HiRez Poll Jethro Tull - AQUALUNG [Blu-Ray Audio]

[LizardKing]

Great box, Great content...hey I might even give the vinyl a spin....

Steven Wilson has done an awesome job on the mix..

P.S. Anyone else getting the Quad LPCM displaying as 5.1 rather than 4.1? My DTS HD quad is displaying correctly as 4.1...but to the LPCM.

 

[Desmo888]

Neil, What are your thoughts on the disk, mix, and mastering?

 

[DKA]

At some point, there's just not much else to say about an SW mix. He knows how to utilize the five channels in a way no one else can, only placing any sort of vocal in the rears when there's a purpose to it, and using that center channel to bring out the sounds he wants you to hear most, while having the rest of the mix organically happen around you. Like the best of the KC mixes, there is a warmth to the mix that is almost belies the great separation you're hearing. The admittedly-good quad mix almost sounds like a historical artifact in comparison. 10.

 

[mandrix]

Finally got a listen. The 5.1 mix and Aqualung combined is just pure surround goodness.
I'm ready for Benefit in 5.1 and that awesome flute.

 

[dmt]

This reminds me of Wierd Al Yankovic's impression of Jethro Tull.....

"Snot Running Down His NOSE!"

 

[wavelength]

This reminds me of Wierd Al Yankovic's impression of Jethro Tull.....

"Snot Running Down His NOSE!"

Excuse me if I'm missing something obvious but I don't get what you mean. You'll have to explain it to me.

 

[Brett]

Quite disappointed in it. I gave it a 7. Sonically it's very disappointing. Surround is good and the music is, what it has been for 40 years, overbearing.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Quite disappointed in it. I gave it a 7. Sonically it's very disappointing. Surround is good and the music is, what it has been for 40 years, overbearing.

Wait....."April Fool's" day is celebrated here in Spain on the 28th of December..DId you post this 6 days too early?

 

[wavelength]

Quite disappointed in it. I gave it a 7. Sonically it's very disappointing. Surround is good and the music is, what it has been for 40 years, overbearing.

If the surround is good which part of the sound is disappointing?

 

[DKA]

If the surround is good which part of the sound is disappointing?

Sounds like the guy voted within the "rules," but I do have a bone to pick with judging a mix on whether you like the actual music being mixed. It adds nothing to the conversation if you don't like "Aqualung" or whatnot, nor does it inform someone who is considering buying the disc.

I go farther when I "grade" mixes. I judge only by what I'm hearing. What the packaging looks like, what package the mix was included in, etc. doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is what the person doing the mixing did with the music he/she was given.

 

[wavelength]

Sounds like the guy voted within the "rules," but I do have a bone to pick with judging a mix on whether you like the actual music being mixed. It adds nothing to the conversation if you don't like "Aqualung" or whatnot, nor does it inform someone who is considering buying the disc.

I go farther when I "grade" mixes. I judge only by what I'm hearing. What the packaging looks like, what package the mix was included in, etc. doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is what the person doing the mixing did with the music he/she was given.

Those are the rules I'd like to see too. Well stated.

 

[Brett]

If the surround is good which part of the sound is disappointing?

There are three parts to rate and as Jon once posted he rates from 0-3 and then a bonus point to get 10. The three parts are music, sonics and soundstage. Surround comes under soundstage. I don't like the sonics at all particularly when compared to other blu- rays I have: Tom Petty, DSOTM, Jeff Beck concerts and others. Needless to say "to each there own" and this isn't something I will demo or play much.

 

[DKA]

There are three parts to rate and as Jon once posted he rates from 1-3 and then a bonus point to get 10. The three parts are music, sonics and soundstage. Surround comes under soundstage. I don't like the sonics at all particularly when compared to other blu- rays I have: Tom Petty, DSOTM, Jeff Beck concerts and others. Needless to say "to each there own" and this isn't something I will demo or play much.

So where would you rate for actual separation in the mix?

 

[Brett]

So where would you rate for actual separation in the mix?

The mix itself a 3, music 2, sonic 1 ( I have heard worse sonically), bonus point 1 (because it became available and has lots of added features).

 

[davie]

I'm not liking the SW mixes. Cross-Eyed Mary rocks but My God and the rest of side 2 are WAY too bright for my ears. Made much of it unlistenable. I just don't get it. The KC mixes aren't like this. Grace for drowning doesn't sound like this. And the dynamics are just so much different than the original album.

I was liking the original flat transfer until My God hit the right speaker with LOUD bursts of static noise. They must have used an electronically damaged tape! Sad, if that's the best one they have. One would think someone would have listened to what they were putting on the Blu-Ray.

The quad mix is odd with distant vocals and close-in guitar riffs.

 

[elmer]

I think that this is the best that Aqualung has sounded in any format. Having owned this title for well, 40 years, it had become relegated to the "give it a listen for old time sakes - once every few years pile." This mix and presentation (much props to SW) breathes new life into it - I've had a boot of the quad mix for several years and found it unlistenable - and it still is - but the new 5.1 is aces. A "10"

 

[ssully]

Guess who's claiming that SW's Aqualung 5.1 remix sounds the same as running the 2-channel mix through Dolby Surround?

http://groups.google.com/group/surroundsound/browse_thread/thread/ed0ff32329a21788

yeah...that guy.

 

[DKA]

That guy needs to have his ears, and brain, checked. There is no way that a hardware surround mode could come close to replicating what Wilson is able to isolate in the center channel of mixes, plus the type of perfect separation in his rears. That's just an out and out lie.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Guess who's claiming that SW's Aqualung 5.1 remix sounds the same as running the 2-channel mix through Dolby Surround?

http://groups.google.com/group/surroundsound/browse_thread/thread/ed0ff32329a21788

yeah...that guy.

There's always a Scrooge!!!

 

[wavelength]

He must have got the Alexander Jero copy.