Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

[artwwweb]

I'm bending the rules and giving advance notice of what I'm planning to play!

I recently got Another Stoney Evening by Crosby & Nash. I've not listened to it yet... I plan to listen to it on Sunday. I thought I might as well wait until then and if you have this disc you might want to listen to it then, too, because 10 October is the exact 50th anniversary of the concert.

 

[humprof]

Harmen Fraanje Trio with Fredrik Ljungkvist, First Meeting (Just Listen, 2019). Only available at NativeDSD, whose prices aren't for the faint of heart. I bought it in DSD128, though I think DSD64 is actually just fine--good enough for SACD, anyway. Worth it, anyway--and besides, it's hard to put a price on a good cover of a Carla Blay tune. ("Ida Lupino" is on the setlist.)

Fraanje is well known on the world-class Dutch jazz scene--and in the States--and he turns in a quiet, contemplative set here. (He also has another album in surround, 2003's Sonatala, on Challenge Records.) Engineered by Jared Sacks for a "middle-of-the-band" effect. Absolutely gorgeous recording. If you're on the fence, try it first on one of the streaming services, and maybe activate a surround DSP on your receiver?
https://www.nativedsd.com/product/jl005-first-meeting/

 

[J. PUPSTER]

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE
WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE LIVE IN NOTRE-DAME VR (STUDIO & Live) BD
*just bagged and tagged not long ago; sounds great to me (added a silent LFE as it's only 5 channel for some reason )

 

[humprof]

Henry Franklin, The Skipper (1972) and The Skipper at Home (1974). My favorite of all the artists on the Black Jazz label. (I tend to go for the more straight-ahead guys.) I actually have both of these albums on CD--most, if not all, of the reissues over the years retained the QS encoding--but no Sansui, no SurroundMaster, not even an AVR with Dolby PLII. So I rely on friends to send me SM decodes. As always: well recorded, with fairly immersive, if not truly discrete, surround. (At Home is more convincing than Skipper on that score.)

Looks like the the copyright dispute that was holding up the latest round of Black Jazz reissues on Real Gone Music was resolved at last?

 

[humprof]

Friends of Distinction, Greatest Hits. Listening to an unbelievably clean CD-4 conversion. The mixes--and the material--may be uneven, but the good stuff is really good, on both counts. And I think it outweighs the bad and the meh. (Okay, so I've got a weakness for poppy, Fifth Dimension-style soul. That cover of Bread's "It Don't Matter To Me": I'm swooning!) I didn't realize these guys had so many albums in quad, by the way.
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...of-distinction-greatest-hits-cd-4-q8-qr.6020/

 

[madship]

Done for the day.

"Happy"

View attachment 72268
Belle de Jour

 

[4-earredwonder]

Larry Coryell, Badi Assad & John Abercrombie 3 GUITARS [CHESKY RECORDS/Multi~CH SACD] Superb Performances and a state of the art recording from this highly versatile trio!

 

[humprof]

Fry Street Quartet, Beethoven-Stravinsky-Rorem-Scearce (IsoMike SACD 4.0, 2004). I've got a handful of albums on Ray Kimber's audiophile "IsoMike" label--his eponymous miking system uses baffles for directionality and separation--including three by Fry Street. This two-disc set, pairing "classic" repertoire with more contemporary works, is a great introduction to the group and the label--and it's a bargain. (There's currently a copy for sale at Discogs for under 7 bucks!) Sound is clear & distinct; mix is "Big (Chamber) Ambiance." Not totally discrete, but enough separation to fool you into thinking it might be.

 

[mandrix]

Steve Strauss - Just Like Love

 

[madship]

Home alone. High volume prospects are great.

 

[madship]

Steven Universe

 

[4-earredwonder]

Fry Street Quartet, Beethoven-Stravinsky-Rorem-Scearce (IsoMike SACD 4.0, 2004). I've got a handful of albums on Ray Kimber's audiophile "IsoMike" label--his eponymous miking system uses baffles for directionality and separation--including three by Fry Street. This two-disc set, pairing "classic" repertoire with more contemporary works, is a great introduction to the group and the label--and it's a bargain. (There's currently a copy for sale at Discogs for under 7 bucks!) Sound is clear & distinct; mix is "Big (Chamber) Ambiance." Not totally discrete, but enough separation to fool you into thinking it might be.
View attachment 72271

Speaking of those fabulous ISOMIKE Recordings this one comes likewise recommended:

Sonolumina Ensemble DAHL MARTINU HUSA WORKS FOR CLARINET AND STRINGS [ISOMIKE/Multi~CH SACD] Fabulous IMMERSIVE recording superbly performed!

https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=4711#reviews

 

[4-earredwonder]

Airto FINGERS/AIRTO & DEODATO IN CONCERT [CTI/Dutton Vocalion QUAD SACD two~fer] Fingers remains a favorite: Dynamic, melodic and discrete and Michael Dutton did a wonderful job with the Airto/Deodato concert having accessed the CTI SQ Master Tapes and decoded it for 4.0

 

[humprof]

David Gates, First (Elektra, 1973): listening to a very decent CD4 decode.

If you're thinking wimpy soft rock, think again. (And I say that as a confirmed Bread fan.) The opener and one or two others would fit comfortably on any Adult Contemporary playlist, but then you've got country rock (Allman Brothers-flavored), country rock (Gram Parsons-flavored), a jazzy, horn-heavy tune you might hear on a mid-period Blood Sweat & Tears album, a Christian jeremiad ballad, a lightly funky, organ-drenched boogaloo, and a nine-minute suite that @steelydave describes as a "soft-rock/prog-rock hybrid." Add Larry Carlton and an excellent quad mix, and you've got a really interesting package.

It could use a little more visibility in the polls!
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/gates-david-david-gates-1st-cd-4-q8.7814/

 

[humprof]

Gentle Giant, Gentle Giant. A friend lent me the BDA from the Unburied Treasure box (I'll gladly buy my own copy if and when this is issued in a stand-alone version.) Still warming up to GG: The Power and the Glory is my favorite album, and I don't always like the musical styles or the vocal stylings on this one. Luckily there's a wide variety to choose from!

 

[hwkn]

Elton John-Madman Across The Water........next month's the 50th anniversary of the release of this album btw.

 

[humprof]

I guess it's Canterbury Prog day at my house. Next up: Gong, You (1974). (Again, a friend lent me their DVD-V from the massive 2019 Love from the Planet Gong set. Standalone, please!) Two different quad mixes for Side 1--I forget the story: were they test mixes? previously unreleased, anyway--and a modern upmix for Side 2. I like these guys: their music is trippy and playful. So are the mixes. No clear preference between Westlake and Pye: I haven't compared them carefully, but on first listen, they're both appropriately spacey.

 

[AshBuchanan]

Orbital – The Altogether
DTS 5.1
Electronic
Techno, Electro, Experimental

View attachment 71682View attachment 71683

I forgot that orbital had made this album in 5.1! (....it was 20 years ago though). Bought it from ebay thanks to this post and am spinning it now

 

[humprof]

Gong, Rejoice! I'm Dead! (5.1 DVD-A/V, 2016). This one, I actually bought for myself. (Once it went on sale, that is; I'm still a cheapskate.) Shout-out to Bruce Soord for a great mix and @neil wilkes for the disc authoring. This was my introduction to the band--I got curious after reading about the album and its genesis. Since then, I've been playing catch-up on the more classic stuff. I love the sound--it rocks! it swings! it wigs out!--the songwriting, and the gallows humor (joy?).

 

[4-earredwonder]

Pierre Boulez conducting the New York Philharmonic STRAVINSKY: PETRUSHKA and THE PULCINELLA SUITE [Dutton EPOCH/Multi~CH SACD] Brilliant interpretations of two Stravinsky Classics in absolutely stunning discrete sonics with bass to rival Telarc's infamous kettledrums!