HiRez Poll America - HEARTS [SACD]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thought and comments on the January 2016 SACD release from Audio Fidelity of the America album "Hearts", containing the original 1975 stereo and quadraphonic mixes.

Pre-release discussion thread: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?21294

 

[marpow]

I gave it an 8. As others have said we have the three hits, but overall the performance is quite good with very good 4.0 sonics, love it. Not sure if it will be listened to alot by me but i am sure again. As a San Franciscan I can tell you on the inside of liner notes there is picture of Golden Gate bridge and you see this thing across the cables, that was wen they replaced the cables and that thing moved up and down the span. A little SF history. I did not listen to the stereo mix.

 

[deepsky4565]

An 8, I wish it had some more strong tracks. Sister Golden Hair is my favorite song by them, but the rest of the album doesn't rise to that level, although pleasant. I also wish the lead vocal was front center all the time. Sound is wonderful, though.

 

[marpow]

Yeah, Dan, I was really stretching. I think my 8 was more on sonics than performance. I actually woke up this morning thinking to my self, why did I torture myself with Judy Collins, Bread, and America Hearts. Not today, that's for sure.

 

[dr. simple]

I've only listened through once, but I'd like to say that I thought it sounded fantastic, and the mix was very full and even throughout. I was not familiar with this album, but I will be soon. It may be mellow, but it's got some really nice stuff going on.

 

[rtbluray]

Joining the '8' crowd on this one. It's just not quite as good as "Homecoming" is on all fronts but still worth having for all America fans out there. Vote breakdown:

Content: 2/3
Surround Mix: 2.5/3
Fidelity: 2.5/3
High-Res Disc: 1/1

 

[GOS]

So, I'm giving this my second listen. Though tonight - with more effort to dissect it.

Daisy Jane (1)

We all know this song, and most likely if you are an America fan you surely like hearing this soft rock classic. I still do. The Quad sounds outstanding. Even though we are talking about Quad here, the vocals seemingly are locked dead center. Instrumentation is spread across all 4 speakers and each sound is crystal clear. No mud, no boomy bass. Just exceptional sounding. Backing vocals occasionally appear in rear speakers. I'd rate this song a 9

Half A Man (2)

A great sounding, faster paced, harder edged song. Some very cool keyboards coming through in the front leftt. Nice effect. Just an exceptional sounding Quad mix on this song. A bit more adventurous than Daisy Jane for sure. I promise, you will turning this one up a little louder. It's a slow burning rocker, excellent song. I rate this song a 9

Midnight (3)

Starts out a pretty moody song. More mellow, but a bit mysterious sounding. Once again, just crystal clear all the way around. Vocals are rock solid and locked in front. Some harmonies appearing isolated occasionally. Some strings in front left once in a while and moving across all 4 towards the end. Nice song. I'd rate this song an 8, just off a bit for content.

Bell Tree (4)

Simple, somewhat forgettable song. Nice enough, sounds good. I'd rate this one a 6 for content.

Old Virginia (5)

A strong typical sounding America song. Fairly accoustical in nature, folky. I hear a little Neil Young influence here. Nothing fancy here - great sound though. I'd rate this song a 7, mostly content driven.

People In The Valley (6)

Interesting beat on this song. Not my favorite. Some interesting vocals at the 1:20 mark, followed by some nice guitar work and more interesting vocal. This song gets better towards the end. Better than I thought now. I'd rate it an 8.

Company (7)

An interesting, strong contender. Very different, with some different bongo elements coming through. Some good guitar jams at the 1:45 mark. Some fuzz on the guitar moving to rear left speaker. Nice. Another slow burner....excellent. Rocking out at the 3:00 mark till the end. I'd rate this one a 9

Woman Tonight (8)

One of my all time favorite America songs and this one doesn't disappoint. Pretty wide soundstage on this one. More use of some discreet moments here and there. The 1:15 mark shows off some excellent Quad movement. Easy 9 for me.

The Story Of A Teenager (9)

Starting off slow. Sad song lyrically. Seems to be about a teen considering suicide. Makes you wonder if it's a true story, or just fiction. Great sound, strong bottom end occasionally. A safe song, I guess for me, this song is forgettable. I'd rate it a 6.

Sister Golden Hair (10)

Do I even need to comment? Killer tune which just brings the mid 70's crashing back to memory. Warm summers, easy going nights. Easy life, good times. That's what this song is to me. It sounds just killer IMO. Super strong bottom end, nice immersive song. Easy 9.

Tomorrow (11)

Classic vocalization America style. I like the way it starts. Easy going song, simple, effective. More strong bottom end here. I'd rate this song a 7.

Seasons (12)

Geeze - the horns at the start caught me off guard...thought I was listening to Miles Davis. LOL! Then they caught me off guard again with some moderate Spanish influenced sounds going on. Interesting to say the least. Sounds great, still not a favorite of mine. I'll finish this up with a 7.

All in all - this is an excellent sounding disc. Not one of the songs really has any flaws sonically whatsoever that I can tell. Vocals are always rocks solid, easy to hear. Drums are strong and punchy. Guitars are well displayed when they want them to be. Songs are good, not all excellent. Still, very happy with this purchase. If you do like this disc, you will LOVE the Quad mix. No gimmics at all - just nice, immersive 4 channel presentation. So, to average all my scores above, I come up with an average rating of 8.

 

[ar surround]

Although I owned this album in Quadradisc, I have to listen to the content at least one more time before voting. What I did find is that I prefer to juice up the surrounds by 3dB to provide a more satisfying surround stage. Also, I think that the surround mix has a "modern" sound, more like a latter day 5.1, and not at all gimmicky. (As an aside, Half a Man and Bell Tree sound a bit like Badfinger songs to me. Then of course Geoff Emerick and George Martin have their hands in this album!)

 

[EMB]

I've no quibble with the sound, which for the recording seems exceptional enough to me. I had the old stereo 45's and Lp, the quad Lp, so knew what to expect here.

But to be honest, this band hasn't worn well with me at all, which makes it more the pity that the one album I can stand from first song to last--their 1971/early '72 debut--was never mixed to quad (nor, for that matter, was their 1975 compilation, even though George Martin remixed the earlier material he had nothing to do with, to interesting effect).

After HOMECOMING, I thought these guys started slipping badly. HAT TRICK was a lazy album, IMO; the next two had enough hits to sell them, but even then, as memorable as "Sister Golden Hair" may be, it's derivative as hell, and--as usual with this outfit--featured aggravatingly absurd lyrics that are so self-consciously meant to make you wonder 'Did I hear that right--better listen again,' that things like 'Will you meet me in the middle, will you meet me in the air' sound more addled than coded. But since inchoate lyrics didn't stop "A Horse with No Name" from going #1 (I think it was the atmosphere of the song that made it work; that, and some folks at the time thought it was really Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young incognito, putting us on. Well, at least the uninformed knew who America used as a rip-off starting point).

That said, the quirky "Woman Tonight" is the best of a dubious artistic lot, and "Daisy Jane" isn't too bad. But it's a spotty album, for fans only. The sound is fine, but the material forced me to a '7' here. There is a thread on this one over in the quad forum, FWIW, though not many responses.

ED

 

[edisonbaggins]

Seems to be about a teen considering suicide. Makes you wonder if it's a true story, or just fiction.

Except the liner notes say "written for and produced as the title theme for the Universal film of the same name..."

It is by a wide margin the worst song on the album...

 

[edisonbaggins]

Went with 9. Nuttin wrong with the sonics (which is more than can be said for the Judy Collins disc - I'm shocked that none of you ma friggas have commented on the MEGA distortion on two tracks). Mix is groovy baby.
Occasional inane lyric. Get over it.
Sister Golden is MONEY. Haterz gonna hate.
Would've been a strong 10-song album...

 

[4-earredwonder]

Went with 9. Nuttin wrong with the sonics (which is more than can be said for the Judy Collins disc - I'm shocked that none of you ma friggas have commented on the MEGA distortion on two tracks).

EB, I've played AF's QUAD Judy Collins Greatest Hits three times on two different systems. What mega distortion are you talking about. There is NONE!

 

[Franklin]

So, I'm giving this my second listen. Though tonight - with more effort to dissect it.

...

Thanks for this post. I checked out some sound samples again (and I think the stereo album may well have been on in a record shop I was in last week too) and I could get excited about this album. Your enthusiastic review piqued my interest further.

 

[edisonbaggins]

EB, I've played AF's QUAD Judy Collins Greatest Hits three times on two different systems. What mega distortion are you talking about. There is NONE!

Check out the JC poll thread. I call out two tracks. If you don't hear distortion on the surround layer, which isn't on the stereo layer, I have a defective disc. It's pretty bad. I'll give min:sec later.

 

[sf49erjohn]

I'm probably in the minority here because I think this album is superior to Homecoming. I love the sonics and use of surround channels. I was only familiar with Daisy Jane, Woman Tonite, and Sister Golden Hair but I liked all the tunes. Kind of funny to have 12 cuts but only 36 minutes of music. I'm proudly rating this a 9, a very nice quad release from AF.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Check out the JC poll thread. I call out two tracks. If you don't hear distortion on the surround layer, which isn't on the stereo layer, I have a defective disc. It's pretty bad. I'll give min:sec later.

Please do, EB. I'm curious. I'm VERY sensitive to distortion and I can honestly say Colors of the Day sounds positively solid on my system.

 

[blue.monk]

Check out the JC poll thread. I call out two tracks. If you don't hear distortion on the surround layer, which isn't on the stereo layer, I have a defective disc. It's pretty bad. I'll give min:sec later.

Yeah, the vocals have some rough spots on those 2 tracks. Sounds like source material to me rather than a disc defect.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Yeah, the vocals have some rough spots on those 2 tracks. Sounds like source material to me rather than a disc defect.

The quad source? I ask because every stereo source I've heard sounds fine.

 

[blue.monk]

The quad source? I ask because every stereo source I've heard sounds fine.

Yes, the quad mix.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Yes, the quad mix.

That could be true. Sounds to me as though it could even be an LP needle-drop. Like, maybe the tapes were missing. I doubt that, but SGS in particular is such a radical drop in quality that it makes me wonder.
I wonder why they wouldn't just lift the vocal from the stereo master tapes, if those on the quad source are munched? Maybe the vocals aren't isolated on either and it just wouldn't work. :shrug:
Well, when Baggy get around to voting, it ain't gonna be too nice. There are a few nice tracks, but, overall, the JC disc is a bit of a dud for me.