HiRez Poll Gentle Giant - OCTOPUS [BluRay Audio]

[ubertrout]

I voted an 8. The SW mixed tracks are fantastic. The first two tracks are my favorites on the album and while they don't sound bad, exactly, they just don't do much for me more than they did in stereo in the upmix.

The octopus video is pretty annoying, to be honest. It was all done by Derek Shulman's daughter Yael...kind of a wrinkle of these band-sponsored released. It makes getting the music out much easier, but it also means they can use whatever half-baked idea they come up with, especially if it involves the daughter of the lead singer. Worth it on the balance (and the footage is well done I guess, but it wasn't needed through the whole album).

(by the way, I got it for $10.99 from Amazon - impossible to go wrong at that price)

 

[Werno]

Has anybody figured out a way to play the 5.1 without the TV on?
Fucked if I can.

Are you stymied by HDMI handshaking requiring the TV to be on or is there some other issue? Unless you have an analog 5.1 connection between player and amp you might be SOL.

I'm not a fan of the endless squirming visuals either, but it had to be easier and cheaper to produce than the CGI visuals on "Power and the Glory". Find myself wishing they'd put the octopus footage through some abstractifying filter or just slowmoed it waaay down to be less distracting, especially if there's tech demanding that the screen stay on.

This has been a favorite of mine since its release so it's amazing to have it in hi-res surround, but the upmixes, above average as they are, and the intrusive inescapable squirming screens made me knock a point or two off the 10 it'd otherwise be for me.

 

[5.1 4 Life]

Gentle Giant's deluxe edition of Octopus is fantastic. I love SW's 5.1 mix of the album (and although 3 of the songs had to be fed through Penteo due to missing multi-tracks, even these sound good on this disc). I also like the 'pop up' comments from band members which show up on the screen throughout the album. And the extras (instrumental mixes of 5 of the songs, the original mix and the 'Excerpts From Octopus' live track) make this set shine.

 

[Deek57]

A nine for me, the deduction for the unavoidable lesser quality of tracks 1, 2 and 5. If the Octopus(sy) screen get's a little irritating I can just press the pure audio on my players remote..

 

[MCDave]

A 10 for my 2nd GG album. I'd like to deduct a point for the squirming octopus, but the music and mix is just too good. I knew before I started listening that 3 tracks were upmixes, but from the very first note I completely forgot about that until after the end of the album. I was so engrossed in the music that I forgot these tracks were upmixed! I think that deserves a 10.

I just ordered The Power and The Glory. I can't believe I never knew about this band until recently! Best new discovery I've had in many years. If SW doesn't remix any more of the other albums, I'll be buying the CDs. This is GREAT prog!

 

[GOS]

A 10 for my 2nd GG album. I'd like to deduct a point for the squirming octopus, but the music and mix is just too good. I knew before I started listening that 3 tracks were upmixes, but from the very first note I completely forgot about that until after the end of the album. I was so engrossed in the music that I forgot these tracks were upmixed! I think that deserves a 10.

I just ordered The Power and The Glory. I can't believe I never knew about this band until recently! Best new discovery I've had in many years. If SW doesn't remix any more of the other albums, I'll be buying the CDs. This is GREAT prog!

IMO, they are all good..but I think you will drop your teeth when you hear Glory. It almost sounds TOO good. @:

 

[OdysseyMusik]

Octopus is a fantastic and very important album!!!!
The Gentle Giant made GREAT music working out in surround so good! If not all original instrument and vocal tracks exist but some do, I found it extreme important the way this album came out; SW 5.1 mixes of numbers with the original tracks and the rest as upmixes. That is respect for the good old albums!!!!
I was close to a 10 because of that, but ended with a 9 because for me the music on this album not reaches the heights of their other albums. This is the album I listen to the least.... mayby also because I only can play it as dics and can't rip it to mc flac due to copyprotecting. I listen mostly to mc flac

I wish I could give Gentle Giant my ReUpmixes (Remixed Upmixes) of the 3 first albums not surroundmixed by SW. I made it for my own sake because I love their music and the ReUpmixes sounds SO NICE in my ears!

 

[ssully]

Octopus is a fantastic and very important album!!!!
The Gentle Giant made GREAT music working out in surround so good! If not all original instrument and vocal tracks exist but some do, I found it extreme important the way this album came out; SW 5.1 mixes of numbers with the original tracks and the rest as upmixes. That is respect for the good old albums!!!!

Agreed. It's what should have been done for the first ELP album, instead of the mishmash that got released.

I was close to a 10 because of that, but ended with a 9 because for me the music on this album not reaches the heights of their other albums. This is the album I listen to the least.... mayby also because I only can play it as dics and can't rip it to mc flac due to copyprotecting. I listen mostly to mc flac

Like every other multichannel disc I've bought to date, I ripped Octopus for personal use...you just need the right tools.

It and Free Hand are my favorite GG albums.

 

[himey]

Octopus is a fantastic and very important album!!!!
The Gentle Giant made GREAT music working out in surround so good! If not all original instrument and vocal tracks exist but some do, I found it extreme important the way this album came out; SW 5.1 mixes of numbers with the original tracks and the rest as upmixes. That is respect for the good old albums!!!!
I was close to a 10 because of that, but ended with a 9 because for me the music on this album not reaches the heights of their other albums. This is the album I listen to the least.... mayby also because I only can play it as dics and can't rip it to mc flac due to copyprotecting. I listen mostly to mc flac

I wish I could give Gentle Giant my ReUpmixes (Remixed Upmixes) of the 3 first albums not surroundmixed by SW. I made it for my own sake because I love their music and the ReUpmixes sounds SO NICE in my ears!

MakeMKV and Audiomuxer will rip it fine for free.

 

[Archetype]

Hi QQ member. I recently got into surround mixes and have looked at getting Octopus. I'm in Canada and on Amazon.ca I can only get an import version with the warning:

Playback Region B/2 :This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Where do you recommend I get a North American Blu Ray version?

Thanks,

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Hi QQ member. I recently got into surround mixes and have looked at getting Octopus. I'm in Canada and on Amazon.ca I can only get an import version with the warning:

Playback Region B/2 :This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Where do you recommend I get a North American Blu Ray version?

Thanks,

I believe it's been documented that this standard Amazon disclaimer has no basis in fact, and blu-ray audio discs don't have playback region restrictions.
This question pops up from time to time about Amazon listings.
Buy with confidence, return as defective if it won't play for you?

 

[edisonbaggins]

I believe it's been documented that this standard Amazon disclaimer has no basis in fact, and blu-ray audio discs don't have playback region restrictions.
This question pops up from time to time about Amazon listings.
Buy with confidence, return as defective if it won't play for you?

Yeah, just saw the same warning for Kenny Wayne Shepard's The Traveler. Nothing on the packaging indicates Region B at all.

 

[artwwweb]

I'm not complaining (much...) but am I right in thinking that the live track in surround is disappointing? I'm hearing mainly stereo with ambience. There's a bit of audience and maybe one keyboard occasionally in the rear right, but it sounds less surround-y than the upmixes. I'm just checking that I'm not missing something. I'd assumed that being a later recording, albeit live, they had a 16 or 24 track recording to play with, judging by the comments praising the live mix earlier in this thread.

I'm happy enough with the main album, so I appreciate this bonus, but it's not as much of a bonus as I was expecting.

 

[Simplepast Presentperfect]

I'm not complaining (much...) but am I right in thinking that the live track in surround is disappointing? I'm hearing mainly stereo with ambience. There's a bit of audience and maybe one keyboard occasionally in the rear right, but it sounds less surround-y than the upmixes. I'm just checking that I'm not missing something. I'd assumed that being a later recording, albeit live, they had a 16 or 24 track recording to play with, judging by the comments praising the live mix earlier in this thread.

I'm happy enough with the main album, so I appreciate this bonus, but it's not as much of a bonus as I was expecting.

I haven't heard Octopus for a while, but I was suprised when I found that the LFE channel in the live tracks has a clean full range mix of drums + bass as well. So SW did have a multitrack recording with good instrument separation as a souce at his disposition.

 

[artwwweb]

I haven't heard Octopus for a while, but I was suprised when I found that the LFE channel in the live tracks has a clean full range mix of drums + bass as well. So SW did have a multitrack recording with good instrument separation as a souce at his disposition.

Interesting. I've just looked at the centre channel - what's going there? There is some discrete lead vocal but there are lots of times when it is just a quiet version of the whole mix. I could understand that if it was the live vocal mike picking everything up, but it's not continuous - a lot of times the centre track is completely silent.

 

[Mcallister]

I’d never heard anything from these guys I knew of. Decided to get Octopus and I gotta say I totally dig it. Gonna have to try and get the others and look forward to SW’s Atmos mixes coming!

 

[efb18]

I bought this one and "Power and the Glory" both blind a while ago. I love them both and it's hard to pick my favorite of the two. Both are wonderful music, and both sound fantastic in 5.1. I subsequently bought "Three Piece Suite," and while good, I'm less fond of that one.

I'm kind of surprised ppl don't enjoy the octopus footage. I thought it was a nice touch. Oh well.

 

[WBP]

This is one of my fav GG albums, love the mix and presentation, 9 from me