HiRez Poll Fagen, Donald - KAMAKIRIAD [DVD-A]

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

I have Nightfly and Morph but for one reason of another I never got Kamakiriad on disc, don't know why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ then it got hard to find at a reasonable price but was able to get my hands on a ISO/flac of the Album so was finally able to hear it in all its surround glory and I think it is great. Would be cool if all 3 could be released on Blu-ray and throw in a surround of Condos just for good measure

 

[steelydave]

Well, personally, I think it's far more interesting to discuss the nuances of what makes music good (or bad) than to simply give it a numerical rating and file it away.

But, if you want to go that way, I award your post a 6 out of 10.

 

[MikeMonaco]

Now that´s weird!!!!
hmmm...
it´s not that different...yes, I do not like "Morph the cat" nor "Everything must go" but I DO like "Sunken Condos"...
Well yeah I guess I would not have been so rash in the review either, it´s not like I totally dislike the ones I don´t like...
But, man, Kamakiriad is a freaking masterpiece..

Well, to each their own...

I had this on regular CD forever, then saw someone post something here a few months ago...and tried to find it on DVD-A. Very hard to find (I even posted a WTB on this site...ha! --- crickets)...I can understand why no one with it wanted to give it up. I finally found one for a decent price on Discogs from a guy in Russia. It took over 2 months to get through customs (I think they get paid by the hour). Anyway, it was well worth the money and the wait, and I'm glad I've got it.

And I'd LOVE to get Condos in surround. I have it on clear 45rpm vinyl and mp3.

 

[IanProudfoot]

Well, personally, I think it's far more interesting to discuss the nuances of what makes music good (or bad) than to simply give it a numerical rating and file it away.

Says the man posting on a numerical poll thread...

 

[IanProudfoot]

Well, this thread has been livened-up considerably in the last couple of days!
Nobody needs to worry about bullying me for my score of 6. I showed my score breakdown and I know that I was fair. I would simply ask, what makes this album a 10? Does it really deserve that 1 point for Overall Package even if the mix, fidelity and content all get top marks? My interpretation of the overall package score is that it has to be really exceptional to get that 1 point. Just following standard packaging won't do that because it gives no head room for the truly exceptional.

 

[fredblue]

Far be it for me to bully anyone for their tastes, but even if this album isn't your cup of tea musically, I find it hard to see a world where this is anything less than a 7.

There's plenty of discrete rear channel activity, and even panning effects, like the sound of a flare moving from right to left behind the lyric "some loser fires off a flare, amen..." in Snowbound.

I don't think this album could sound more like it was recorded in 1992 if it tried, and I get if that's not your cup of tea - the sterile sound of the album took a long time to grow on me, but there are some absolute classic Fagen tracks on this album, starting with Snowbound and Tomorrow's Girls.

Like my Fitness Consigliere @fredblue (who probably owns the worlds largest collection of terrible surround music) said to me in a private conversation recently about another good 5.1 mix that was getting panned, if you think this is a 6, you probably haven't heard many (or any) of the literally hundreds of forgettable 5.1 mixes released by the major labels in the original SACD/DVD-A era circa 2000-2004, which I think are truly emblematic of the kind of mediocrity that a "6" represents.

you're not dragging me into this! this consigliere's gonna hide in Me'Shell

tbh i need to give this here joker a fresh listen as i haven't done so for quite a while.

more light-heartedly (just so the kap'n & ko are prepared!) it may remain the "8 that carries its weight" that i gave it on here years ago.. or i may promote it to a "nifty 9" or even a "perfect 10".. or downrate it to a "stairway to heaven 7".. or an "its not Styx 6".

all will be revealed in the big poll stripteasehouse on the tracks!

cue Henry Mankini doing "The Stripper"!!

off off off off off!!

 

[IanProudfoot]

Just out of curiosity, what's a title that you give a 10 for all around?

Devin Townsend's Empath still leaves me in awe every time I listen to it and it's a visual feast too. 10 isn't enough, it deserves 11

 

[perzon57]

Devin Townsend Empath left me cold,at least on Spotify.I heard no reason to buy the box.

 

[IanProudfoot]

Devin Townsend Empath left me cold,at least on Spotify.I heard no reason to buy the box.

This just highlights why some on here shouldn't get so upset when someone gives a low score to an album they love! I'm very used to people thinking the music I really like is horrible!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I intend on doing a detailed review of this fine album soon -relatively vague insertion; until then, us losers better stop firing off flares or we won’t have a Snowbound chance in hell of holding this Poll together!

 

[4-earredwonder]

It has been said [and I forgot WHO said it] that the DANS have essentially been making the SAME album for the last 50 years embellishing each album with various hooks and crackerjack musicians to alter their musical landscapes just enough into fooling the public they're hearing something radically new ... and different.

Well, I don't subscribe to that theory but in researching Rolling Stones Mag take on Kamakiriad, I came across this amusing article on what the author describes as 15 RS Bullshit reviews of Classic Rock albums, some of which will astound you:

https://reelharmonies.wordpress.com...ng-stone-magazine-had-the-balls-to-publish-3/
So, in the end, whether the individual likes an album or not, surround mixes nothwithstanding, it's nice to know that 'so called' musicologist reviewers sometimes fail to get it JUST RIGHT!

 

[sjcorne]

Does it really deserve that 1 point for Overall Package even if the mix, fidelity and content all get top marks? My interpretation of the overall package score is that it has to be really exceptional to get that 1 point. Just following standard packaging won't do that because it gives no head room for the truly exceptional.

Funny, I've always felt that the single DVD-A was a perfect package. The super-jewel cases have a bit more 'flair' than standard CD size, the booklet is bigger, and--best of all--you get the surround disc with no extra fluff. Regardless of the type of packaging, I'd always give that extra point to a single-disc release as we now live in the age of "Super Deluxe Editions".

 

[IanProudfoot]

Funny, I've always felt that the single DVD-A was a perfect package. The super-jewel cases have a bit more 'flair' than standard CD size, the booklet is bigger, and--best of all--you get the surround disc with no extra fluff. Regardless of the type of packaging, I'd always give that
extra point to a single-disc release as we now live in the age of "Super Deluxe Editions".

I too hate being forced to buy a massive box-set just for the surround mix. No, what I'm talking about are the releases where the extras are worthwhile and add to the experience. The XTC surround series scores highly as do the Jethro Tull sets. Of course with just 1 point to cover all of the possibilities it's unlikely that we will all agree on this, we all have our own expectations...

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

...15 RS Bullshit reviews of Classic Rock albums, some of which will astound you:...

Dear God...

Someone please explain to me how "professional" music reviews are not as useless as Anne Frank's drum kit.

 

[GOS]

I have voted again - still just a six.
If that enrages anyone, too bad
My reasoning:

SURROUND MIX - 2: Above average but not worthy of full marks.
AUDIO FIDELITY - 3: Probably perfect.
CONTENT - 1: No I don't enjoy any of it.
OVERALL PACKAGE - 0: Nothing out of the ordinary, just another DVD-A package.

I thought that mix, fidelity and content were the criteria for voting. I guess I don't recall package being part of it. I could be wrong I guess.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I thought that mix, fidelity and content were the criteria for voting. I guess I don't recall package being part of it. I could be wrong I guess.

Yes package is considered typically AFAIK (i.e. GHS glued book, loose discs etc.), however I don't understand giving a score of 0 for something that is typical or ordinary or average, since if you had a scale of 0-5 say, average would be a 2 1/2 wouldn't it. And even then there's still 50% upside that could be considered on 2 1/2; so lots of headroom left. A 0 gives no value and is sort of a negative, even though a voter would consider it typical just makes no sense to me.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I thought that mix, fidelity and content were the criteria for voting. I guess I don't recall package being part of it. I could be wrong I guess.

When we first came to the forum packaging wasn't included but the polls have "morphed" into several areas it wasn't before...and cost of the item...which has nothing to do with actual music is now tossed in by some members...it really should be very simple...you either like it or you don't...and explain why and express your like or dislike with a numerical value

 

[humprof]

Despite the fact that I've crapped on plenty of threads myself, this would normally be right around the time I drum my fingers on the table and think, "Can we get this thread back on track, please?" BUT: because it's devoted to what is indisputably the best album of Donald Fagen's solo career, I like the fact that it keeps popping up in "New Posts." (Jerking your chain, @IanProudfoot -- although I really do believe that. And I am a little steamed that the original thread disappeared, because I can't remember whatever I wrote back when I first voted.)

I'll just say I wish we could do without numerical polls altogether. The individual ratings aren't meaningless--as long as each reviewer explains what their numbers mean--but the rankings are. Few of us are even using the same rubric to begin with (3+3+3+1? 6 = D and 10 = A? 10-point impressionist scale?), and even those who think they're using the same rubric probably aren't interpreting it the same way. (I used to read college AP and SAT essays for extra money, and I'm not proud of that, but I know you can't have a set of readers who haven't been "normed.")

Of course, there's also the question of whether we should even grade legacy formats and modern hi-res formats using the same scale. Or whether, on a site like this, content should count as much as mix and fidelity. Or whether "packaging" includes things like price and value. Etc.

So that's why I'm with @steelydave on this one. I find the polls useful to the extent that, when I'm interested in a title, I can search the polls for that title and see what people have written about it. I don't care if Ian gave it a 6 or 10 or a 2, as long as he explains why.* But I doubt my 10 means the same as his or anyone else's.

(*Hypocrite that I am, I don't consistently explain my own scores.)

 

[Sal1950]

I'm fairly new to this site and really have never read around on how some of you are putting together your scores.
IMHO it's near impossible to score music that I don't like and I only vote on music I like and have listened to quite a bit.
Also I only use what I feel are the technical merits of a recording to score it, things like smoothness, FR, multich balance, etc. Even if I think a particular release by artist X sucks when I otherwise like his stuff, I try not to let that bias me, you might love what he did on that album musically. I just try to stick to the tech aspects of the production and leave the personal opinion on the musical performance out.

 

[IanProudfoot]

I'm fairly new to this site and really have never read around on how some of you are putting together your scores.
IMHO it's near impossible to score music that I don't like and I only vote on music I like and have listened to quite a bit.
Also I only use what I feel are the technical merits of a recording to score it, things like smoothness, FR, multich balance, etc. Even if I think a particular release by artist X sucks when I otherwise like his stuff, I try not to let that bias me, you might love what he did on that album musically. I just try to stick to the tech aspects of the production and leave the personal opinion on the musical performance out.

I follow the teachings of the great JonUrban regarding the meaning of the poll scores as given in this post: About the HiRez Poll Section - 2018 (PLEASE READ).