You can see who gave that score by clicking on view scores and then the score line of interesr. In this case it's NB100, who in one of his previous posts, said he wasn't going to buy it because he heard it was compressed and sounded poorly. I doubt he's actually heard the Atmos version.
Also, to say it once again, content is 1/3 of your vote according to the poll, so a vote of a 2 would also suggest that the content is horrible.
Thank you. I didn’t know this.
While I agree, it's interesting to also note that two scores of ten also appeared for both albums quite a while before anyone reported they'd actually received their copy (given by someone who up until that time has never commented anywhere on QQ, probably still hasn't).
Gave it 9.
That's a bit drastic. Let's start with the usual tar and feather treatment.
@NB100 stated in the other thread he wasn't even buying it because he heard it was a crap mix
And @awesome has only ever posted in a single thread regarding a failure of his pink floyd bluray
Totally awesome post!! Very coolOh Boy! – The Atmos mix was a magnificent on the first listen!
Listening on a 5.1.2 set-up (Fronts, Center, Surround Rears, Middle Heights)
I image it would be even better on 7.1.4 set up.
Admittedly I am a super fan of Fish & Marillion but I think my past voting record shows that I am probably more critical of the surround mixes than others.
That being said – I think this is by far the best immersive mix in either Fish’s or Marillion’s catalog. I know, I know…. Not the highest bar but this mix is really x 3 good.
Avril M & Andy B take Calum Malcolm’s noticeably re-mixed work and sprinkle some extra magic on it.
However, some purists might have a slight issue with a few of the tweaks.
1: I feel some of the overall “edginess” has been smoothed over. Fish’s voice does not seem as aggressive and the guitars have been somewhat subdued in the mix (aside from ‘Big Wedge’). Or maybe is it that the other instrumentations now have more space? OK it could just be me.
2: ‘Big Wedge’, ‘The Voyeur’, and ‘View From The Hill’ have some very noticeable tweaks to the mix. They don’t necessarily recast the overall feel songs but they are added or un-buried bits that were not prominent in the original mix or even the 1997 remaster.
And now back to the good….
The Mix: Noticeable to me on the first listen:
The album sounds excellent. Definitely an overall improvement to the original and if that is the price to pay for the loss of “edginess” than I am OK with it.
The mix is noticeably discrete with plenty of isolated, overhead activity. Certain vocal bits are assigned to the rears. Drum placement & percussion also varies per song. Nothing is consistently fixed into any one speaker over the course of the songs.
‘Vigil’: The end lyric “The boy stood, and stared at the hill. And the hill stared back” which was but a buried whisper on the original mix is now at the same level as the rest of the vocals. Atmos takes this epic song to a new level.
‘Big Wedge’: The horn section has been cleaned up and sound more natural than the original mix. An overhead, flugelhorn sounding effect has been added in a few spots. This is also one of the few times a guitar part is added instead of subdued. The song’s biggest change happens at the “You'll sell the ground beneath your feet” 2:44 mark when the vocals are set back a little and various effects are added whereas the original is focused more on Fish’s vocal. Fantastic use of the rears and heights in this one.
‘State of Mind’: The percussion sounds great bleeding out into the sides and the acoustic guitar is sitting up in the right height at the beginning. Sounds great.
‘The Company’& ‘A Gentleman's Excuse Me’: Not much new in the re-mix. The orchestrated parts here are beefed up and enveloping in Atmos. Nice!
‘The Voyeur’ – One of my least favorite songs by Fish is now made listenable with probably the most adventurous Atmos cut on the album. The new mix gives a better balance to vocals and instruments. Now it’s a pretty fun sounding track about a creepy socio-voyeur
‘Family Business’: The guitar parts seem a little different but again, the general vibe is the same. Mix is stellar – discreetly done.
‘Cliché’: The Atmos mix is killer but I think the guitar is too subdued now. If you are new to the album or haven’t played it much over the past 35 years, you probably won’t be bothered.
‘View From the Hill’– The guitar solo is no longer at the forefront of the mix but that is OK. The Atmos mix does some nice placements on the drum parts.
It is also appreciated that all applicable B-sides are presented in Atmos.
‘Jack & Jill’ makes good use of the heights with the cascading and rolling keyboards on this B-Side.
‘Internal Exile’: It still sounds like a demo of what would be tweaked out for the next album but has good moments. The pennywhistle, accordion, and violin all swirl in the heights and rears.
‘Whiplash’: I pretty much dismissed this one back in the day but the Atmos mix is making me re-think. It has a bluesy feel and separation of the instruments is pretty cool in the mix & placement.
Package: The box set are the same style as the Jethro Tull & Marillion deluxe series and also Fish’s “13th Star” deluxe. The disc holders are of the cardboard cut-out slit design. It has the typical photo content, lyrics for the main album tracks and lengthy liner notes from Fish (not read yet, but I am sure it will be warts & all).
My one slight gripe is in the layout. Several of the pictures and images are centered onto the page folds. In one picture of just Fish & Micky Simmonds, Mickey’s face is hard to make out as it is lost in the binding.
Misc:
This is a 10 based on the Atmos Mix.
- Each song has its own screen image which is affiliated with either it’s single or the cover art concept. Strange though that ‘Jack & Jill” uses a new photo like image while everything else is based on the art and graphics Mark Wilkinson originally did with the exception of ‘Whiplash’ which seems like a new illustration by him.
- There are two documentaries: One on the just mentioned art by Mark Wilkinson and one on the making of the album with Fish with a small bit of archival video.
- The three videos from the album have been remixed with the new Malcolm 2024 mix.
- There is a standard CD with demos of various album tracks.
- A standard CD of various live tracks.
- Remixed versions of a couple of the official bootleg show releases from the ‘90s on separate CDs and they are also on the blu-ray.
- The set does not come with any scarves, marbles, postcards, miscellaneous tchotchke or fishing lures.
I have not listened to the dedicated 5.1 Mix Option nor a fold-down of the Atmos to 5.1 at this point. I do recognize that if you are limited to those options, you may not have as satisfying of experience as I had in Atmos (similar to the rather weak 5.1 of “13th Star”).
Very nice review.Oh Boy! – The Atmos mix was a magnificent on the first listen!
Listening on a 5.1.2 set-up (Fronts, Center, Surround Rears, Middle Heights)
I image it would be even better on 7.1.4 set up.
Admittedly I am a super fan of Fish & Marillion but I think my past voting record shows that I am probably more critical of the surround mixes than others.
That being said – I think this is by far the best immersive mix in either Fish’s or Marillion’s catalog. I know, I know…. Not the highest bar but this mix is really x 3 good.
Avril M & Andy B take Calum Malcolm’s noticeably re-mixed work and sprinkle some extra magic on it.
However, some purists might have a slight issue with a few of the tweaks.
1: I feel some of the overall “edginess” has been smoothed over. Fish’s voice does not seem as aggressive and the guitars have been somewhat subdued in the mix (aside from ‘Big Wedge’). Or maybe is it that the other instrumentations now have more space? OK it could just be me.
2: ‘Big Wedge’, ‘The Voyeur’, and ‘View From The Hill’ have some very noticeable tweaks to the mix. They don’t necessarily recast the overall feel songs but they are added or un-buried bits that were not prominent in the original mix or even the 1997 remaster.
And now back to the good….
The Mix: Noticeable to me on the first listen:
The album sounds excellent. Definitely an overall improvement to the original and if that is the price to pay for the loss of “edginess” than I am OK with it.
The mix is noticeably discrete with plenty of isolated, overhead activity. Certain vocal bits are assigned to the rears. Drum placement & percussion also varies per song. Nothing is consistently fixed into any one speaker over the course of the songs.
‘Vigil’: The end lyric “The boy stood, and stared at the hill. And the hill stared back” which was but a buried whisper on the original mix is now at the same level as the rest of the vocals. Atmos takes this epic song to a new level.
‘Big Wedge’: The horn section has been cleaned up and sound more natural than the original mix. An overhead, flugelhorn sounding effect has been added in a few spots. This is also one of the few times a guitar part is added instead of subdued. The song’s biggest change happens at the “You'll sell the ground beneath your feet” 2:44 mark when the vocals are set back a little and various effects are added whereas the original is focused more on Fish’s vocal. Fantastic use of the rears and heights in this one.
‘State of Mind’: The percussion sounds great bleeding out into the sides and the acoustic guitar is sitting up in the right height at the beginning. Sounds great.
‘The Company’& ‘A Gentleman's Excuse Me’: Not much new in the re-mix. The orchestrated parts here are beefed up and enveloping in Atmos. Nice!
‘The Voyeur’ – One of my least favorite songs by Fish is now made listenable with probably the most adventurous Atmos cut on the album. The new mix gives a better balance to vocals and instruments. Now it’s a pretty fun sounding track about a creepy socio-voyeur
‘Family Business’: The guitar parts seem a little different but again, the general vibe is the same. Mix is stellar – discreetly done.
‘Cliché’: The Atmos mix is killer but I think the guitar is too subdued now. If you are new to the album or haven’t played it much over the past 35 years, you probably won’t be bothered.
‘View From the Hill’– The guitar solo is no longer at the forefront of the mix but that is OK. The Atmos mix does some nice placements on the drum parts.
It is also appreciated that all applicable B-sides are presented in Atmos.
‘Jack & Jill’ makes good use of the heights with the cascading and rolling keyboards on this B-Side.
‘Internal Exile’: It still sounds like a demo of what would be tweaked out for the next album but has good moments. The pennywhistle, accordion, and violin all swirl in the heights and rears.
‘Whiplash’: I pretty much dismissed this one back in the day but the Atmos mix is making me re-think. It has a bluesy feel and separation of the instruments is pretty cool in the mix & placement.
Package: The box set are the same style as the Jethro Tull & Marillion deluxe series and also Fish’s “13th Star” deluxe. The disc holders are of the cardboard cut-out slit design. It has the typical photo content, lyrics for the main album tracks and lengthy liner notes from Fish (not read yet, but I am sure it will be warts & all).
My one slight gripe is in the layout. Several of the pictures and images are centered onto the page folds. In one picture of just Fish & Micky Simmonds, Mickey’s face is hard to make out as it is lost in the binding.
Misc:
This is a 10 based on the Atmos Mix.
- Each song has its own screen image which is affiliated with either it’s single or the cover art concept. Strange though that ‘Jack & Jill” uses a new photo like image while everything else is based on the art and graphics Mark Wilkinson originally did with the exception of ‘Whiplash’ which seems like a new illustration by him.
- There are two documentaries: One on the just mentioned art by Mark Wilkinson and one on the making of the album with Fish with a small bit of archival video.
- The three videos from the album have been remixed with the new Malcolm 2024 mix.
- There is a standard CD with demos of various album tracks.
- A standard CD of various live tracks.
- Remixed versions of a couple of the official bootleg show releases from the ‘90s on separate CDs and they are also on the blu-ray.
- The set does not come with any scarves, marbles, postcards, miscellaneous tchotchke or fishing lures.
I have not listened to the dedicated 5.1 Mix Option nor a fold-down of the Atmos to 5.1 at this point. I do recognize that if you are limited to those options, you may not have as satisfying of experience as I had in Atmos (similar to the rather weak 5.1 of “13th Star”).
A comment on your setup, I didn't think that you could have surround rears without have side surrounds?
I see your point - caught meVery nice review.
While I have placed them closer to 45° off my sitting position, they are probably not processing as rear surrounds.
