Surrounded On Sundays - 5.1/quad reviews and summaries

Great reviews as usual Mark. Would love to hear your take on Deep Purple Strormbringer at some point as well if it makes it up for a vote. Especially being the multichannel on the DVD is perhaps controversy since it supposedly is a remix of the vintage quad mix into 5.1

 

Hopefully soon.
I haven't had a chance to hear it yet.

 

I love that one! It’s the first time I was blown away by a mix after getting a surround sound system a few years back and going through my collection to see what surround/quad discs I already had.

There’s one song (which escapes me at the moment) where Ritchie’s guitar is so pure and present in one channel and I think he’s just simply chugging away on the E string. It was stunning to me having never heard anything like that because I always had a cheap stereo or was listening through my computer.

 

Does anyone know how to access this on the Oranges & lemons Blu-ray?

 

No. I haven't even listened to the other mixes lol ... it sure would be cool if someone knows though

 

Also don't forget to run through any of the albums we have done, if you feel drawn to

Reference to the albums

Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
Allman Brothers Band - Live At Fillmore East
Allman Brother Band - Eat a Peach
Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here thanks @riskylogic
Ayreon - The Source thanks @riskylogic

Band - Music From Big Pink
The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama
Be Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish
Beck, Jeff - Blow By Blow
Beethoven - 3rd Symphony Eroica
Bjork - Vespertine
Bowie, David - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Browne, Jackson - Running On Empty

Charles, Ray - Ray Sings, Basie Swings
Cobham, Billy - Spectrum
Cobham, Billy - Spectrum (Quad) thanks @-dave--wave-

Davis, Miles - In A Silent Way
Davis, Miles - Bitches Brew
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
Depeche Mode - Delta Machine
Derek and the Dominos - Layla and other assorted love songs
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Doobie Brothers - The Captain And Me
Doors - LA Woman
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Dukes Of Stratosphear - Psurroundabout Ride
Dylan, Bob - Blonde On Blonde

Eagles - Hotel California
ELO - debut album
Emerson Lake And Palmer - Tarkus
Emerson Lake And Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

Fagen, Donald - The Nightfly
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Gabriel, Peter - Up
Gaye, Marvin - Lets Get It On
Genesis - Overview of all thanks @MikeF63
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Genesis - And Then There Were Three
Gentle Giant - The Power and The Glory
Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead

Hendrix, Jimi - Electric Ladyland

Inxs - Kick
Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death

Jeff Beck Group - Rough And Ready
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
Jethro Tull - Minstrel In The Gallery
Jethro Tull - Stormwatch
Jethro Tull - TAAB 2 thanks @riskylogic
Joel, Billy - The Stranger
John, Elton - Madman Across The Water

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - The Traveller
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King 40th and 50th
King Crimson - Red
Knopfler, Mark - Sailing To Philadelphia
Kooper, Al (with Bloomfield and Stills) Super Sessions

Living Colour - Collideoscope
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Southern Surroundings

Marillion - Afraid Of Sunlight
Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance
Morrison, Van - Moondance
Mozart - 40th Symphony

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Oldfield, Mike - Five Miles Out
Oldfield, Mike - Crises thanks @Sordel 's overview
Opeth - Pale Communion
Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

Pat Metheny Group - Imaginary Day
Pineapple Thief - Dissolution
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Pixies - Doolittle thanks @Galactus2

Queen - A Night At The Opera

REM - Green
Rich, Charlie Behind Closed Doors
Roxy Music - Avalon
Rush - Hemispheres
Rush - Moving Pictures

Santana - Lotus
Sly And The Family Stone - Greatest Hits
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle

Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
Talking heads - Remain In Light
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Damn The Torpedoes
Townsend, Pete/Lane, Ronnie - Rough Mix
T Rex - Electric Warrior

Uk - Night After Night

Wakeman, Rick - Six Wives Of Henry The Eighth
Waters, Roger - Amused to Death
Wayne, Jeff - War Of The Worlds
Who - Quadrophenia
Wilson, Steven - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Wings - Band On The Run

XTC - The Black Sea
XTC - Oranges and Lemons

Yes - Close To The Edge
Young, Neil - Harvest

Zappa - Quaudiophiliac

If the mood takes you, please feel free to give us your summary of any of these albums that we have done. For our purposes here, please try and give us information about the mix, in as much or as little detail as takes your fancy.
If you feel so inclined, review the album, and the mastering or anything else about the album that you feel drawn to.
Cheers,
Mark

 

This is a very good one, it should be reviewed here.

This is one of the most amazing surround mixes available!

 

At some point we'll get to them all. I have put Wish up a few times, and it has surprised me that it hasn't got the nod yet.
The surround mix of Tommy actually got me into the album more ... it isn't actually a favourite Who album for me, but the mix really made it much more appealing.

 

I think whether or not an album gets picked often depends on what it gets paired with. Like if you pair Steven Wilson remixes of XTC with ELP who's not going to vote for that? Well, unless you have them both already.


XTC - Oranges and Lemons. In spite of the fact that The Mayor of Simpleton is one of their best songs, I have to put this album in the bottom half of the XTC catalog. But, as usual, the SW surround mix makes it so much more interesting. Poor Skeleton Steps Out and Scarecrow People, in particular (1/3)

Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Tarkus. Don't get me wrong, this is a great album. However, most of the musical landscape found on this album are also found on the groundbreaking albums that came before and after it. So, be sure to get ELP s/t and Brain Salad Surgery first. Hell, I might even throw Triumvirat - Spartacus after those. I find the surround mix to be a little disappointing. First, it sounds a bit compressed - especially compared to XTC O&L that I just listened to. Second, as one of his earlier efforts, maybe Wilson put some stuff in the center channel that probably shouldn't be there (e.g. like Close to the Edge). I know Rick Wakeman often played two keyboards at once - not so tough in the studio but he also did it live. Emerson also definitely often has dual keyboard parts and they are sometimes divided up so one part is the center while the other is in the front or back. Seems a bit odd. (2/2)

 

I'm all about the albums. I like a good mixer, but I would always choose the album over the mixer ... I would always choose the song over the fidelity.
But I'm strange like that lol

 

It's about the album first, but to pay extra for surround you have to care about the mix and mastering too. Especially when it's a lot extra. For example, I'm the proud owner of the bilingual CD edition of In Cauda Venenum. Like Sorceress, doesn't look like the 5.1 mix is coming my way.

There are a few albums where compression has ruined it for me. Lord Huron Vide Noir is a recent example.

 

It's not a remix, but there is a center and sub channel generated from 4.0. This particular program is a much better listen with the ctr and sub turned off and let the quad channels do what they were originally mixed to do.

 

Mark just wanted to let you know that your reviews had me just pick up both Opeth - Pale Communion and In Cauda Venenum. I grew up on 70's/80's metal/hard rock. So have periodically been intrigued with Opeth as they were one of the few somewhat newer "metal" bands whose name I'd heard in recent years till I heard they were death metal with Cookie Monster vocals which I don't care for at all. However hearing that they have changed directions to a clean vocal approach with 70's prog rock influences is right up my alley and after some quick sampling on You Tube decided to pick both of these up. Sounds like they made the break after 2008's Watershed?. I think there also exists a Multichannel version of 2011's Heritage which was their first in this new style as well as 2016's Sorceress. Do you have either of these as well ? If I end up enjoying these two I may end up looking for those as well if I can find them for a reasonable price. Thanks for all your work on this thread!

 

You're welcome.
I have both, but haven't had a chance to listen to either yet.
Sorceress is a box very similar to In Cauda Venenum.
Heritage is a 2 disc digipac.

 

Sacrilege to vote against that album. Must have been your pairings.

 

lol, yea I suck

 

Heh, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek. I Should have used an emote.

But yeah, nobody votes against Wish. Hope it wins this week.

 

I never vote for stuff I have, so I will vote against Wish. Sorry.

 

A link to this week's votes

 

I've been able to purchase the blu-ray disc from a forum member, and I gave it a spin earlier today. In this instance, I didn't enjoy the surround mix as you did, and I wouldn't recommend this 5.1 mix to anyone who is into surround music. Fidelity is not an issue, and overall the sound quality is ok. I just believe it's a missed opportunity in pure terms of using the five speakers creatively. Most of the songs were mixed to surround with that 'wide-stereo' approach which I dislike. Bass is far more pronounced than on the beautifully done 2015 remaster, which sounds a lot cleaner. In terms of dynamics, I also found that surround mixes benefit when they breath a bit more... I'm still happy to have this disc and that I had an opportunity to revisit the album, but overall my expectations were not met, and they weren't that high to start with! I don't think I will test other Rush albums in surround. What's most disappointing is that reviews on the QQ forum are also quite good, which I don't fully understand.

 

SW also remixed to stereo and surround the S/T album. There's been quite a debate on these two remixes being so-so, in particular the stereo mixes, IIRC. To be honest, I quite like the remixes, and Tarkus is the best of the two, probably because the music really suits the 5.1 treatment. It's a nice disc to have, but costs are now prohibitive... These are hard to find. Anyway, nice review Mark!

 

I think with Rush, they don't use too much layering in the studio, and it limits somewhat the capabilities to have a balanced full on mix.

I think my good review was in light of having such a poor picture in my head of the album, from being initially disappointed with all the Rush releases... So it ended up being better than I expected it to be.
In reality though, none of the Rush mixes are going to be competing with any of the topline 5.1 mixes around.... and like I say I think it comes down to a lack of elements to really fully use the 5.1 format.
I still prefer these kind of albums in 5.1, but I think one needs to approach it with eyes wide open as to what there is on the album to begin with.

Thanks for the feedback

 

Nice review as usual. Given this and other excellent reviews on the forum, I pulled the trigger on this disc even if I wasn't really into the Dukes. Guess what? Now I love them! Before trying this remix, I only knew a couple of hits, such as 25 O'Clock and Vanishing Girl (which I heard from that awful compilation with an awful cover, Chips From The Chocolate Fireball). Now, I also think that Psonic Psunspot is a far better album than 25 O'Clock. Tracks like Collideascope work really well in surround. It's hard to describe, one needs to experience it.

 

Yea. I think with any of the 5.1's, it can be tricky to please everyone, because with different albums we all have different expectations.
I enjoyed the Tarkus mix, but
a) I can understand why some don't
b) Any of the mixes could possibly be better

 

I had never heard any of it, and bought it merely on the strength of the XTC stuff (of which I only knew Black Sea and English Settlement prior.
I love that first album, and I think the mix has a lot to do with that.