HiRez Poll Doors - SOFT PARADE [DVD-A/SACD]

[JonUrban]

Please post your comments, thoughts and observations on this title released in first in the "Perception" Box set in the DVD-Audio format, and again in 2014 as a single US SACD (Made in Austria) or as part of the Limited Numbered Edition "Infinite" Box from Analog Productions.

 

[rusinurbe]

As with all of the Doors DVDAs i think the mix is a tad conservative.

Sounds great must dig it out again for a full listen and review

 

[Quad Linda]

10. Great mix for the number of tracks they had to work with. I got the Perception box with the peep hole as a new release. Musically, this is a wonderful album, although it was maligned in some quarters. The band took some chances and IMHO, much of it worked! Strings and horns, even a hoedown add to the album's charm.

 

[rtbluray]

Jon said we need more votes and reviews on this disc to get it into the Hi-Rez poll, so here's mine:

First off, I love how it starts with a BANG!
Discrete surround action everywhere, and it's wonderful!
The horns and backing vocals in the surrounds on "Tell All the People" are a fantastic touch.
Then next up is the surround demonstration of the entire Perception set, "Touch Me".
Like the first song, there's lot of good horn parts in the surrounds, but this time there's great harpsichord and strings parts too!
"Shaman's Blues" has a lot of discrete separation going on without actually being able to pick out what's going on where. (if that makes sense)
Not really that impressed with "Do It", but "Easy Ride" is a simple and fun mix, featuring some of Robby's guitars in the surrounds.
"Wild Child" doesn't really have that great of a surround mix, until the middle section when doubled drum tracks come into the surrounds. It's a little weird, but it does work, sort of…
"Runnin' Blue" features more great horn parts in the surrounds, along with fiddles and mandolins in the chorus.
"Wishful Sinful" features those luscious orchestral arrangements in the surround channels to great effect, making it one of the most delightful surround tracks on the album.
The beginning of "The Soft Parade" is such a trip. Love those harpsichord parts in the surrounds before the full band kicks in. Unfortunately there's not as much surround after that.

Gonna go with an '8' on this one, just cause the surround experience is very uneven.
And @keenly, I don't mind the drums in just one channel, cause it's in the front. If it were the surrounds, I would probably mind a lot more.

 

[salsdali]

wait, what?

so I'm listening to the DVD-A from the Perception box set and it has these bonus tracks in 5.1 mlp

10 Who Scared You 3:58
11 Whiskey, Mystics And Men (Version 1) 2:28
12 Whiskey, Mystics And Men (Version 2) 3:04
13 Push Push 6:06
14 Touch Me (Dialogue) 0:27
15 Touch Me (Take 3)


^these are some of my favorite Doors songs. I didn't even know they were bonuses on the DVD-A

 

[salsdali]

wow, this is one crazy disc (the mix and the recording) not just the music.

I bought the Perception box set when it came out in 2006 (and it was what got me hooked on surround).

Since then I've been thru probably at least 10 receivers and 10 different sets of surround speakers and set-ups and each friggin' time I demo this disc and each time this album sounds different, vastly different.

It's like this physical disc is actually on acid and just morphs each time you play it.

This disc reminds me of when David Gilmour was talking about Syd Barrett playing a part of a song that sounded like gobbledygook, but if you played back that part in reverse it was actually a perfect (forward) rendition of that part of the song.

 

[EMB]

The mix is very good (though there are some wonky and less appealing aspects scattered about), and for me that's pretty much the good news, beyond a handful of pretty solid tracks like "Touch Me" (though it's more like the album version than the single mix--not entirely unexpected), "Wishful Sinful," "Runnin' Blue" and a few bonus tracks. Some of this is really embarrassing, though, and just odd, like "Easy Ride" and the title track, a pale shadow of previous extended musical excursions. Jim Morrison must have really been 'out there' during some of these recordings, accelerating an already worrisome pace of self-destruction.

Folks who tend to like this album can live with the orchestrations and brass far better than I ever have. On "Touch Me" the effect works, but then it's a perverse track to start with, so its quirks tend to work. But much of the album is so half hearted and IMO, beneath the group's talent that it's no accident the Lp, in four years or so, began to turn up en masse in cutout bins (so did ABSOLUTELY LIVE, which also didn't sell to expectations, though it's a one of the better live rock albums of its time).

I can't say THE SOFT PARADE is exactly terrible, but when you factor in the blueprint of the band's sound on THE DOORS and STRANGE DAYS, something was lost as time went on, though some of it would soon be regained with parts of MORRISON HOTEL and L.A. WOMAN, the latter with Morrison running on fumes, ragged voice, with the band doing their best to keep him from drowning. Then he went to Paris....

ED

 

[marpow]

I voted 7. My listen was the Analogue Productions Hybrid SACD CAPP 75005 SA.
5.1 released 2013. DSD64 DR's are 11's, 12's, 13, 15.
Hard to put my finger on this release as the music, goes in left field from the previous 3 albums, almost like it is not The Doors, did Gram Parsons have any influence here?
I give The Doors credit for obviously experimenting with something new that they wanted to pursue, and why not, I am sure the record label said, do anything you want.
The surround mixes for me are even worse than The Doors #1, at least with the Doors #1 it is consistent in its lack of great surround. The Soft Parade just takes me all over the place with content and surround. I want to love it, but too hard.
Sonically I find it very nice with a nice tone that pleases throughout.
GOOD INFORMATION HERE
The best news is the next two releases take us right back on our Doors track.
KEEP SURROUND POLLS PURE. NO OFF TOPIC OR NON RELEVENT CHATTER.

 

[ar surround]

I voted 7. My listen was the Analogue Productions Hybrid SACD CAPP 75005 SA.
5.1 released 2013. DSD64 DR's are 11's, 12's, 13, 15.
Hard to put my finger on this release as the music, goes in left field from the previous 3 albums, almost like it is not The Doors, did Gram Parsons have any influence here?
I give The Doors credit for obviously experimenting with something new that they wanted to pursue, and why not, I am sure the record label said, do anything you want.
The surround mixes for me are even worse than The Doors #1, at least with the Doors #1 it is consistent in its lack of great surround. The Soft Parade just takes me all over the place with content and surround. I want to love it, but too hard.
Sonically I find it very nice with a nice tone that pleases throughout.
GOOD INFORMATION HERE
The best news is the next two releases take us right back on our Doors track.

I see that I originally gave this a 6 (Perception DVD-A) because of the reasons you stated, plus I don't care much for the tonal quality of the mix either. Touch Me sounds a bit on the harsh side compared to the other Doors hits on the remaining Doors albums. That 6 was probably way too low a score on an absolute basis because I hold groups like The Doors to a higher standard. Changing it to a 7 for a more appropriate score on a "universal" basis.

(Touch Me: When I first heard it on AM radio, and not knowing Morrison was singing it, I thought he sounded like Pat Boone on steroids singing in a somewhat lower register. LOL)

 

[stoopid]

SACD 5.1 -- lots of separation. When there's horns/strings, they setup the surround mix as a "battle of the bands" with the Doors up front and the orchestral pieces in the rears. There's only a few moments where I thought there was creative mixing, utilizing the surround field. But overall this felt like a very mature surround mix with great separation, clarity, and even a bit of low end that's otherwise lacking on many of these older albums. Musically it's not my favorite Doors material, but objectively I can't fault the effort or execution even if it's not my preferred 'version' of the band. "Touch Me" is almost enough to carry the entire album. Such an epic song from their catalog and superb in surround. 9/10