HiRez Poll Crowded House - CROWDED HOUSE [DVD-A]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this disc!

Just stopped home for a minute and found this at the door so before leaving again, I thought I would skim thru it.

First impression....a great surround mix with some ambience of the vocals in the rear giving the vocals an interesting character. Very clean sound. Didn't try the cd side.

You had better have or will find out you're lacking a good low end response from all your speakers. Very strong and maybe a bit too much on some tracks...it could have been dialed down a bit as it seemed to overpower at times.

But, ya know, clean thundering bass that makes your Diamond Shield pucker is hard to find.

A 9 from me....

A very distinct mix. Voice comes entirely from center channel, backing vocals from rear. This DVD-A is an excellent check to see if your setup sounds integrated or not. Also the menu structure is great, you have access to all different tracks (DVD-A, dts, etc.) and the lyrics automatically advance with the song. That's the way all the DVD-A's should be.

In my opinion this is sonically one of the best DVD-A's out there. Very powerful sound with a great surround mix, especially on "Hole In The River". I used this one a lot for demos.

I have the DVD-A, but I didn't think it was particularly good. Is the mastering and the mix the same on the DVD-A as the DualDisc/DVD-A?

One of my all-time favorite albums. I'm glad to have this in 5.1, but the mix seems a little "muzzy" - not quite as crisp and clean as I'd expected advanced resolution to deliver. Solely because of that, I give this disc an 8 (instead of a 10).

Guy Robinson said:

In my opinion this is sonically one of the best DVD-A's out there. Very powerful sound with a great surround mix, especially on "Hole In The River". I used this one a lot for demos.

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I totally agree. This is an awesome surround disc from a band I never thought I would care for. The fidelity and resolution of this disc is as good as it gets for a pop title. The surround mix is exceptional. I was surprised at how many "hits" there are here! Not being familiar with the band, I instantly recognized the first four cuts when I heard them.

All that said, the music isn't necessarily my cup o' tea. Being an old metalhead, it was easy for me to dismiss the quasi-whiny new-wavy stuff (similar to this) back in the day. Be that as it may, I've come around, and actually like a lot of the stuff I used to dismiss out-of-hand.

It's all just a roundabout way of my saying that I really, really dig this disc from virtually every angle... but the music itself can't quite let me launch it to the top of the heap. Still, a very strong 9 points here.

This is a great album for this genre - a classic, actually, for this genre. I just want to tell everyone that, if you like this music, this disc is a must-have simply because of the lead vocal being isolated and dry in the center channel. I'm sure not everyone likes this, but for me it's awesome. I can turn everything else down and almost literally sit in the recording booth with Neil Finn or I can adjust the lead vocal to suit my taste.

Just my 2 cents...

Paul

dr. simple said:

...the lead vocal being isolated and dry in the center channel. I'm sure not everyone likes this, but for me it's awesome

Paul

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I used to love isolating vocals into the center back when I first heard James Taylor's "Hourglass" SACD a number of years ago. But now that's one of the things I absolutely can't stand. Well... Sometimes, I can tolerate it; but it seems that so many times I find myself wishing the mix would've used less center speaker and a little more left/right.

Indeed, this is one of my criticisms of the Crowded House DVD-A. Also, I don't think it has anything particularly extraordinary regarding sound quality or use of surround channels. I've heard better. On the other hand, I've heard worse. I gave it a 6, which I figure means it has at least some redeeming qualities. Probably would've given it a 7 (or pehaps more) had the vocals been mixed differently. So I guess I can understand why those who don't share my same views regarding the center channel have a somewhat more favorable view of this disc.

BTW... I'm a pretty big Crowded House/Neil Finn fan. Great music!

Eugenius said:

I used to love isolating vocals into the center back when I first heard James Taylor's "Hourglass" SACD a number of years ago. But now that's one of the things I absolutely can't stand. Well... Sometimes, I can tolerate it; but it seems that so many times I find myself wishing the mix would've used less center speaker and a little more left/right.

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I am generally not a fan of the center channel since not many 5.1 mixes utilize it effectively (I'd rather have a good 4.0 or 4.1 mix over a mediocre 5.1 mix) but my favorite use of the center channel is for isolating the lead vocal. This is one reason why I think the Crowded House mix ranks right up there.

I have only just got this disc, and it really is truly superb. A 10 out of 10 with no shadow of a doubt.
This, to my mind, is how these discs SHOULD be authored - autoplay straight into the main album, no messing around with menus - plus it has all the streams in all the resolutions:
MLP 5.1, MLP Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, 24 bit stereo on the Video_TS as well.
It's not fussy, and everything is simple to get at - if you want to.
The mixes really are good too. As has been said before here - it is superb for checking the system setups as well.
This disc says as clear as a bell "The MUSIC is the part that matters, not the visuals"

neil wilkes said:

I have only just got this disc, and it really is truly superb. A 10 out of 10 with no shadow of a doubt.
This, to my mind, is how these discs SHOULD be authored - autoplay straight into the main album, no messing around with menus - plus it has all the streams in all the resolutions:
MLP 5.1, MLP Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, 24 bit stereo on the Video_TS as well.
It's not fussy, and everything is simple to get at - if you want to.
The mixes really are good too. As has been said before here - it is superb for checking the system setups as well.
This disc says as clear as a bell "The MUSIC is the part that matters, not the visuals"

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Ever compared the 24 bit stereo to the MLP stereo? I'd guess they would some about the same but I don't know since the dualdisc omitted the MLP stereo.

the only thing keeping this from being a 10 in my book is that it's not a classic album - - merely a solid new wave pop album that's been given a 10 surround treatment. thoroughly enjoyable, and a reminder of how new wave was such a great shot in the arm to the 80's record charts. so overvall, i give it a 9. geez, there's got be an absolute treasure trove of similarly quirky, fun melodic material from this era that would qualify as great mch candidates. sigh. uh, if any label cares, off the top of my head, split enz' "waiata" would sure work for me.

Classic album in 5.1 DVD-A and we need more from them! Finn's are always good to have around for tuneful songs.

Amusing token effort from Capitol in that the menu includes "Other DVD-A titles" like the withdrawn Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom DVD-A. You also see Coming Soon titles like Beach Boys - Surf's Up, Heart - Dreamboat Annie... [sigh]

Certainly a very discrete mix, and one of the best-sounding 80's remasters.

As for the music, although I'm no metalhead, I find myself siding with Cai's former self's opinion of "quasi-whiny new-wavy" material that dominated the decade. Too much Brit priss-pop with neither the soul of the 70's nor the Hip Hop of the 90's. Musically, for me the 80's remains one of the most insipid, uninspired decades ever.

Two top tenners, Something So Strong (#7) and the #2 smash everyone knows, Don't Dream It's Over (and how many, stopped on the street, could even name the group?) plus the well-known World Where You Live (#65) makes this a strong release, and an obvious choice.

Docking points because the music's not my favorite serves no purpose, so I'm giving it a strong 8.

One the best '80s multichannel remasters, IMO. Never was the fan of the album as a whole, but several tracks are outstanding for the time, and this mix brings out the lush atmospherics very nicely, made me almost love music I had always liked a lot. '9' for me.

ED

I really love this one!

If you own a Denon player, make sure to get the DVD-Audio and not the DualDisc!!!

Between my friend and me we had two copies of the DualDisc which had dropouts and eventually freezed up the player when playing the MLP tracks (DTS played fine, but without the picture IIRC); my friend has a DVD A-11, and I have a DVD-3910. I returned my copy and got the DVD-Audio, which works just fine!

Somewhere it was suggested that this was due to some #$&%! spec-defying copy protection.

I'll vote on this one after I give it a few more listens, but the DualDisc plays fine on my Denon-1920 both on the MLP and DTS tracks.

You know, I hesitated to vote because I nearly threw this disc in the trash when I first popped it in and skipped over to "Don't Dream It's Over." They totally botched it - I'll get to that in a minute.

However, I did hold on to the DVD-A and haven't heard it in almost 5 years - and this thread made me give it another chance.

Overall it is a pretty good hi-res surround release with some issues: the drums sound slushy throughout - with a phasey sizzle - and the drum set is not anchored anywhere in particular. Kinda bugs me, but not a deal killer.

Still, lead vocals sound great, well anchored toward the front. Lots of goodies happening all around. A little sibilance in the back vox, but nothing too obnoxious.

"Hole In The River" is pretty darn good. Definitely a highlight of the album.

Now, for the travesty...

"Don't Dream It's Over" - opening bass line is buried, and the "Hey Now, Hey Now" section is botched - they took out Neil's lead vox during that phrase! Now it's only back vox. Argh! Oh well...it's only the biggest hit of the album and one of the biggest hits of that decade...It also sounds small; not majestic like the stereo mix. There's something missing...

Also...the hi-res stereo mastering doesn't hold a candle to the old '80s CD - it's horribly dynamically compressed. What a waste! Thankfully the hi-res surround has decent dynamic range.

Nonetheless, a great '80s album. And how can you not love a pop album where guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani sings back vox?

Felix E. Martinez said:

"Don't Dream It's Over" - opening bass line is buried, and the "Hey Now, Hey Now" section is botched - they took out Neil's lead vox during that phrase! Now it's only back vox. Argh! Oh well...it's only the biggest hit of the album and one of the biggest hits of that decade...It also sounds small; not majestic like the stereo mix. There's something missing...

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I found cranking up the volume a tad louder helped a little...

I'm gonna bring back a lot of stuff when I return to the North in about a month, and all my multichannel vinyl, discs and DVD's will make the journey...I'll listen again and report on some stuff I can't hear for myself right now. I did think the mix was more relaxed and not as 'in your face' as the original hit single version, so I must have missed the missing parts.


ED