HiRez Poll Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - ELECTRIC LADYLAND [Blu-Ray Audio]

[shakti]

+1. Some of Mitch's later contributions (some live shows from 1970) begin to show some deterioration, but he is mostly terrific on the original Experience albums.

 

[watsy_73]

Wow. Never thought I’d hear someone diss Mitch Mitchell and his drumming. To each his own, but you’re way off the mark here.

Oh, don't get me wrong i thought he was a wonderful drummer no doubt.
It's just some of the timing on some tracks is a bit off such as 'Good Times Roll' which are made worse in surround to me.
Certainly not shittin' on the man.

 

[cornwall198]

After listening over the past week or so, I settled on a 7. I guess I had to face up to the fact that there is quite a lot on Electric Ladyland that I'm just not as fond of as I thought I was. The old LP side 2 (beginning with the lame Little Miss Strange is a pretty meh set to me now (sorry) and while the long track, Voodoo Chile, feels like it has a lot of potential that is never quite achieved. I absolutely adore All Along The Watchtower, Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), and Crosstown Traffic - and it may be that my love for those tracks had me making excuses for the overall album over the years. In terms of pluses, the package is nice, the documentary is cool. And the surround mix on 1983 is perfect, but elsewhere it feels a bit messy in places, and too conservative in others. And when I hear what Mr Wilson did with Tull's 4 track "This Was", I just can't get over my disappointment on how Crosstown and Watchtower turned out on the surround mix. I do like the bass presence on Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - and that track sounds amazing in terms of fidelity to me. Other disappointments include that live album without Watchtower - which Jimi did play live. And the fact that the Early Takes don't include the version of Voodoo Child that plays over the Menu on the Blu-ray. I wanted this to be a 10 - but it just isn't for me.

 

[EricKalet]

Just got this and...WOW

 

[atlantasteve]

Just got this and...WOW

+1

 

[The56Kid]

Received about a couple of hours after my post indicating it was out for delivery. Immediately listened to the Bluray 5.1 (LPCM) of the album.

The surround mix is a bit all over the map with a number of beyond superlative very immersive songs, songs with some fairly conservative mixes, and songs with odd/questionable mix decisions. Definitely didn't like Eddie's decision to place main vocals in all 5 speakers on quite a few songs or where he placed guitar, sax, and keys primarily in the mains with only slight placement in the rears. Why not take advantage of the entire soundscape available? Not sure why, but Eddie went conservative with his mix on many of the more straight ahead rocking tunes, which detracts from the overall mix score.
MIX: 30% x 8 = 2.4

Overall fidelity is quite good and I look forward to additional listens to really glean further insight to these amazing songs in this new state.
FIDELITY: 30% x 9 = 2.7

Overall content is decent. I don't really care about the supposed brickwalled stereo CD or the apparently shoddy Hollywood bowl CD, neither of which I've listened to/viewed yet - the outtakes CD and the Blurary more than make up for them. The outtakes provide wonderful insight to Jimi's thought process as he designed these magnificent songs. The Bluray's inclusion of the full Classic Albums documentary is a much appreciated bonus for me.
CONTENT: 30% x 8 = 2.4

Packaging is fine, but nothing spectacular. I've yet to fully digest it, but it's great seeing Jimi's lyrics collected together in one place. That said, I would have been fine with a more traditional, smaller sized package with the same content.
PACKAGE: 10% x 9 = 0.9

Total Score = 8.4, rounded up to a 9 because it's Jimi, dammit!

 

[BrownRB]

I can't play the 5.1 blu ray on my Oppo 103 or LG blu ray player. Have tried two discs - so I think the disc is poorly authored.

 

[Buddy El Gato]

All I can say is.........Buy it now!

 

[Mj33]

The DTS mix is not as good as the Dolby one surprisingly. 1983 was meant to be heard this way. It takes the tune to a different level.

 

[par4ken]

Always nice to hear a classic album remixed in surround. The mix is not quite as aggressive as the DV Quad re-releases that we've been getting recently but still quite good. All the fancy packaging and extra discs seema like overkill and pushes the cost away up but I realise that they are aiming at collectors and us surround freaks are only a small part of that.

 

[sjcorne]

The mix is not quite as aggressive as the DV Quad re-releases that we've been getting recently but still quite good.

Interestingly enough, the basic layout of this mix is actually quite similar to those old Guess Who quads D-V just issued. Vocals in the center of the listening space, drums audible everywhere but most prominent in the rears, lead guitar flying around the room, etc.

I agree this is a good mix, but I still wish it had a little less of that "everything everywhere" style. Perhaps Kramer was afraid it would start to sound unglued with too much separation?

 

[Scott65]

this has to be, can only be, a .... 10!

 

[skherbeck]

Originally I voted a 9 on this one, but going back and re-listening, free of the hype surrounding this unexpected release, I just don't love this as a surround mix. Yes, it's a classic album. Yes, it sounds better than I've ever heard it. But in terms of a discrete surround mix? It's mostly another "everything everywhere" type of mix with small moments here and there of discrete surround activity and some swirling elements from time to time, but there's nothing here that I would consider surround demo material. And the "everything everywhere" style has been done much better (as with Styx "The Mission"). And some of the biggest hits don't sound that great ("Crosstown Traffic", "All Along The Watchtower"). I'm going down to a 7 (don't kill me).

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Originally I voted a 9 on this one, but going back and re-listening, free of the hype surrounding this unexpected release, I just don't love this as a surround mix. Yes, it's a classic album. Yes, it sounds better than I've ever heard it. But in terms of a discrete surround mix? It's mostly another "everything everywhere" type of mix with small moments here and there of discrete surround activity and some swirling elements from time to time, but there's nothing here that I would consider surround demo material. And the "everything everywhere" style has been done much better (as with Styx "The Mission"). And some of the biggest hits don't sound that great ("Crosstown Traffic", "All Along The Watchtower"). I'm going down to a 7 (don't kill me).

It seems very inconsistent in various ways.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Originally I voted a 9 on this one, but going back and re-listening, free of the hype surrounding this unexpected release, I just don't love this as a surround mix. Yes, it's a classic album. Yes, it sounds better than I've ever heard it. But in terms of a discrete surround mix? It's mostly another "everything everywhere" type of mix with small moments here and there of discrete surround activity and some swirling elements from time to time, but there's nothing here that I would consider surround demo material. And the "everything everywhere" style has been done much better (as with Styx "The Mission"). And some of the biggest hits don't sound that great ("Crosstown Traffic", "All Along The Watchtower"). I'm going down to a 7 (don't kill me).

You've touched on the reason why I've never voted on or reviewed this mix. Cue the villagers with pitchforks...

 

[bktouchstone]

.... I'm going down to a 7 (don't kill me).

It seems like it has been a year since I listened to it. Perhaps that is telling me that my 9 was too high. You, me and everyone has gotten caught up in the joy of having a cherished album released in surround to the point where the euphoria overcomes the judgement just a bit. At least initially. It makes sense that you would want to reassess your score after your inner hoopla has died down.

 

[ssully]

The thing with this album, like other Hendrix studio albums he made when he was alive, there's so much phase trickery going on in just the stereo mix, that it 'decodes' to surround amazingly with just Dolby PLIIx. So this discrete mix has to compete with that....and it doesn't *always* win on that count.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Originally I voted a 9 on this one, but going back and re-listening, free of the hype surrounding this unexpected release, I just don't love this as a surround mix. Yes, it's a classic album. Yes, it sounds better than I've ever heard it. But in terms of a discrete surround mix? It's mostly another "everything everywhere" type of mix with small moments here and there of discrete surround activity and some swirling elements from time to time, but there's nothing here that I would consider surround demo material. And the "everything everywhere" style has been done much better (as with Styx "The Mission"). And some of the biggest hits don't sound that great ("Crosstown Traffic", "All Along The Watchtower"). I'm going down to a 7 (don't kill me).

I agree with this whole heartedly. If the hits were as good as the high points of this release, it would be a different story.

 

[himey]

I agree with this whole heartedly. If the hits were as good as the high points of this release, it would be a different story.

Absolutely.

 

[Beefalo]

Absolutely.

There is an outstanding mix of one of my favorite songs on this. If you have this release please check it out.
1983....(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)