HiRez Poll John, Elton - CAPTAIN FANTASTIC.... [SACD]

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Hi Dennis

shelved I guess because they got caught up in the Sony SACD withdrawal bail out politics DualDisc balls up kershizzle that also saw huge albums from acts like The Killers & Maroon 5 similarly cancelled as 5.1 SACD releases.. disastrous times for surround when you look back

maybe one day.. but it's been a long day coming! who'll want Reg Strikes the Back speakers 10/20 years from now!? NO-ONE! either Universal get these surround mixes out now or it's all over! (imho)

Hello m8

Thanks for the explanation in your last two posts.

Hmm, I totally forgot "Here & There". I bought the LP album when it came out and then I bought both the CD and then the extended CD set...
I would LOVE to have that in 5.1. EJ in his prime, even though his voice was hoarse at the NYC MSG show..

I agree strongly with your last point about time ticking away. These record companies think they have everlasting treasure in regards to the slow rate they release new product. That is not the case. People do move on and new generations spawn with their own taste in music.
My precious YES & Elton John are getting older each day, there is always lots of new "product" entering the market each week. Record companies would actually make MORE $$$ if they released more titles instead of sitting on them like they do. Just my $.02

Cheers!

 

[Quad Linda]

Perhaps we should create polls for those four unreleased EJ's. That way, the Lupin King can still vote, even though he's never heard them in 5.1. @:

...Yes, it is tragic that the 4 EJ recordings you listed are in limbo. Has anyone learned exactly why they are shelved?

I do think they will get released one day though...

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Perhaps we should create polls for those four unreleased EJ's. That way, the Lupin King can still vote, even though he's never heard them in 5.1. @:

Ok, very clever Lassie. But let's go back to the 7th grade when they taught us basic algebra, shall we?

If A = B, and B = C, THEN..... A = C! :banana:

In case I need to hold your hand through this one... Ahem...All the Greg Penny 5.1 remixes have indeed been beyond fabulous AND he has done the same mixing magic to the unreleased EJ records, therefore, the unreleased 5.1 mixes would be just as good as the released ones, ipsofact-o, they are all 10's...

So... we'd be within the logical realm to vote for them as 10's since we are breaking no new ground here! Now... if Jon can put down his copy of the recent "New Yorker" Magazine and whip up a few polls for the unreleased EJ mixes, we could get started on your fine & excellent idea!

Ok, and now for something completly different(and actually quite relevant). Go here: (I think the first part is Italian???)

http://www.eltonjohnitaly.com/gregpenny.html



Some really great information here about Greg and the 5.1 mixes and how they were done. I was surprised to lean that GYBR was done on only a 16 track.

 

[Quad Linda]

Please, Please Hold My Hand

In case I need to hold your hand through this one... Ahem...

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Please, Please Hold My Hand

We need to get permission from my wife, first.

P.S. Where did the photo in your post go? All I get is a little red X...

 

[Quad Linda]

Don't know. It bombed three times.
Here it is again:

My boyfriend holds that, and a lot more...

We need to get permission from my wife, first.

P.S. Where did the photo in your post go? All I get is a little red X...

 

[Snood]

So uh yeah.............fantastic is Fantastic - Snood gave it a 10

Drum mix amazing and the surround speakers got a real workout. The bonus tracks were great too. Was never a fan of the Lucy track until now...........that was GREEEEEEAAAAAT.

I had never heard this album before..............don't laugh. Was very impressed by the guitars and drums. Very Very nice.

Fredblue dammit, he made me go out and buy all the EJ surrounds. Can you say back log of listening to do?? :51banana:

 

[blue.monk]

I was delighted to find this on YouTube. Yep, I remember seeing it back in the day!


[video=youtube;RCUv8qoXIiU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCUv8qoXIiU[/video]

 

[Blrac]

I have been listening to this again...a lot! Philadelphia Freedom is one of the best surround songs I have ever heard. I absolutely love this song. I play air guitar to the riffs that come through the rear speakers because that is my favorite part of the song. I stop the world to strum those chords. Oh, and the rest of the album is pretty damn good, too. Just reaffirming my 10 vote. With the EJ SACD collection, we may actually have to expand the poll to allow 11.

 

[wavelength]

I have been listening to this again...a lot! Philadelphia Freedom is one of the best surround songs I have ever heard. I absolutely love this song. I play air guitar to the riffs that come through the rear speakers because that is my favorite part of the song. I stop the world to strum those chords. Oh, and the rest of the album is pretty damn good, too. Just reaffirming my 10 vote. With the EJ SACD collection, we may actually have to expand the poll to allow 11.

That is awesome. Love it!

 

[fredblue]

So uh yeah.............fantastic is Fantastic - Snood gave it a 10

Drum mix amazing and the surround speakers got a real workout. The bonus tracks were great too. Was never a fan of the Lucy track until now...........that was GREEEEEEAAAAAT.

I had never heard this album before..............don't laugh. Was very impressed by the guitars and drums. Very Very nice.

Fredblue dammit, he made me go out and buy all the EJ surrounds. Can you say back log of listening to do?? :51banana:

Haha.. Glad Snood's diggin' on those Elton potatoes!

as I said to an SHF-er after he 'darned me' for getting him to get the EJ SACDs, "darn me now, love me later!"

 

[fredblue]

I was delighted to find this on YouTube. Yep, I remember seeing it back in the day!


[video=youtube;RCUv8qoXIiU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCUv8qoXIiU[/video]

I was wondering whatever happened to Dennis Taylor.. and here they went and made a cartoon of him!

 

[fredblue]

From a recent EJ discussion thread over @SHF.tv..

soundQman
Idealist of the Musical Apocalypse
"I wonder if a down-mix of the 5.1 programs on Elton's SACDs would surpass the sound quality of the stereo layer. I have a Depeche Mode SACD of Playing the Angel where that is definitely true (no compression)."

fredblue
Well-Known Member
"Very good point, I would say its worth a shot


Captain Fantastic SACD 5.1 layer DR:
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/36986


11, 10, 9, 13, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12, 9, 10, 11, 8


Captain Fantastic SACD 2.0 layer DR:
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/9430


9, 10, 9, 11, 7, 7, 8, 12, 9, 7, 8, 8, 9"

fredblue
Well-Known Member
"Probably worth mentioning the DR of the last track (Philadelphia Freedom) which goes against the grain of the DR average for pretty much everything else on the 5.1 SACD.. Greg Penny made special mention of this song in an interview in which he said the original multitracks were laid down at incredibly high volume, significantly louder than anything else in the EJ archives he had to work with.. and he got around it using various forms of compression. Still, I guess the majority of other 11's, 12's & 13's are pretty respectable by "modern standards" (the 5.1 remix being a product of approx 10 years ago)."

 

[fredblue]

That's mainly what I do when I'm not on here folks.. rabbit on at every opportunity about Elton.. which invariably ends up turning into convo's about the 5.1 Elton's! I'm grinding everyone down..

"One Day At A Time is all we do..
One Day At A Time is good for you..
You.. you.. you..
Woooo-ooooh..!!"

:51banana:

 

[fredblue]

That is awesome. Love it!

Philadelphia Five-One,
I love it, yeah
In One Point Five,
From the speakers sounds come from behind,
Front channel right,
Surround right,
Oh yeah,
Channels front, back, left & right,
Surround done right...

Philadelphia Five-One,
I love, love, love it,
Oh, Yes I do!"

:spot

 

[privateuniverse]

Hadn't played this one in a while so decided to pull it out for a listen tonight. A simply spectacular disc. As with most folks here I'm pretty particular about what I expect in a surround mix. I am even more so when it's an album that's an all-time favorite as this one is. Released when I was 9 years old and my musical tastes were just starting to take shape, Elton was my favorite musician. As much as I had loved everything else he had released up to this point, this album really captured my imagination more than any of its predecessors. To this day it remains my favorite EJ album. The first concert I ever saw was Elton just three months after this album was released. 30 years later I caught Elton do a show at Madison Square Garden where he played 80% of this album and it was pure bliss.

One of the main things that strikes me about this surround mix is that it is exactly how I would have mixed it if the task had fallen to me (not that I know the first thing about surround mixing!) Whenever a favorite album of mine is reissued in surround and I give it a first listen, my mind is always anticipating where in the surround field different musical elements will be. Even with the best 5.1 mixes, things don't always come where I expect them. Not the case here. Every time a passage would come up, things would fall squarely where I would want/expect them to. The mix makes wonderful use of not just the rear speakers, but the entire spectrum. Listening with my eyes closed, Davey's solo in "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" sounds like it's coming from far further left than where my front left speaker is. This mix really fills up the space. Hearing those amazing Dee/Davey/Nigel harmonies that I've loved all my life coming from behind me is pure heaven. As for the quality issues that others have been talking about, the only song that sounded off to me was "Tell Me When the Whistle Blows" which sounded a bit harsh. "We All Fall in Love Sometimes/Curtains" (which is my favorite track on the album) does have some things more pronounced in the rear speakers (synth strings, distorted guitar) than they were on the original stereo mix. This was a bit jarring to me at first as that song is such sacred ground for me, but once I got used to it being there I enjoyed it. Despite those couple of minor quibbles, listening to this again reminded me of why I love 5.1 so much. It's an all-time favorite given new life with a fabulous mix. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to issue it in an LP sized package with all the original poster/booklets included. This gets an easy 10 from me.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I was delighted to find this on YouTube. Yep, I remember seeing it back in the day!


[video=youtube;RCUv8qoXIiU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCUv8qoXIiU[/video]

This looks like Ralph Bakshi's animation work!!!!

 

[sbrom]

I didn't own this album until my recent purchase of all EJ' s surround SACD's.

I should have known. The songs are thought provoking and lyrical. The mix is nicely discrete, the mastering/sound quality is crystaline. Best of all is the clarity of Elton's voice, interestingly isolated within the mix, yet fitting perfectly within the rest of the musical puzzle.

10!

 

[ssully]

Really?

I invite you to A-B it with _either_ stereo mix, 1975 or 1985.

Enjoyed most of CF, but Philadelphia Freedom is a mess, detailed in my previous post.

No one is happier than I to see a great track like this is released in 5.1, but a bad mix is arguably worse than none since there likely won't be another (at least for the next 3 decades).

Low bass is absurdly loud on 'Philadelphia Freedom', much louder than on the album tracks. Greg Penny or no, I think they messed up here, am going to make a version where I remove the dedicated subwoofer channel and see if that improves matters. I otherwise like the mix on the track.

(The title track sounds superb on my system).

 

[hwkn]

I hadn't heard this album in 5.1 in like 10 or so years and had forgotten how good it is.......it is quite good.[listening to Lucy In The Sky W/Diamonds now]