Comments Inspired by Beatles, The - ABBEY ROAD (5.1 Surround Mix) [Blu-Ray Audio]

[ar surround]

To me TD is as much quality as The Beatles.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "TD"?

 

[perzon57]

Tangerine Dream

 

[Scott65]

Tangerine Dream

Thanks. I was wondering too.

 

[Imbobman]

Tangerine Dream

Thanks, I didn't know what it was either.

 

[admsh]

Well as hard as it is to fathom, some folks I guess just aren't Beatles fans; but unless they post their reasoning for their vote, I guess we'll never know.
Let's see: cat puked on their lap while listening; mother in law just showed up; bad acid trip; cheap speakers blew with all that fabulous bass activity...

Sounded to me like the guy IS a Beatles fan, just disappointed. I gave it a 10 but I get it... Something, for example, sounds much better on Love. So does Because, with a lot more separation of the vocals and playfulness in the mix. This could have been much more adventurous... So the question I think is do you rate it relatively to, say, Love, or do you rate it based on the specific experience on its own, which is what I chose to do. Because this is an amazing release

 

[edisonbaggins]

IMO, I don't see the point in comparing AR tracks to Love tracks, because AR sounds awesome and does it's job as a surround remix. I understand comparing Pepper, because the sound and surround were disappointing.

 

[Guy Robinson]

Well,in fact you are listening in a kind of 7.1 too. I am listening to Phaedra just now and I don't feel sleepy. To me TD is as much quality as The Beatles.

I find that almost any commercially available 5.1 mix is bettered by creating a 7.1 mix from it.

 

[Clement]

You know how there are some moments you will never forget . . . you can never forget? The first time I heard "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is indelibly stamped in my memory: it was December of 1975, it was a school night, it was past 10:30, I had turned the sleep timer on my clock radio to 60 minutes, I was listening to WXRT, and I was just drifting off . . . when the opening kicked in. My eyes, which had been closed, popped open. I had been lying on my side facing the clock radio; I sat up, turned it UP, and listened intently for nearly eight minutes, wondering just what this shapeshifting magic was and who had created it. Just when I thought the 10,000 ominous guitars pounding out those chords and that rock bottom bass walking through those howling winds might never end, the song suddenly stopped, and the DJ said it was the Beatles from Abbey Road--I was flummoxed! It was SO DAMN HEAVY, and it was not like any Beatles I had ever heard.

I had recently started listening to music in earnest, having purchased my first system and my first LP (Queen's A Night at the Opera) with money saved from a paper route. A few weeks earlier, I had checked the Red and Blue albums out of the public library. I even played them for my younger sister, and we marveled at how 1962-1966 made us want to get up and dance while 1967-1970 made us want to sit down and listen. But this "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was a different beast altogether! And Abbey Road?!? The four songs from the blue album ("Here Comes the Sun," "Come Together," "Something," and "Octopus's Garden" [!]) certainly didn't prepare me for the relentless, obsessive, driving, primal grind of both the music and the lyrics. I had to have that song!

When the album was in my hands later that month (Santa knew what this budding musicologist wanted), I was again flummoxed: I only knew one of the ten (turns out there were actually eleven!) songs on side 2. Playing the record for the first (and second and third and fourth) times that Christmas Day is another memory that will never fade away. . . . and now there is tonight--my first (and second and now third) time through the 50th anniversary 5.1.

SO DAMN HEAVY!

 

[ar surround]

IMO, I don't see the point in comparing AR tracks to Love tracks, because AR sounds awesome and does it's job as a surround remix. I understand comparing Pepper, because the sound and surround were disappointing.

But the comparison might make an interesting topic for “Life In Surround.”

 

[GOS]

I was not going to give this a ten, initially. I enjoyed the hell out of it, but it did not floor me the way some of my other ten votes have.

The thing is, the more I listen to this, the more I am rediscovering the Beatles. My children, who generally do NOT enjoy my music at all, love this release.

The mix has all the elements I crave, and I feel full immersed. I'm not ATMOS capable yet, but I'm glad that's been included.

It's getting a ten from me, because if someone said "Hey, I see the Beatles had a lot of boxed set re-releases recently, which one should I get?" I would pick this as the one to get.

Whoopee! This IS one bad ass release. Maybe easily one of my top 5's since I started this nutty habit.

 

[Clement]

This is just to say . . .
as a listener who was unable to hear this disk for a couple of weeks because of the menu, I certainly understand why some of us have docked the disc a point for the menu design. My issue is that many of those docked votes have shown up only here on the 5.1 thread.
In the interest of fairness and to get a truly accurate picture of the two mixes,
I Urge Everyone Who Lowered Their (sic) Vote Because Of The Menu To Do The Same On The
ATMOS POLL (click HERE for your convenience)

 

[Beefalo]

This is just to say . . .
as a listener who was unable to hear this disk for a couple of weeks because of the menu, I certainly understand why some of us have docked the disc a point for the menu design. My issue is that many of those docked votes have shown up only here on the 5.1 thread.
In the interest of fairness and to get a truly accurate picture of the two mixes,
I Urge Everyone Who Lowered Their (sic) Vote Because Of The Menu To Do The Same On The
ATMOS POLL (click HERE for your convenience)

I would never lower a vote due to menu or product packaging. I'm voting on the sound.,.

 

[Hamilton59]

Do we really have to have only one disk that we give a 10? I haven't received my copy of Dukes Of Stratosphear yet so it may well have a better surround mix ( I hope so, that would be wonderful) but that is only part of what I consider when voting... And content to me is King. If I don't like the music, I won't play it except to demo sound moving around the speakers.... With that in mind, Abbey Road is great and I could have more than one 10.
Just my opinion...

 

[The56Kid]

I don't disagree, Hamilton. Multiple 10s could and should be had - it's subjective anyway. I was just stating that having got both the Dukes and AR at approximately the same time, the former's mix edged it to a 10 for me, just above AR. Had I heard them apart by a month or so, I'd probably have given Abbey a 10 also. In fact, I like Abbey more than the White Album, and I gave the White Album a 10.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I think different albums can be a "10" in their own ways. The way I view it, if AR fails to delight you, it's not a 10. If you thoroughly enjoy it, it might be a 10. Does it have some technical flaw that others should know about? Maybe knock off some points. Or, even if you enjoyed it, could it have been better? As stated above, it's completely subjective, of course.

 

[ar surround]

I sometimes sample what I had as a reference before a high-res, surround sound reissue, i.e. the Abbey Road 2009 remastered CD. Then a lot of the reissues most definitely earn 9s and 10s ratings in comparison.

 

[Beefalo]

I would love to get hold of a Near Mint copy of AR.
UK 1st press vinyl PCS 7088.
Think this would be great for a comparison !!!

 

[kap'n krunch]

I would love to get hold of a Near Mint copy of AR.
UK 1st press vinyl PCS 7088.
Think this would be great for a comparison !!!

never heard a UK 1st pressing but I got the MFSL LP and it definitely is a monster!

 

[bktouchstone]

After reassembling my surround system in the new house, I have now had time to try to slay the subwoofer dragon. For some reason, too much base kills songs for me, and at fairly low levels compared to what I hear at intersections from nearby cars. How do people listen to all that bass?

My solution, after much trial and error, was to just cave in to the 80 hz THX standard, and divert anything less than 80 hz from the fronts to the subwoofer, and then tweak the sub levels until satisfaction was possible without having to tailor the bass to each song. This worked!

Since I gave Abbey Road a 9 originally, I decided to revisit AR in surround and see if the new subwoofer treatment worked. And you know what? It did! And I have decided to change my score from a 9 to a NINE. I know a lot of folks rate this a 10 and I am glad they enjoy this to such a great extent. I also love listening to this album and will gladly pay for whatever Beatles recordings Giles puts his hands on.

 

[markshan]

the Beatles' top 5 (that being made up of White Album

To my ears, so much of the Beatle "magic" is gone by 1969. It was starting to faulter by late 1967, although there were certainly lots of flashes of brilliance after that.

Which is it?