HiRez Poll Miles, Buddy - BOOGER BEAR & CARLOS SANTANA AND BUDDY MILES: LIVE! [SACD]

[Beefalo]

I've only listened to the Santana & Buddy Miles so far. This is my second favorite release for 2019.
Dynamic and very discrete with plenty of air & energy. A very "live" feel to it.
Jam sessions with so many musicians involved usually end up being sloppy. I'm amazed how well this turned out.
Various sources show personnel ranging between 8 and 13 musicians on this recording. Seems almost impossible that they were able to get such discrete separation of instruments on a purely live recording with so many musicians involved.
I think they probably kept the usable live content and then fleshed out the recording in the studio with appropriate overdubs.
The full live concert is on YouTube. It is from the Sunshine festival. About 90 minutes into the performance you can hear the beginning of what became the official recording.
There are some who claim the entire Santana/Miles was recorded in the studio. I think they are wrong.
There are Hawaiian newspaper clippings that describe unbearably hot weather at this event. Also consider that this was more likely the "Orange Sunshine" festival. This could be why the notorious phony canned audience was dubbed in. The real audience was probably in a heat & drug induced torpor.
The length of the original performance was 180 minutes. It included a nice version of Little Wing and a short Layla.
Just a fantastic delight for me and a dream come true. Keep these Santana coming. Caravanserai ???

I have experimented and discovered the best playback setting:

 

[Beefalo]

I have experimented and discovered the best playback setting:

 

[skherbeck]

The live album is the standout here for me... I don't usually like live albums (I tend to prefer the fidelity of the studio versions), but the quad mix is so good on this one, and the performance just explodes out of your speakers, and there really are no similar studio counterparts to what you hear... you gotta love it... it's appropriate that this was recorded in a volcano 'cause it smokes! The fidelity is good for a live album and better than the Q8 conversions I've heard. Booger Bear has a discrete quad mix, but I don't really find the fidelity very pleasing, and as others have said, the bass is really weak... and I guess I just don't like the songs all that much (my wife begged me to turn it off the other night!). I'll give this an 8 overall.

 

[Beefalo]

The live album is the standout here for me... I don't usually like live albums (I tend to prefer the fidelity of the studio versions), but the quad mix is so good on this one, and the performance just explodes out of your speakers, and there really are no similar studio counterparts to what you hear... you gotta love it... it's appropriate that this was recorded in a volcano 'cause it smokes! The fidelity is good for a live album and better than the Q8 conversions I've heard. Booger Bear has a discrete quad mix, but I don't really find the fidelity very pleasing, and as others have said, the bass is really weak... and I guess I just don't like the songs all that much (my wife begged me to turn it off the other night!). I'll give this an 8 overall.

The bass on the Santana popped the circuit breaker on one of my front subwoofers.
With Booger Bear I messed around with all the bass settings. Still couldn't get a decent response on most of the songs.

 

[key_wiz]

I’ve never heard either album before.

the live disc is the better one. Mostly just a jam, but a good one. And nice fun active mix. Especially for a live album. Yes, the drum kit panning is unconventional, but it doesn’t bother me. In fact, I kinda like it. The fake crowd noise is annoying at times. Good album to play loud. An “8”.

The Buddy Miles disc is OK. The first and last instrumental tunes are the best. The rest are “meh”. The quad mix is very good. The fidelity is crap though and not enjoyable to listen to as a result. A “6”.

so a “7” for the set.

 

[Don C]

I'm listening to Booger Bear right now, and this is awful. I'll certainly never listen to this again. I'm still hoping that the live album is listenable.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I'm listening to Booger Bear right now, and this is awful. I'll certainly never listen to this again. I'm still hoping that the live album is listenable.

Say BOOGER BEAR 3Xs and it will disappear.

I liked it .... a lot.

 

[Simon A]

I'm listening to Booger Bear right now, and this is awful. I'll certainly never listen to this again. I'm still hoping that the live album is listenable.

Please don't forget to actually vote.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

My copy of Boogie Bear will be here shortly. I had bought the Q8 at Sears back when, because it was on sale cheap. At the time, I wasn’t too familiar with the artist. But I liked the Quad mix. And the music grew on me by just letting the Q8 repeat, over and over again. That’s one way we used to listen to music back then. The Santana is a classic in any format. Anyway, I’m going to have some fun this weekend.

 

[ar surround]

Please don't forget to actually vote.

I'm flip flopping between 8 and 9 on Booger Bear. Needs another listen before voting. Don't worry Simon, we old folks ALWAYS vote. Good stuff!

 

[Simon A]

I'm flip flopping between 8 and 9 on Booger Bear. Needs another listen before voting. Don't worry Simon, we old folks ALWAYS vote. Good stuff!

I was politely asking Don C to vote as I think it's important that the polls show how members feel even if they did not enjoy their purchase.

 

[ar surround]

I was politely asking Don C to vote as I think it's important that the polls show how members feel even if they did not enjoy their purchase.

Whether I liked the music or not, I may have bought this one just because of the album cover. So that settles it...at least an 8 for the music plus another point for the giant guitar playing bear on the cover.

(Correction: it’s a ukulele.)

 

[Beefalo]

Whether I liked the music or not, I may have bought this one just because of the album cover. So that settles it...at least an 8 for the music plus another point for the giant guitar playing bear on the cover.

(Correction: it’s a ukulele.)

It would have been cool having that Silly looking Bear on a lunch pail back in the day !

 

[Don C]

I didn't vote on E Power Biggs, because it turned out that I hate organ music. No need for me to crap up that poll with an opinion that's not relevant to fans of that music. Something similar here. Someone could have warned me that this disc has a version of You are everything on it, that made me want to destroy my own system. Or maybe warned me about all of the violins on the Don Sebesky disk. Or the vocals on the Return to forever disk. But it's not Vocalion's fault that I hate this stuff. I'll hold my fire on the poll accordingly.

 

[marpow]

I didn't vote on E Power Biggs, because it turned out that I hate organ music. No need for me to crap up that poll with an opinion that's not relevant to fans of that music. Something similar here. Someone could have warned me that this disc has a version of You are everything on it, that made me want to destroy my own system. Or maybe warned me about all of the violins on the Don Sebesky disk. Or the vocals on the Return to forever disk. But it's not Vocalion's fault that I hate this stuff. I'll hold my fire on the poll accordingly.

What the heck kind of post is this?

 

[Beefalo]

What the heck kind of post is this?

Buyer's remorse

 

[GOS]

I didn't vote on E Power Biggs, because it turned out that I hate organ music. No need for me to crap up that poll with an opinion that's not relevant to fans of that music. Something similar here. Someone could have warned me that this disc has a version of You are everything on it, that made me want to destroy my own system. Or maybe warned me about all of the violins on the Don Sebesky disk. Or the vocals on the Return to forever disk. But it's not Vocalion's fault that I hate this stuff. I'll hold my fire on the poll accordingly.

I didn't vote on E Power Biggs, because it turned out that I hate organ music. No need for me to crap up that poll with an opinion that's not relevant to fans of that music. Something similar here. Someone could have warned me that this disc has a version of You are everything on it, that made me want to destroy my own system. Or maybe warned me about all of the violins on the Don Sebesky disk. Or the vocals on the Return to forever disk. But it's not Vocalion's fault that I hate this stuff. I'll hold my fire on the poll accordingly.

YOu could have easily listened to any of these on youtube ahead of buying. That's what I do.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Wow, Don. Really...why don't you just quit buying these Dutton titles? Sounds like you just donb

YOU could have easily listened to any of these on youtube ahead of buying. That's what I do.

Exactly MY sentiment, Gene. I always try to access unknown discs [of which there ARE many] on You tube or Amazon MP3 listening posts to get a flavor of what I'm committing to. And on many occasions [especially with NEW electronica] I simply refrain from buying.

And in the case of E Power Biggs .... if you HATED organ music what did you miss on the cover of this gorgeous effusion of sound: MUSIC FOR ORGAN, BRASS AND PERCUSSION?

 

[Don C]

The live music on the second disc makes the two disk set well worth the money. Much better. I'll just put that Booger disk in the back of the flipper pack and try to forget that it's there.

 

[Scott65]

YOu could have easily listened to any of these on youtube ahead of buying. That's what I do.

I do the same and it works well. By doing this I have avoided buying discs by a couple of groups re-mixed by Steve Wilson (hint, it's not XTC and Yes )