for me they didn't feel like knock you over the head Surround stunners (and some tracks seemed a bit bright sounding and maybe Bass-shy idk?..) but last night i played them for my partner, who is a mahoosive Madonna fan, no fanatic (!) and he was going "ooh" and "aah" at vocals and instruments popping up behind or around him and enthusiastically saying "play this one next!" or "play that one again!" which was rather a joy to behold actually!
i have to say, for me these are
great times in our hobby. i remember the old days where we would all bemoan "where's those cancelled Madonna 5.1's?", "will we ever hear Michael Jackson's Thriller in Surround!?", "some Lady Gaga in Surround would be a hoot!" and now we have all that and much much more in Atmos.
ok, so maybe not everyone was clamouring for these artists in Surround but a lot of people were and now that we've got them, are they the most shining examples of Surround Music? for me, no but (but but!) it's so wonderful they even got mixed
and released at all given how unlikely they were in leaner times!!