OK Folks. Now that this thing is out there, I can speak a bit about it. My big UPS is down for a battery, so I can't access my "big computer", where I had some screen shots of the wav files and other info, but I'll post some opinions here from my laptop.
First off, I have to admit that I'd never really heard this album before. It's hard to believe, I know. I've seen it a million times in record stores and dorm rooms, friends houses, and in magazines, etc. But for some reason, I just never connected with it. In some ways, it makes it even more fun to hear it now.
Hearing it first in surround, both in the car and at home, makes me feel that it's hard to believe that it could be presented in 2 channels. The 5.1 mix is nothing short of perfect. The center speaker is used for the lead vocals, and something that I really like to hear and is not done very often in 5.1 mixes is that the front left and front right are used with instruments and sounds panned hard into them. Instead of a "floating" guitar somewhere in the fronts, there's a guitar hard left in the front left speaker only. It really makes a WIDE surround sound field, which I like best. If you're going to use 5 channels, put discrete stuff in them when it fits.
The lead off tune kicks ***, filling the listening area with POWER. It makes you want to crank it up and you can't help but feel the beat in your body. Just like old times!
The surround field becomes a real stunner during "Moonchild", a tune which dates itself to the late '60s/early '70s, but works well within the album. The dream sequence is pure surround perfection, all speakers getting their due.
The final anthem blasts from the rears with the rousing chorus as the title tune closes out the album in "makes you smile" fashion. This one is a keeper, a perfect 10, and once I get my big PC back to operation, I'll post more info that I wrote up prior to this post.
At any rate, if you've never heard KC before, this album is a great place to start. It's a tad bit Moody Blue's-ish, but a LOT more "heavy". I think anyone who's into surround will enjoy this album, so go get one and see what you think. Heck, there really isn't much more out there to spend your DVD-A Dollars on, is there?
My vote: 10
