter of mixing choices. Apart from that, disc 3 is absolutely essential and the best sound quality of the lot.
Listened to one side last night without cleaning first, just a light brush. Not DEAD quiet but not objectionable at all to me.
My BR2 wouldn't load the first four or five times. Odd that this set would have difficulties with that.
I really like the studio version of "Well... Baby Please Don't Go." I'd never heard it before. I'm trying to find the original by the Olympics on iTunes but they don't have it.