Surrounded On Sundays - 5.1/quad reviews and summaries

I actually didn't pick it for that reason, it just turned out that way. I will shop around before settling on the next one though.

 

No need ... if you turn something interesting up it will either go on my shopping list or my wishlist ... it doesn't really matter which.

 

Well this was Happy Sunday reading!
Thanks Galactus2 for a very good review of this title. Even though I have the 5.1 version I was only able to listen to it in 2 channel for a couple of years. It is a great disc for testing your system as well a Music Masterpiece!

 

I figure this is the best ABB album. The only thing that gives me pause is the length of Mountain Jam. If I recall, it took up sides 2 and 3 of the double LP, so if the records were stacked appropriately you could play it straight through. But, I usually just played sides 1 and 4 instead. If Mountain Jam were somehow culled down to something like Whipping Post-length then I wouldn't be so prone to thinking that it was taking up too much of my busy listening schedule.

That said, I wouldn't call the multi-channel mix on this one surround sound. First of all, it's 4.1 - the center channel is pretty much silent. Second, the rear channels sound pretty much like the front. It does send bass to the subwoofer, which means it will sound better on home theater systems with only the one woofer (like I'm listening too now). But, it's basically just stereo. Over half the album is live anyway, so that's not necessarily bad.

 

I have the following Anathema albums in surround

• 2010 We're Here Because We're Here (DVDA 5.1)
• 2014 Distant Satellites (DVDA 5.1)
• 2015 A Sort Of Homecoming (Blu Ray 5.1 concert)
• 2017 The Optimist (DVDA 5.1)

WHBWH is my favorite of the bunch. Firstly I think it has the best surround mix, and secondly, it's more guitar driven the the bands subsequent efforts.

 

2012 Weather Systems is also well regarded by me and others. The Optimist is half a good album at best - I have the bluray.

For a live performance, I highly recommend Universal - recorded in Athens where they are very popular with a string orchestra in tow.

But yes, WHBWH is my favorite of the bunch.

 

Thank you for your reply. I thought I had all the Anathema studio albums that were available in surround. I'll have to rectify the missing Wheather Systems shortly.

Concerning The Optimist. It looks like I must have the Special Edition media book and contrary to my post above is in DTS 5.1 and not DVDA. I must not have been aware at the time of purchase that there was a Blu Ray available, as I would have gone that route. I'll assume I wouldn't be able to hear the difference anyway

 

So, my copy of We're Here Because We're Here arrived and I'm listening to it for the first time. As previously I'm struck by how Prog Lite it sounds ... Anathema always seems like they should be a Progressive band, but their songs are actually quite simple & repetitive, agreeable & unchallenging. What I found with Weather Systems is that the songs were immediately attractive but they didn't have much in the way of depths to uncover.

Fortunately, surround can do quite a lot for this sort of music. The subwoofer extension on the bass guitar and drums marries well with the rather thin synth & guitar sounds to give a very smooth production sheen. That said, I'm surprised at how much SW uses the centre channel: vocals and even solo guitar tend to sit there. (Check out “A Simple Mistake” where the entire band seems to be centred.) It's a relief when “Get Off Get Out” opens up a bit.

“Universal”, the orchestral ballad, should be my favourite track here because that's a genre I generally like. Again, though, the simplicity counts against it, with the first half unwinding seemingly on two chords and the instrumental section only doubling that number, anchored by a fairly basic right hand arpeggio in the piano. Nothing wrong with how it sounds but I feel that the songwriting is weak.

“Hindsight” seems to provide the fullest soundscape here, complete with Mellotron choir, but it¡s a rather syrupy instrumental with insipid guitarwork, so I guess just not for me.

I'm not surprised that I'm not blown away by this album as it chimes with my previous experience of Anathema. There's nothing wrong with the surround mix and I'll listen to it again but I need some more grit in the oyster.

 

For the record Distant Satellites was not available as a DVD-Audio but rather a DVD-Video with lossy surround, the only way to get Distant Satellites in lossless is to order the Blu-ray version they released in Japan which has dts-HD Master Audio 5.1 on it.

It is available on Amazon USA as an import for $30 or so - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JM2ZE3K

 

I found this too with WHBWH and it's one of my least fave SW surround mixes because of it even though I do think the album itself is one of their strongest, the album mostly doesn't sound opened up in surround and comes off a bit stuffy.

I really like the mix of Distant Satellites because of how nice and wide the soundstage is, in particular the final two songs Distant Satellites and Take Home. The final track mixes the back and forth echo of the lyrics really well, "Timeless we are"...(echo) "Children running"...(echo)

 

Ah nuts! Okay, ordered ...

 

Well I was 2 for 4 on my descriptions. I'll pay more attention next time

 

Wilson only mixed two songs on Distant Satellites and none on Weather Systems. Christer-André Cederberg did the rest. However, one of the two SW did was Take Shelter.

 

I'm thinking this statement needs some further explication. It seems to me that the width of the soundstage is basically a property of the stereo mix. Therefore, the statement at first glance would seem to be about the quality 0f the stereo mixes of Distant Satellites vs WHBWH. Then again, what you may really mean is that the inclusion of the center channel, especially on WHBWH, messes up the stereo soundstage. If so, I'm inclined to agree. I'm beginning to think quad is better.

 

That's why I worked "ambient" into my genre classification. I'm guessing you won't like this much either:

 

I didn’t even know Wilson mixed any tracks on Distant Satellites, but yes Take Shelter is my fave, a surround soundstage can be narrow or wide and I have no issues with centre channel being used like Frank Filipetti does on the GNR Lies tracks sans Patience found on the Appetite BD-A or the mixing of most of Billy Joel’s The Stranger SACD, I just found the surround mix on WHBWH sounded narrow and thus muted and I wasn’t too fond of the EQ either and don’t typically play around with equalizer settings on my AVR. I did really enjoy the sound of SW’s To The Bone and HCE.

I enjoy quad also but I do love isolated vocals in the centre.

Great quad-like mix on th final track of Joe Satriani’s Strange Beautiful Music (SACD), four gorgeous guitar parts swirling around the corners of your room.

 

Hey sometimes the artists and labels mess this up for you, the last couple of Mike Oldfield releases have even had the official DVD-Audio logo on them, without an MLP or PCM 5.1 track in sight! Lol

 

Oh yes they do, and it kind of bugs me when they do that.

We'd all probably like to give them the benefit of the doubt, and that it's just sloppy marketing /packaging / labeling; but at its worst, it can be construed as deceptive.

As an example (and this has been brought up before), the Moody Blues' "Days..." deluxe edition from 2017 labels the DVD as "5.1 surround sound mix." Well, not really, as it makes no use of the center channel. It wasn't until reading about it here that I learned it's mostly just a transfer from the original Quad mix from the 70's.

It's not a problem when something is a Quad mix, as the fantastic Bitches Brew attests, but tell the people that, and don't try to promote it as a 5.1 mix. And the Moody Blues and/or Universal Music are not the only ones guilty of this, Days of Future is just the immediate one that comes to mind.

 

To make matters worse, finding the surround mix on Amazon (without the product code) is a crap shoot. I'm certain that there must be a lot of multichannel stuff on there that would be worth investigating but their product tagging is a joke.

 

I actually do like Harold Budd: listened to him back in the day when he was on the fringes of the Cocteaus and then bought his compilation five years ago. Also I've been listening (somewhat) to Bass Communion recently ... although to be honest I like Steven Wilson's take on ambient less than Budd's or Eno's.

I think, though, that given that Anathema is more song-based we should be able to hold it to the standards of other song-based material. (On top of which, their musical textures just aren't arresting enough to work as ambient).

 

I had committed to review the surround edition of the Pixies' Doolittle album, and I still will, but something unexpected has come up, dragging me out of town for the weekend. And I have to leave today, so don't really have the time to knock it out early.

So my hope is that review can still be done on Sunday, but it won't be early in the day, as I originally planned.

"The best laid plans of mice and men...." as Robert Burns once famously said.

 

I'm going to be on the road too, so I'll go early. Maybe it will average out to be Sunday.

 

The Source


Studio album by Ayreon
Released April 28, 2017
Recorded 2016–2017, mainly at the Electric Castle, Netherlands
Genre Rock opera progressive metal progressive rock

Length 88:33
Label Mascot Label Group
Producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen

The Source is the ninth studio album from Ayreon, a progressive metal/rock opera project by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on April 28, 2017. It is Lucassen's first album under his new label, Mascot Label Group.[2]

As with every Ayreon album, it is a concept album with each character being portrayed by one singer. Unlike the previous album The Theory of Everything, it marks a return to science fiction and the Ayreon storyline; it acts, in particular, as a prequel to 01011001, making it the first album in the storyline's chronology.[3] In The Source, the Alphans, ancestors of humanity, try to prevent the extinction of their race from machines who took control of the entire planet Alpha, by sending a select few Alphans into space so they can attempt to start anew on a distant world.

In the typical style of the project, the album features several guest singers to portray the characters across the album; although Lucassen usually prefers to work only once with a same singer in Ayreon, he mostly cast returning performers for The Source, including James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder), and Russell Allen (Symphony X), together with newcomers such as Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me), for a total of eleven main vocalists.

Album Reviews
Allmusic
Angry Metal Guy
Prog Archives

Personnel

- Arjen Anthony Lucassen / electric & acoustic guitars, bass, mandolin, analog synthesizers, Hammond, Solina Strings

With:
- Paul Gilbert / guitar solo
- Guthrie Govan / guitar solo
- Marcel Coenen / guitar solo
- Joost van den Broek / grand & electric pianos
- Mark Kelly / synthesizer solo
- Ben Mathot / violin
- Maaike Peterse / cello
- Jeroen Goossens / wind instruments
- Ed Warby / drums
- James LaBrie / vocals as The Historian
- Tommy Karevik / vocals as The Opposition Leader
- Tommy Rogers / vocals as The Chemist
- Simone Simons / vocals as The Counselor
- Nils K. Rue / vocals as The Prophet
- Tobias Sammet ) / vocals as The Captain
- Hansi Kürsch / vocals as The Astronomer
- Mike Mills / vocals as TH-1
- Russell Allen / vocals as The President
- Michael Eriksen / vocals as The Diplomat
- Floor Jansen ) / vocals as The Biologist
- Zaher Zorgati / vocals as The Preacher
- Jan Willem Ketelaers / chorus vocals
- Lisette van den Berg / chorus vocals
- Will Shaw / chorus vocals
- Wilmer Waarbroek / chorus vocal

Track listing

All songs written by Arjen Anthony Lucassen.

1. The Day That The World Breaks Down (12:32)
2. Sea Of Machines (5:08)
3. Everybody Dies (4:42)
4. Star Of Sirrah (7:03)
5. All That Was (3:36)
6. Run! Apocalypse! Run! (4:52)
7. Condemned To Live (6:14)
8. Aquatic Race (6:46)
9. The Dream Dissolves (6:11)
10. Deathcry Of A Race (4:43)
11. Into The Ocean (4:53)
12. Bay Of Dreams (4:24)
13. Planet Y Is Alive! (6:02)
14. The Source Will Flow" (4:13)
15. Journey To Forever (3:19)
16. The Human Compulsion (2:15)
17. March Of The Machines (1:40)

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Ayreon is a studio project by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Prog Metal with a cheesy scifi libretto. I think I have the entire catalog, which is almost certainly more than I really need. The Source is my second favorite Ayreon album with disc 1 of The Universal Migrator being the first. The Source is the first to be released with a Surround mix

There are both 3 (2 CD 1 DVD) and 5 disc (4 CDs 1 DVD) versions of the album, and both have the surround mix. Unfortunately, it’s DTS. Not so unfortunately, it’s a 4.1 mix. In the end I picked this one because I wanted to give my center channel a break. Although you can still get it new, there are many used copies available:

Amazon US
Amazon UK

The Source is my second favorite Ayreon title after Disc 1 of The Universal Migrator. I play it a lot. However, I often only get through the first half of it. That’s because the first five tracks are my favorite sequence, plus an hour and a half of Ayreon in one sitting is a bit much.

Surround Mix by Arjen Lucassen
This album is an hour and a half long and has seventeen tracks. I am not going to go through it track by track. Instead, I am going to make some general comments about the whole mix, and then go through two tracks, comparing the stereo version with the surround version. The first is my favorite track on the album, Star of Sirrah. Because of the awesomeness of the bass line, I usually turn it up with this comes on in the car; which probably isn’t that safe because all the other cars start to look like asteroids. I also chose The Dream Dissolves because it has a really anice two minute intro that sounds great in surround.

Here’s why I’m so interested in the stereo vs surround question right now: Back in the old days, I used to have separate upstairs stereo and downstairs home theater systems. The decision process of what I would to listen to tended to start with where I was going to listen and then picking the recording. If I’m going to listen on the stereo system then I select the two-channel server, and if the it’s the home theater then I’m playing from the multichannel server. When I buy multichannel recordings, one of the reasons is to have a version to play on the HT system. Otherwise, I am wasting half of the speakers.

But those days are temporarily gone. All I’ve got now is the functional equivalent of my old HT system, which is also my best stereo system. So now, I have the new problem of deciding version is better. In this case, the multichannel version of The Source is lossy, while the stereo version is HD. So, maybe it would be better to waste two of my speakers, especially since the center isn’t playing anyway.

General comments

• Even though it’s a quad mix, the lead vocals are usualldy perfectly centered. I could swear they are coming out the center speaker. Well, at least if you sitting in the sweet spot.
• As is usually the case, it’s higher frequency stuff the gets put in the year (Six Wives had bass in the back on one track, but that was mixed for quad systems, not home theater systems). In this case, that means synthesizers, strings, guitars, and some background vocals. The rhythm section stays up front.
• Most of time, the rear speakers just mimic the front. However, some of the interludes have swirly synthesizers and there are front-to-back echoing vocals on at least one the tracks too.

Star of Sirrah
Besides the multichannel mix, the DVD also has video versions of four of the tracks, including this one:


The track begins with a synthesizer and guitar intro that makes heavy use of the rear speakers. While it’s true that the back speakers become invisible during the bass-dominated passages that start ninety seconds in, but they reappear when the bass subsides. Furthermore, even the bass passages sound a little thin in stereo relative to the surround mix. Even though I thought this track might be better in stereo, the surround version is much better, at least on this system. Some of that may be because the stereo version on the DVD is also lossy – the HDTracks version I also have sounds much better with headphones.

The Dream Dissolves
The first 1:35 makes more or less equal use of the front and back speakers. This passage starts with synthesizer, then adds bass drum (a rare appearance of percussion in the back), and then flute. Then vocals (Floor Jansen) appear, only in the front. At 2:25, track goes metal with normal mixing, which concludes the surround highlight of the album.

In conclusion, if you want to play this album on your home theater system, get the DVD. Furthermore, if you going to play the DVD on your home-theater system, be sure to select the 5.1 version even though it’s really 4.1.

 

Time for some Pixies.


Doolittle is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. The album's offbeat and dark subject material, featuring references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death, contrasts with the clean production sound achieved by the newly hired producer Gil Norton. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada.

Pixies released two singles from Doolittle, "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven", both of which were chart successes on the US chart for Modern Rock Tracks. The album itself reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, an unexpected success for the band. In retrospect, album tracks such as "Debaser", "Wave of Mutilation", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "Gouge Away", and "Hey" are highly acclaimed by critics, while the album, along with debut LP Surfer Rosa, is often seen as the band's strongest work.

Doolittle has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, and in 1995 was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time,[2]Rolling Stone placed the album at 227 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[3] and Pitchfork ranked it as the fourth best album of the 80s.[4]

So that's^ what Wiki says about Doolittle, and folks can visit that site for more facts and figures.

But, as so often is the case, Wiki doesn't give the readers the flavor of what's being discussed. And for a difficult band like the Pixies, it's a challenge.

How do you describe the Pixies to someone not familiar with them? Post-punk? They're certainly that. Abrasive? Oh yes they can be. Off-beat and quirky? You betcha. They are all this and more, and yet so much of their music is compelling and just draws you in. Who do you compare them to? On Doolittle, their 'dark' subject matter, as Wiki describes it, includes such odd material as incest, monkeys gone to heaven, slicing up eyeballs, waves of mutilation, and so much more. Clearly, they're not for everyone.

My copy is a 2016 Blu Ray pure audio release. Not sure what other formats are/were available. This was a gift to me, so also not sure where it came from. This reasonably-priced example on Discogs appears to be the one I have:

Pixies - Doolittle

Right from the opening track of Debaser, the Pixies grab your attention and let you know they're not your ordinary rock band. This is a crystal-clean production, though some might find it a bit on the 'bright' side. Drums are up front, vocals are mixed on some of the channels. Same goes for Tame, the 2nd song. It's a 1-2 punch that will tell a listener 'you're either going to find this interesting, or way too abrasive for you.'

And yet, the Pixies can hit to so many fields. On 'Wave of Mutilation,' you're singing along with some very catchy....albeit dark and strange....lyrics. On some songs on this mix, the center channel is used for vocals, but not always. And on some, it's used only for music. It can seem as though the mix is just as experimental as the music. Quite possibly that's intentional.

Pixies fans that lament bassist Kim Deal leaving will point to songs such as 'I Bleed' and 'Here Comes Your Man,' among others, as examples of what a great bassist she is. Plenty of Pixies fans I know say the band was never the same after she left.

In any case, people wondering if the Pixies can be melodic, or write 'hits,' 'Here Comes Your Man' is as catchy as anything that was on the radio at that time. This song, plus 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' on this album, helped to launch the Pixies out of the small club scene, and onto a wider audience. IMO.

'Man' is a great mix of a pop song, if it can be considered that. All the instruments and voices are just balanced nicely. And it's all nice and clear. The whole album, by and large, was very well-recorded. Not sterile or bright, but some may find it as such; at least on some songs.

Sandwiched between 'Man' and 'Monkey' is a song called 'Dead.' It just serves to remind the listener not to get lulled into a false sense of who the Pixies are. It's strange and off-beat, but has some nice drumming on the front speakers.

'Monkey Gone To Heaven' is almost the quintessential Pixies song for me. It's got everything: melodic lines, jangly guitar, great bass lines (and back up vocals) by Kim, some abrasive yelling by Frank Black and wild imagery. Again, a fairly balanced mix, but this song seems to make more use of the back channel speakers than some of the others. It's subtle, though. 'Monkey' is often the song Pixies fans play for neophytes, as a good example of what they can sound like. It really does play to all their strengths.

'Mr. Grieves' is all post-punk, and the same can be said for 'Crackity Jones.' Lots of punk energy and urgency in these songs, and if any of you are familiar with Boston's Mission of Burma alt band, I could easily have seen them recording either of these songs. But I can also see people skipping these songs, as they're not as developed, IMO, as others on the album.

'La La Love You' is a return to Pixies' quirkiness. Kim whistles in the background of it, while Frank croons in the front speakers. Hard to envision them taking this one too seriously when they recorded it.

'No. 13 baby' is another post-punk rocker that could have used some more development. It has some nice fuzzy guitar work, and had some potential, but kind of falls a bit on the underwhelming side, compared to some of the other tracks. But it's also one of the songs here that makes generous use of the back channel speakers. So there's that.

Want more distortion and abrasive Pixies? 'There Goes My Gun' has it for you, and it also could have used more time in development. There are a few songs on Doolittle that remind me that this was only their second album, and as strong as it is overall, they were still finding their way.

'Hey,' though, is a real gem, with trademark quirky lyrics such as 'whores in my head, whores in my bed.' It's also a break from the screechy style of some of the other songs, and is a bit more laid-back.....if any Pixies song can be accused of that. Frank's in the front channels, and Kim is echoing him in the back. A nice mix, and a change of pallet.

If you ask 10 Pixies fans what they think of 'Silver,' you might get 20 opinions. Some call it filler, some love it. It might be as polarizing as the Pixies themselves. It's odd and dream pop-ish, and not something to expect from this band. But that's what I mean about them hitting to so many fields.

If there was any doubt about this album finishing strong, 'Gouge Away' removes all fears. It's classic Pixies, right up there with 'Monkey' and 'Man' here. Shimmering, fuzzy guitar, propulsive drumming, Frank yelling, accusing weed sellers of price gouging (allegedly what it's about) and some background la la la's by Kim. And just short enough to have gotten some airplay on the more adventurous FM stations.

I won't lie -- the Pixies were very much an acquired taste for me. I didn't know what to make of them at first, and had to ease my way in. But time and patience has rewarded me, and now I consider them one of Boston's best alt bands (and I'm from the Boston area, so I've seen a ton of them). Conversely, I can also see where people just don't warm up to them. They are very unconventional......but in a good way.

Doolittle and Surfer Rosa are often pointed to as their best work. That's tough to argue with, and there's something on both albums that should appeal to a rock fan with open ears for something new and different. This Blu Ray audio 5.1 mix is very clean, clear, crisp. If anybody else has it, I'd certainly be interested in their impression of it; on certain systems, I wonder if it's too in-your-face, or shrill.

A great album overall, and there are styles here for a variety of tastes.

Happy listening!

 

Abbey Road - The Blu ray disc

2.0 PCM
DTS HD MA 5.1
Dolby Atmos (folds to 7.1 on my Oppo)

An enjoyable listen. Not aggressive, but subtle. All my speakers light up.