Steven Wilson working on Tangerine Dream: In search of Hades Box Set.

Listening to Oedipus Tyrannus on Tidal. It sounds awesome! Seeing as Musicvaultz has yet to do anything, I may just place an order with Amazon UK again. Pisses me off because I had an earlier order with them at a cheaper price but I cancelled and locked into the Musicvaultz offer. Thankfully I have title to ease the pain.

 

Spun both Live at the Rainbow theater tonight. What a treat!

 

The Encore of the Royal Albert Hall concert is also great. For me, it’s probably the best live piece of the box set.

Re 5.1 mixes, I just love Ricochet, it was a real surprise to hear how good this sounds in surround. Oedipus Tyrannus is also very well mixed to 5.1, but in terms of music I only like it in parts. Phaedra also works well in surround, and you have to listen to it a bit loud in order to get all the layers of the music. It’s not the highlight though.

 

I finally went ahead and cancelled with MusicVaultz and ordered with Burning Shed, though I'll pay about US$33 more (I prefer not to buy from Amazon and never had a bad experience with Burning Shed).

 

Maybe it's a good idea. MusicVaultz had not delivered a single set it seems, and maybe never will. I still have my pre-order with them from April.

 

I've never had a bad experience with them either. On the few occasions I've needed their after-sales - not always their fault - they've come through with flying colours.

 

Me too...I've used them many times and this is the first time they haven't delivered (pardon the pun).

 

I had another go at comparing the remaster of the Phaedra track with SW's remix, and this time around more details revealed themselves. I should have used my best headphones previously.

It's not as easy to spot differences in this kind of music, compared to SW's remixes of more traditional instrument set-ups like Tull or Crimson.

But his remix of Phaedra is subtle - I noticed more detail in the opening few minutes, and a nice 360 degree effect with the sequencers midway through, and the harshness of the closing section has been smoothed over a little. I think there may have been embedded damage in the master tape, because the drop-outs (or crackly tape bits) are very obvious in the remaster, and they're also there in the remix, albeit less intrusive.

All part of the charm....

 

They replied today to my inquiry that they should be receiving stock in the next 3-14 days. It means probably they have no clue.

 

I got the same response over 14 days ago. I ordered with Amazon UK. I still have my order in with MV, but am reluctant to cancel too quickly given the price. It bugs me that they are still excepting orders on a product that many of us ordered in the spring and have yet to receive.

 

Just saw that Amazon UK has gone from dispatched in 1 to 2 months to 3 to 5 days. Fingers crossed.

 

What did the total come to with the taxes etc from Amazon UK to us in the great white north?

 

128.92 pounds total. Mind you, 16.27 of that is potential import/duty fees. I may get that back if it rolls through customs without much notice.

 

Ugh, the price is what’s holding me back. Been off work for a bit so the funds are low.

 

Maybe look at the individual releases. The whole box is on Tidal in CD quality as well. Go for the free trial. That has gotten me by during this endless wait.

 

I picked up Rubycon on disc, and I’ve bought some of the tracks off 7digital. Jealous about the BR content, though.

 

The more I listen to this material (or what I can), the more I hope they continue forward in the catalogue. Albums like Tangram or Exit are seminal for me.

My birthday’s coming up, and the set is still a little steep, but my wife bought me Stratosfear, Encore, and Force Majeure on CD (the second is the only one I didn’t already have from 7digital, but I like having physical copies, too). I picked up the Oedipus Tyrannus tracks, too. That was pretty cool.

 

Available again on Amz.ca for $280 cad...

 

I guess it's a measure of how much I'm enjoying this box set - I keep coming back to it! Normally I spent a little while with a new purchase, before another one comes knocking at the door and the previous one gets shunted into the archives.

But, even after a holiday binge where I bought fifteen new cds, I still keep coming back to Hades. I have a feeling this is one box set that will buck the trend for me and will be on constant repeat.

I hope it gets some sort of recognition in annual polls, given the amount of work that's gone into pulling it together.

 

One of the problems with judging work based on album (or box set) sales figures is that it take no account of what those who purchase the album think of it. The album you play only once gets as much credit in the sales figures as the album you play 100 times.

It would be nice to be able to redistribute all the money I've paid for albums to give more money to the albums I love and less money to those I don't.

I guess one of the good things about streaming is that it counts how many times a track is played rather than the number of people who play it one or more times, and that at least gives more credit to things that people play lots of times.

Unfortunately the Hades box will be judged by sales figures more than what those who bought it think of it.

 

I was thinking more about reader polls, such as in Prog magazine. They have a category for multi-media sets, and Hades fits the criteria.

If it gets a nomination, I can see that particular poll being a two-horse race between Hades and the new Crimson box set which is gaining equal plaudits from fans.

 

I just received confirmation that my refund from MusicVaultz is being processed.

*whew*

Now I can sit back and eagerly anticipate getting the set from Burning Shed. From everything that I have read in this thread, this box is going to be epic.

 

All right, y'all talked me into it. Just pre-ordered the second pressing from Burning Shed. I've been telling myself that I don't really need this set (duh) but if I pass it up, I'm going to regret it for a long time.

 

Good for you! I cancelled my order today. I sent an email yesterday asking when this was to be shipped and received a response saying the product release had been delayed until mid-August. Obviously they never got it and who knows if they ever will??

 

The site now says "Release Date July 26" and is still taking pre-orders.