HiRez Poll Mitchell, Joni - THE ASYLUM ALBUMS (1972-1975) [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]

[privateuniverse]

I’ll have to vote with the crowd on this one.....

Same here. Can't really add much to the conversation that hasn't already been said. This sets a gold standard for other bands and record companies to aspire to:

Steely Dan - The ABC Years? Yes please!
The Kinks - The Reprise albums? Sign me up!
Squeeze - The A&M Collection? Take my money!
Electric Light Orchestra - The United Artists Era? I've died and gone to heaven!

But back to reality....I'll settle for the next set of Joni's Asylum albums in a Quadio box. Or perhaps a Warren Zevon Asylum albums set?

Anyway, four classic albums in excellent quad & Atmos mixes. Plus going the extra mile to create a new quad mix for an album that never had one. Anything less than a 10 is unthinkable.

Thank you @ForagingRhino for bringing this to us!

 

[edisonbaggins]

A VERY strong 10.
Life in Surround Review - Quad vs. Shootout

Excellent release @ForagingRhino

 

[Guy Robinson]

A VERY strong 10.
Life in Surround Review - Quad vs. Shootout

Excellent release @ForagingRhino

Good review. Your take on the set is EXACTLY what my take was when I posted in this thread back on May 6th. Good to know.

 

[4-earredwonder]

This was certainly a much appreciated labor oif intense love from the folks at Rhino. Especially, discovering MILES OF AISLES in the vaults which was never released as a CD~4 and then going a step further and remixing the multis into ATMOS was a mindblower!

As for the other three. Court and Spark has always been a classic favorite and to hear it finally in such startlingly clear sonics was a thrill indeed!

FOR THE ROSES AND HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS sounded equally spectacular.

And correct me if I'm wrong. But these four treasures were encoded at a much higer level than most of Rhino's new crop of BD~As and sounded especially vibrant. At 74 db [which I played the Jonis at] versus 80~84 db which I'm been playing most of my QUADIO BD~As at I wish all future QUADIOs be given the same treatment. Encode them at a higher level. The BD~A has plenty of headroom!

A 10!

 

[edisonbaggins]

This was certainly a much appreciated labor oif intense love from the folks at Rhino. Especially, discovering MILES OF AISLES in the vaults which was never released as a CD~4 and then going a step further and remixing the multis into ATMOS was a mindblower!

As for the other three. Court and Spark has always been a classic favorite and to hear it finally is such startlingly clear sonics was a thrill indeed!

FOR THE ROSES AND HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS sounded equally spectacular.

And correct me if I'm wrong. But these four treasures were encoded at a much higer level than most of Rhino's new crop of BD~As and sounded especially vibrant. At 74 db [which I played the Jonis at] versus 80~84 db which I'm been playing most of my QUADIO BD~As at I wish all future QUADIOs be given the same treatment. Encode them at a higher level. The BD~A has plenty of headroom!

A 10!

Spot on. I forgot to mention in my review that I'm impressed how well they level-matched all the mixes. Within 1 to 3 db, to my ears, to my taste.
I'd bet they were level-matching the vocal, but I listen for drums, because I want the BUMP!!!

 

[Dynamic Editor]

From a surround sound perspective, I'm really not getting much out of the For the Roses quad and Atmos mixes. Perhaps it's due to the instrumentation being a lot simpler than the other albums, but it's honestly pretty unrepresentative of how great the other mixes are.

 

[JDeanB]

I voted 10! Joni Mitchell's The Asylum Albums (72-75) sound wonderful in 5.1 surround and quad. While there are some differences between the quad & 5.1 mixes, they're minor. One thing I've picked up on is that on the quad mix of Court And Spark, 'People's Parties' doesn't fade into 'Same Situation' the way it does on the stereo & 5.1/Atmos mixes of the album (they have a few seconds of silence between them on the quad mix). And while it's great to have the original artwork of the albums faithfully reproduced with this box set, it would be great to have a booklet included with the lyrics and credits in larger type so they're eaiser to read (while I can always read the lyrics to Joni's songs on her website, it would be a good addition to have such a booklet as part of the set). Anyway, thanks to all at The Joni Mitchell Archives & Rhino for the collection (and bring on Mitchell's 1976 thru 1980 LPs in Surround/Atmos soon).

I got the Joni box yesterday and was a bit startled when I heard "People's Parties" complete without the fade into "Same Situation". I don't know if anyone else agrees, but I wish the lyrics would appear on the screen during the songs. That is one thing I do like about Apple Music: the lyrics do appear for many songs.

 

[Doug G.]

The original CD-4 doesn't have the immediate segue between those two songs either, so it isn't really an issue with this release.
Doug

 

[5.1 4 Life]

The original CD-4 doesn't have the immediate segue between those two songs either, so it isn't really an issue with this release.
Doug

Thanks for the info. I've never heard the original CD-4 of Court And Spark before but I figured that it was mixed without the segue between 'People's Parties' & 'Same Situation'.