HiRez Poll Band, The - CAHOOTS [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this new reissue of the classic album "Cahoots" by the Band.
This 50th anniversary edition contains new 5.1 surround & Dolby Atmos mixes from mixing engineer Bob Clearmountain.
The Dolby Atmos mix is also available to stream on all Dolby Atmos streaming providers.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/cahoots-deluxe-edition-2021-remix/1589012615

 

[marpow]

I voted 8. The 4th Band album to be released as a box set, and the weakest of the 4 from an audio perspective. From the first which was pretty good and the next two just kept getting better. Cahoots takes a back step below Music From Big Pink.
Cahoots offers first Dolby Atmos of the four. Don't bother, two rear heights are barely active. Listen to the 5.1 DTS-HD Mstr for a good experience.
The Blu Ray has the orginal album in surround with alternate recordings minus one, that you only get on disc 1 CD, Bessie Smith (outtake), why they did that, does not make sense.
CD 2 is a bootleg live recording in MONO. Rough, grainy, poor recording. There is nothing on the packaging that says MONO, but when ripped the track tags are in Japanese writing with (MONO) at end of every track, this was confirmed with the jRiver analyzer. The 3 extra tracks 12, 13, 14 on the live recording are stereo.
If I was to vote solely on the 5.1 DTS HD-Mstr, I would give it a 9.
But the remaining poor content, poor Atmos, and the backslide in content compared to the first three box sets, lowers to an 8.
The stereo Blu Ray DR's are primarily 8's & 9's, the 5.1 are primarily 11's & 12's, CD 2 the bootleg Live are primarily 7's & 8's.

If you are a so/so The Band fan, I would say "there are better box sets out there".

 

[Quad Linda]

9

I'm a hard core fan of these guys. Had to have this. It came in Friday.

DTS 5.1 mix is fairly active. 9 for the mix. 8 at best for fidelity on album itself.

If you're looking for audiophile quality, this isn't it. The BD has a kind of sterility on 2ch and DTS. It's a 50 year old album. I need to compare the 2ch 96/24 to the MoFi SACD. I suspect the SACD has a warmer sound. (EDIT: to my surprise, BD 96/24 2ch in box sounds more open, warmer and a better high end than the 2ch MoFi SACD!!) I haven't listened to the 180G vinyl yet.

Mono recordings don't bother me. If that's all there is, OK. Live at the Olympia has some fidelity issues in addition to mono. They are forthcoming on the box about it being a bootleg and partial. Most of it is passable fidelity. Rag Mama Rag (live) has a violin sound that I doubt was intended. Screech! Some very good live tracks, though.

Musically, give this an 8. Several stand out tracks. My only issue with the Band in the studio is that they sound stiff, at least compared to them in concert. Still, many great songs, well rehearsed and crafted. Live albums like Last Waltz or Rock of Ages make the songs come alive, especially with horns.

If you're a fan or completist, you need this. Good surround mix and far better than average music.

 

[MikeMonaco]

Christmas is here! Tore open the wrapping, gave it my first listen... geez I miss these guys so much. Music is enveloping, lots of horns, accordions and other accompaniment in the rears. Very clear, clean sound on my system. The extras are terrific...and then there's Van. I'll give the LP and 7" a spin some day. Peace on earth.

 

[zimmy]

After reading negative reports on this one my expectations were quite low.
But i can not understand the negativity. I really like this mix and can not say that it is not as good as the previous boxes.
For me it actually made it clear that this is an really good album even if it is not better than any of the first three previous ones.
My judgement is now only on the BD but that is enough for me as my verdict is very much depending on the BD.
The negative thing is as with all of these boxes that i got an LP with the box but as i have accepted that on the other ones it is to late to say so much about it.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

I have to give a shout-out to @Kal Rubinson for taking the trouble to listen and vote his conscience.
No cheerleading fan-boy fawning, just one man's honest opinion.
(The last 5 I noticed him hand out was for some modern EDM title that I had no interest in even previewing.)

I don't agree in this case, but what a boring world it is when the votes are all eights, nines & tens.

I've abandoned ever recording another vote in these polls, as my old ears and listening system make it a futile exercise in pretending objectivity.

However, because this record has meant something to me for 50 years, I'm very happy to own it in a creative Clearmountain alternative surround mix with full participation by Jamie Robbie Robertson.
Hearing things I've never heard before, isn't that what it's all about?

One of the best things I bought last year, 9.5 on my personal hit parade.



View attachment 75398

 

[sjcorne]

An "8" for me. I got the box on sale and I'm pretty happy with it, even though there is a definite lack of worthy additional content compared to the prior three entries in the series - Big Pink & S/T had 45 RPM vinyl, Stage Fright had the RAH live set in 5.1, whereas here we get the Atmos remix and a bootleg live recording. Nevertheless, I'm happy to support any physical 5.1 releases from the major labels and it does look great next to the other three on the shelf. Lots of interesting liner note info from Clearmountain and Robertson on the remixes.

I agree with @marpow that the Atmos mix doesn't really add all that much to the surround presentation - I didn't notice any directional sounds mixed to the height channels like on Air's 10,000 Hz Legend or The Pineapple Thief's Nothing But The Truth (to be fair, these are much newer recordings with far more separately-tracked elements to spread out), but it does provide a bit more of that in-the-room ambient feel. I find myself preferring the 5.1 mix even though it's quite a bit louder than the 7.1 TrueHD/Atmos, the separation between channels seems a bit more pronounced. Like the other albums in this series, the center speaker is used heavily for drums, bass, and vocals, while the rears generally feature isolated guitar, keys, and horns. There's a particularly fun bit in the song "Smoke Signal" where the guitar solos fly around the room. The horns in the rear speakers throughout "Life Is A Carnival" really pop.

Comparing the original 1971 stereo album to the new Clearmountain remixes (stereo, 5.1 & Atmos) is where it gets really interesting - to my ears, the original has a very dry, almost-dull (or 'warm', depending on who you ask) aesthetic, with barely any low-end 'punch' in the drums or bass. It almost sounds like a rough fader-only mix, with very little processing on the individual elements. The remix is basically the reverse, with tons of added reverb/delay on all the instruments and big extensions on both the low-end and high-end. Some of the new vocal delays are kind of distracting (particularly on Van Morrison's voice in "4% Pantomime") - and the high-end boost on the snare and cymbals does make it a somewhat-fatiguing listen at higher volume - but overall it does sound much more 'exciting' to me than the original. The new a capella ending to "Where Do We Go From Here?" sounds great.

 

[par4ken]

I received the package yesterday and just listened to the 5.1 mix. My first impression is that although the sound is very good it's much wetter (more reverberant) than I'm used to with the original stereo mix. My favourite track "Life Is A Carnival" sounds like pure stereo, with very week ambiance in the rear. Occasionally a horn will pop up from behind. The other tracks are better surround wise. I notice that there is little bass in the rear, bass and drums are firmly in the front channels. Typical 5.1 mixing, as most now use those dicky little surround speakers in the back!

Overall an impressive package. No real need for the vinyl, but will likely get around to listening to it eventually. Same with the stereo portion of the Blu-ray, it will be interesting to compare it to the MFSL SACD. The 45 is rather cool but really no need for it either unless you have a juke box in your rec room! I was going to pass this up due the high price but with $50 off at Amazon.com I decided to bite.

I'll do a bit more listening before I vote.

 

[par4ken]

I just ripped the Blu-ray. Checking the stereo version, I'm very disappointed to see that it is brick wall limited. I thought that I'd check the 5.1 version as well and can see that it is also limited although not nearly to the same extent as the stereo. I haven't checked the CD's but I would expect the same result. What a horrible shame, to sell "defective" disc's like that in such an expensive set. I wonder what the vinyl is like, the benefits of half speed mastering will be undone or become irrelevant if the audio on that is compressed as well!

 

[svengaleekie]

I've never heard this album before, but I had to have this, I waited for the price to come down, but it wasn't happening, so I've paid a lot for it, more than I paid for the other boxes, It sits there nicely next to them though.

Anyway I've put the Blu-ray in and listened to the Atmos and at first all I could hear was the centre speaker, it sounded like everything was coming from there so I was a bit worried, changed it to 5.1 yea that sounded better, but then went back to the Atmos and this time the music was coming from everywhere and sounding really good.

I played the disc through and immediately played it through again as I read through the book telling how it was recorded and re-mixed from scratch more recently by Bob Clearmountain, he's done a great job! I love the songs I loved the Atmos and I don't begrudge the £118 at all.

 

[wrat]

not my favorite Band release songs are kinda weak, mix is nice , sound is good to very good

 

[Matt Wilson]

A 9. Not too many people's fave Band album is given new life with a brand new from-scratch mix which doesn't care if it's faithful to the original. Forget the Atmos, it's the 5.1 mix which is the go-to here. Hope they continue with this series. The brand new The Last Waltz on 4K blu ray is a delight too. A good time to be a Band fan.

 

[James Jay]

The surround Atmos / DTS HD Master Audio mixes are a 10 for me. If I’m being honest, I only purchase any of these box sets is for the surround mixes so I am not going to deduct from my vote for paying extra for Vinyl, posters, marbles etc. Like most of you I would like a separate blu ray surround disc only. It is what it is with these box sets.
The Band - Cahoots surround mixes really improve in every way to any previous stereo versions ( I have the MFSL Cahoots SACD). Plenty of discrete instruments from the rear speakers.
The surround mixes have improved my opinion of Cahoots 100 per cent.
I have not noticed much discrete sound from height speakers in any Atmos mixes for music I have unlike some 4k Atmos movies surround mixes. I guess I must have expected more discrete sound from height speakers in Dolby Atmos music discs.
Anyway, I picked up Cahoots at Amazon for $65. so I’m pretty happy with it. 10 for me.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I have to say I really like the mix in 5.1 of this Cahoots album on Blu-ray.

Some songs do use the surrounds sparingly in parts, but overall I think Clearmountain has nailed it for us surround fans.

Thanks to the alert from the qq chap that said this was on sales ,fifty beanz American.
Overall I paid $110.00 Canadian ,so thanks to whoever it was? ❤
Not really my favourite BAND album ,musically.

Gave it an 8 , ...........but that surround is a 10 for a fifty yr olde remix.

 

[sjcorne]

...the Atmos mix doesn't really add all that much to the surround presentation - I didn't notice any directional sounds mixed to the height channels like on Air's 10,000 Hz Legend or The Pineapple Thief's Nothing But The Truth

Have to amend this post slightly, I just listened to the entire album in 5.1.4 and the guitar solo on the fade in "Smoke Signal" does swirl around the height speakers to very cool effect. Otherwise, it's pretty much just delays and reverb up there.

 

[DennisMabry]

Believe it or not I never had this album before. I can add this to the list of albums by artists I'm into, but never got around to. Just got this for under $50 on Amazon. If you are sitting on the fence, this is a great deal. Blu-ray with 5.1 and Atmos. 45 rpm single, 180 gram LP plus 2 CD extras. Very nice as box sets go! I've paid this much for Dolby Digital surround discs alone. Since I am not familiar with the recording, I cannot speak to the comparison to the original, but this sounds wonderful to me! Very pleased!
Dennis

 

[James Jay]

Believe it or not I never had this album before. I can add this to the list of albums by artists I'm into, but never got around to. Just got this for under $50 on Amazon. If you are sitting on the fence, this is a great deal. Blu-ray with 5.1 and Atmos. 45 rpm single, 180 gram LP plus 2 CD extras. Very nice as box sets go! I've paid this much for Dolby Digital surround discs alone. Since I am not familiar with the recording, I cannot speak to the comparison to the original, but this sounds wonderful to me! Very pleased!
Dennis

Cahoots super deluxe is now going for around $47 dollars on Amazon prime right now. Bob Clearmountain did a great job on the surround mixes. This really is a no brainer at this price. Very discrete mix - I can’t believe this price on Amazon.

 

[Imbobman]

Cahoots super deluxe is now going for around $47 dollars on Amazon prime right now. Bob Clearmountain did a great job on the surround mixes. This really is a no brainer at this price. Very discrete mix - I can’t believe this price on Amazon.

How much lower in price can this go.... Amazon must have really got a glut of these. So instead of inflation, we have deflation here. Wow, I'm not complaining!
For some unknown reason,I'd never really heard this album back in the day. Listen to it in its entirety on YouTube the other day. Imo, just OK...
But I'm tempted to get this.

 

[Mj33]

The packaging is exquisite like with the other Band box sets. Beautiful. The artwork on the box is display-worthy if you ask me. Now, as far as the music is concerned. Why does this album constantly get outranked by the first three? I don't get it. Allan Toussaint horn section on "Life is a Carnival" and "Volcano", an outstanding track that sees The Band expanding their musical palette. I know that I'm in the minority here, but the first two albums are my least favorite (with the exception of "Islands", which is not a very good album). There is just something deeper and funkier about this album and "Stage Fright" that just never registers on the first two albums, which are rootsy but predictable. Is that sacrilege? I just think this album is sorely underrated. The 5.1 mix is outstanding; can't speak to the Atmos. Bob Clearmountain took a so-so sounding album and really knocked it out of the park. Highlights = When I Paint my Masterpiece, Where Do We Go from Here?, Smoke Signal, and the two aforementioned tracks.

 

[Quad Linda]

Being a familiar album, I have listened to it many times. Have bought this on Canada LP. CD, expanded CD, 2ch SACD and this package. The only version I've compared is the SACD to 96/24. BD sounds better, IMHO. Also didn't spin the 45 yet.

Paid a lot more than many of you. Just to be first one to own this.

Standing by my review from Dec. (post #3) 9 overall. I might amend it and give music a 9, rather than an 8. I do plan to spin this whole box again soon!

A worthwhile addition to your collection at any price, even if you're not an an incurable collector like me. If you like 5.1 (silly question), you NEED it!