HiRez Poll Bread - BEST OF BREAD, Vol 1 [SACD]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2015 SACD release of the 1970's Quadraphonic album of "The Best of Bread".

Pre-release discussion thread: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?19993

 

[JonUrban]

This disc sounds amazing and clean, very very good for a 1970's master. In fact, I don't think this material has ever sounded this good. First off, I own the reel, but I never play it because, well, it's Bread! It's not the type of music I look for when I want to play something in the house. In my mind, it's dated, it's old, and it's time has come and gone. But playing this SACD the first few times reminded my how nice some of these songs actually are, and as Tad mentioned in the pre-release discussion thread, the "Side Two" side rocks pretty good. The mix is the old quad mix and it works fine. It's nice to hear it without hiss, rumble, flutter, and having to rewind the tape when it was over!

It's a real shame that "Guitar Man" and "Aubrey" came out after this LP was released, but at least that shows they had continued success after their first GH album was released, which is something that a lot of other groups cannot say.

If you are of the time, and if you ever liked this music, or if you want some really nice tunes done extremely well and with a good quadraphonic mix, than this disc is worth your time and money. So glad Audio Fidelity was able to rescue this classic from the cobweb filled vaults.

I am looking forward to hearing from you all once this gets out to the regular (Non-subscription) masses out there. From my point of view this is a big winner from AF.

 

[sf49erjohn]

I happen to enjoy the music of Bread. Listening to it brought me back to the 70's and as Jon said it is a quality quad disc. Really like the tunes and David Gates voice. I would give it a 9. If you lived through the 70's and liked Breads music a little bit you will enjoy this as they have never sounded better. And my wife will listen to it with me, which she wont do with my Porcupine Tree 5.1 discs's.

 

[Q-Eight]

It's a good listen. The mixes vary instrument placement a little and that keeps things interesting. I noticed "Mother Freedom" seemed to have a higher noise floor than the rest of the songs. I wouldn't say it sounded hissy, but at the beginning, the hiss is more noticeable than other tracks. They may have used some different compression on that one as it's a bit of a loud song. But other than that, it sounded great to me. Had my little Tiburon just a-rockin' on the drive home today!

 

[rtbluray]

This disc starts off very strong with one of my favorite Bread songs "Make It With You". David Gates' voice is fantastic on this song, and thankfully the same can also be said for most of the other tracks as well!
These mixes are a natural extension of the original stereo mixes, which is good as sometimes Quad can be just the opposite, with no rhyme or reason to the panning decisions!
"Everything I Own" features that fantastic harpsichord part that floats above the rest of the instruments.
"Baby I'm-A Want You" is another favorite of mine, and the mix is simple and pleasant, and the same goes for "It Don't Matter to Me" and the very lovely "If".
"Side 2" starts off with a rocker! "Mother Freedom" is fantastic! Big and loud, just the way it should be.
Then comes the 60s sounding rocker "Down On My Knees", which feels like it should have been a Byrds song.
Next we get "Too Much Love", with a wonderful discrete placement of the guitars across all four channels. The bass does sound a little odd however coming out of the left surround channel…
For the following song "Let Your Love Go", I would have switched the placement of the drums and the electric guitar so that drums are in front. The harpsichord is also a little buried for me too. After that, we get a nice placement of guitars and vocals on the song "Look What You've Done", followed by stereo drums! Pretty interesting mixing decision, but I'll take it. The disc ends with "Truckin", which is a not a particularly strong finish, but the rest of the disc makes up for it.

Although it's not quite as good for me as BS&T, this was a more enjoyable listening experience than the Quad SACD of the Guess Who, so even though this one is more like an '8.5', I'll go up to '9'. Recommended.

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

Looking forward to this arriving from across the pond.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

This is an easy 9 for me...if you like Bread or this type of music I would highly recommend this disc...it's clean uncompressed sound will win you over

 

[GOS]

I had high expectations for this disc. You know, across genres....so many little differences. Some of the brassy/jazzy multi channels sound so over the top good. It almost seems unfair to compare to those...but it is...what it is.

I vote a 9 and I admit...I am swayed ever so slightly by my love of the music. It simply sounds better than it has ever sounded....but it is lacking a smidgen of bass like I prefer.....

But, I find I can adjust my sub (which I hate doing) and it is all forgiven. The mix is good, vocals are rock solid and I love this release.

 

[GOS]

wow! I just received an email from Amazon...who I bought this disc from. I'm getting a refund for $5.02 due to recent price drop compared to when I ordered it. That is pretty sweet.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

wow! I just received an email from Amazon...who I bought this disc from. I'm getting a refund for $5.02 due to recent price drop compared to when I ordered it. That is pretty sweet.

I think amazon is starting to realize that places like importcds and a few others are taking away a segment of their profits...I don't do as much business with them as I once did...especially in the music purchase category...I know you have Prime so that's an incentive for you to order there...more competition helps us all...

 

[GOS]

I think amazon is starting to realize that places like importcds and a few others are taking away a segment of their profits...I don't do as much business with them as I once did...especially in the music purchase category...I know you have Prime so that's an incentive for you to order there...more competition helps us all...

Yeah, I think so...I mean.....they have to be competitive relative to others......

 

[jaybird100]

I just got that refund on the "Best of Bread" SACD, too. I ordered that one and the Guess Who at the same time. They both sound outstanding. My hat's off to Brian Moura, the Audio Fidelity "multichannel maven". The quad mixes are great, and the sound is as good as the analog masters can be. Let's hope they don't pull a "Rhino" on us and suddenly discontinue the series.

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

I don't always listen to soft rock...but when I do I prefer Bread. I give this a 9 Bread was always one of the best at the soft rock game and Quad just makes it Breadder.

 

[ar surround]

This one arrived today along with The Best of the Guess Who. I was surprised at the consistency of the quality of the mixes for a greatest hits album. Nice and clean sounding too. All of the cuts, and especially the rockers on side 2, have noticeably less compression than the redbook CD. Diary still nauseates me, however. @:

 

[GOS]

This one arrived today along with The Best of the Guess Who. I was surprised at the consistency of the quality of the mixes for a greatest hits album. Nice and clean sounding too. All of the cuts, and especially the rockers on side 2, have noticeably less compression than the redbook CD. Diary still nauseates me, however. @:

LMAO - there must be a story behind that nauseousness....

 

[Bob Romano]

Love the band, love the songs... LOVE THIS DISC. This has always been one of my fave titles in quad. The quad reel was great but IMO the SACD takes this to a whole new level. Great sonics and beautiful transfer of the quad master. An easy 10 from me.

 

[LizardKing]

I managed to obtain a DVD-A of a excellent quad reel conversion made by someone... of this about a year ago. I've never been a fan of Bread, and was blown away by the vocals & I liked the tracks a lot more than I was expecting. In my old (middle) age I appreciate Soft Rock more than I did when I was younger. In fact this has been one of my most played discs over the last year...:yikes

As people have said - this (unsurprisingly) is even better - the reel sounds muddy compared to this. I love the acoustic guitar, bass sound, drums, and then the strings kick in,,, wow! The electric guitar on Mother Freedom has a really nice sound too.

If you have even a vague interest in this type of music - I'd recommend giving this one a go.

For me this is a 10.

 

[fredblue]

LMAO - there must be a story behind that nauseousness....

I heard Diary on SACD.. and started spewing around me.. :ugham:

cannot WAIT to get my mitts on this one!

 

[fredblue]

I managed to obtain a DVD-A of a excellent quad reel conversion made by someone... of this about a year ago. I've never been a fan of Bread, and was blown away by the vocals & I liked the tracks a lot more than I was expecting. In my old (middle) age I appreciate Soft Rock more than I did when I was younger. In fact this has been one of my most played discs over the last year...:yikes

As people have said - this (unsurprisingly) is even better - the reel sounds muddy compared to this. I love the acoustic guitar, bass sound, drums, and then the strings kick in,,, wow! The electric guitar on Mother Freedom has a really nice sound too.

If you have even a vague interest in this type of music - I'd recommend giving this one a go.

For me this is a 10.

I've always loved Bread (since I was a nipper, Dad had stuff like Bread & Dr.Hook playing 24/7 in the 70's).. they were so rockin and on fire on side two they should've called it Bread In Rock.. or Best Of Toast! :flame

 

[blue.monk]

Oh my, this is a lovely sounding disc. The mix and fidelity are first rate. Although not a big Bread fan back in the day I have a new appreciation for the material. Gates was indeed a gifted song writer and vocalist. A 9 for me.