HiRez Poll Alan Parsons Project, The - EYE IN THE SKY [Blu-Ray Audio]

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Rate the BDA of THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - EYE IN THE SKY

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Poor Content, Surround Mix, and Fidelity

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    98
Super Deluxe Edition has an article about the stand-alone release.

Have you noticed what amazon did....when you use that link and go to the item listing...it also lists a DVD...when you click on it...it's a movie with the same name...they put the movie and the audio in the same listing:sneaky:
 
I guess I'll be the first person with the standalone version to comment (not that it really makes a difference, as the disc is identical). To quickly sum it up: the surround mix is incredible and the clarity is astonishing.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a modern quad mix and I don't really miss the center channel. Like many old quads, the center imaging is spot on. AP's On Air DTS disc is mixed this way as well. I haven't heard Tales in 5.1 yet, but I imagine it's also like this.

The surround mix is very discrete, but not to Columbia Q8 levels. If you have the DV Poco two-fer, maybe don't play it before listening to this :ROFLMAO:.

The backing vocals are always in the rears, which is particularly effective in the vocal showcase "Gemini". Sometimes even lead parts are fully isolated back there, such as the keyboard melody to "Sirius", the intro piano in "Silence & I", or the chorus in "Psychobabble".

I heard a lot of things I never heard before, like the exposed vocal harmonies in the chorus of the title track or the subtle strumming during the orchestra buildup in "Silence & I".

What really amazed me is the way the orchestra in the grander tunes is spread out into the expanded soundstage. It's not fully isolated in the rear speakers, like in the quad mix of Billy Joel's Piano Man . Instead, some strings/brass are upfront, some are in the rear. It really feels like you're in the middle of the orchestra.

One minor complaint: there is this slight delay effect on the drums, like every time there's a drum hit you hear it echo back to the rears. It's not quite as reverb-y as the the drums in "I'm So Afraid" from the Fleetwood Mac 5.1 mix, but it's a little annoying to me.

Also, this may just be me, but I think that the "looking at you" backing vocal bit in the title track has a slightly different texture to it, like the higher harmonies seem to come out more versus the stereo mix. I'm certainly no expert on the APP or this album, but I do know that track pretty well and that aspect seemed ever so slightly different-sounding. Perhaps this is just the surround mix opening things up. Not a complaint at all, just an observation, and I'd take the new 5.1 over the old stereo mix any day of the week.

A big "10" from me. We're so lucky the 5.1 of a pretty high-profile album is now available at such a value price.

*and a final side-note: maybe I'm just neurotic, but I swapped the standard blue blu-ray case for one of the clear HFPA ones and I think it looks a lot classier :)

"Sirius"/"Eye In The Sky":
38911

"Silence & I":
38912
 
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I guess I'll be the first person with the standalone version to comment (not that it really makes a difference...the disc is identical). To quickly sum it up: the surround mix is incredible and the clarity is astonishing.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a modern quad mix and I don't really miss the center channel- like many old quads, the center imaging is spot on. AP's On Air DTS disc is mixed this way as well. I haven't heard Tales in 5.1 yet, but I imagine it's also like this.

The surround mix is very discrete, but not to Columbia Q8 levels (if you have the D-V Poco disc, maybe don't play it before listening to this). Backing vocals are always in the rears- particularly effective in "Gemini"- and sometimes even lead parts are fully isolated back there, such as the melody to "Sirius", the intro piano in "Silence & I", or the chorus in "Psychobabble". I heard a lot of things I never heard before, like the exposed vocal harmonies in the chorus of the title track or the subtle strumming during the orchestra buildup in "Silence & I".

What really amazed me is the way the orchestra in the grander tunes is spread out into the expanded soundfield. It's not fully isolated front or rear (like in the Billy Joel Piano Man quad mix, for example). Instead, some strings/brass are upfront, some are in the rear. It really feels like you're in the middle of the orchestra.

One minor complaint: there is this slight delay effect on the drums, like every time there's a drum hit you hear it echo back to the rears. It's not quite as reverb-y as the the drums in "I'm So Afraid" from the Fleetwood Mac 5.1 mix, but it's a little annoying to me.

Also: this may just be me, but I think that the "looking at you" backing vocal bit in the title track has a slightly different texture to it, like the higher harmonies seem to come out more versus the stereo mix. I'm certainly no expert on the APP or this album, but I do know that track pretty well and that aspect seemed ever so slightly different-sounding. Perhaps this is just the surround mix opening things up. Not a complaint at all, just an observation, and I'd take the new 5.1 over the old stereo anyday.

A big "10" from me. We're so lucky the 5.1 of a pretty high-profile album is now available at such a value price.

*and a final side-note: maybe I'm just neurotic, but I swapped the standard blue blu-ray case for one of the clear HFPA ones and I think it looks a lot classier :)

GREAT review, fellow Westchesterite. Alan Parsons has indicated that he's only going to do one more APP 5.1 remaster and I hope it's I, Robot [IMO, spectacular from beginning to end]. Hope he'll renege and DO THEM ALL. There's surely a market for these surround remasters and if SONY continues to release them as stand alone BD~As after the initial box set run, I'm sure they'll continue to sell well.
 
One minor complaint: there is this slight delay effect on the drums, like every time there's a drum hit you hear it echo back to the rears. It's not quite as reverb-y as the the drums in "I'm So Afraid" from the Fleetwood Mac 5.1 mix, but it's a little annoying to me.

Haven't heard Eye In The Sky yet, but the echo/reverb on the drums is present on the Tales 5.1 mix as well and I find it quite irritating, too. I thought that maybe I was simply sitting too close to my surround speakers since I haven't seen many people mention this. Or maybe others like the effect.
 
GREAT review, fellow Westchesterite. Alan Parsons has indicated that he's only going to do one more APP 5.1 remaster and I hope it's I, Robot [IMO, spectacular from beginning to end]. Hope he'll renege and DO THEM ALL. There's surely a market for these surround remasters and if SONY continues to release them as stand alone BD~As after the initial box set run, I'm sure they'll continue to sell well.
Hey, when did Alan say that? I missed that interview, that's for sure.
Had I to choose, I'd vote for I Robot too.
 
Not good, I just found this on an interview dated June 10th, 2018:

Q: There was recently a deluxe edition of “Eye in the Sky” and also “Tales of Mystery and Imagination.” Is there any plan to revisit other albums in the catalog?

A: I would love to at least do surround mixes of the other albums. I really enjoy mixing in surround and the new studio is all geared up for that. But we’ve kind of exhausted the possibilities of box sets and special editions now. We could possibly do “The Turn of a Friendly Card” as a box set at some point in the future but there are no plans for it at the moment.

Although now I read it for a second time he says that chances are scarce for deluxe editions, but he does comment that he'd like to remix in surround the rest of the studio albums. Hope springs eternal!
 
Gracias César, I think that , WHEN he gets around to it, the most possible will be TTOAFC if only because that is the .."eternal" one...
Im not sure what that means. In term of popularity and sales Eye was the summit (or was it not? Im guessing). I also think TOAFC is the best APP release, but I Robot is certainly up there in the top three. What does "eternal" mean?
 
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