Moody Blues "To Our Children's Children's Children" (New Stephen W Tayler 5.1 Mix!)

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My Amazon.UK showed up today. It was well packaged, in cardboard box custom made for the product, inside of a padded envelope thing. It survived the ride perfectly.

Now I have all weekend to check it out, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so - - PERFECT!!! :SB
 
I see that the lunatic fringe over at SHF are ready to hang @Stephen W Tayler in effigy for what they consider to be egregious stereo and multi-channel mixes. I just received my copy yesterday and have yet to give it a spin, but after Tayler’s superlative work on Be-Bop Deluxe and VDGG, I’m fairly certain I won’t be in agreement with those folks.
As you put”the lunatic fringe” sometimes get tiring to read their comments at SHF sometimes. I would guess 95 per cent listen only in stereo and automatically check dynamic range numbers before giving their opinions of mixes and sound quality. I just ignore when some of them start with the old “ my old 80s cd sound better” comments. There are many knowledgable people over at the SHF but IMO they get carried away sometimes. Shine on you crazy diamonds.
 
I enjoyed my first listen to the DTS HD 5.1 mix. "Higher and Higher" has always sounded amateurishly mixed to me and this remix couldn't do much with that. Beyond that, this is really gorgeous sounding to my ears. I wasn't really listening (as I often do) explicitly for discrete surround content, but there is certainly plenty there even if it sounds a touch muddy at times. I blame part of that on what Stephen Tayler noted above regarding the original multi tracks. Anyway, I really enjoyed my first time through. If you are a Moody Blues fan, pick this up.
 
This is my favorite Moody Blues item, and I know it well. Except for "Higher & Higher," which has always had a muddled and problematic mix (so not much to work with there) and still sounds brittle, this new mix is incredible. Steven W. Tayler did an outstanding job. My only complaint: As someone who has written extensively about the Moody Blues and is an editor and journalist by trade, I am disappointed and embarrassed to see singer/guitarist Justin Hayward's name misspelled -- twice! -- as "Haywood" in the photo captions of the otherwise fine booklet.
 
This is my favorite Moody Blues item, and I know it well. Except for "Higher & Higher," which has always had a muddled and problematic mix (so not much to work with there) and still sounds brittle...
True. "Brittle" is a good description for the sound of that track.
I am disappointed and embarrassed to see singer/guitarist Justin Hayward's name misspelled -- twice! -- as "Haywood" in the photo captions of the otherwise fine booklet.
I was just reading the booklet about an hour ago while listening to the Albert Hall concert. It's remarkable that I never noticed those spelling errors despite probably looking right at them!

I rarely utilize Dolby Surround, but I found that the 5.1 of the concert upmixed to 7.4.1 7.1.4 sounds very nice.
 
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I rarely utilize Dolby Surround, but I found that the 5.1 of the concert upmixed to 7.4.1 sounds very nice.
Four subs and one height channel?! :LOL:

Actually, with my setup it more like 7.5.4. I mean, my main five speakers have a total of five 12" woofers and two 10" woofers. It's remarkable since 99% of my listening time is devoted to solo piccolo performances. :sneaky:
 
Oddly enough, in my music life, this is the one of two early Moodies titles that I never really got into. I started back in '69 or so with the Moodies when a friend came over and played "On the Threshold of a Dream" for me, then let me borrow it for a while. I loved that album. Then I moved to Question, EGBDF, and Seventh Sojourn, then stepped back to Days of Future Passed. Somehow ISOTLC and TOCCC just never got noticed by me. When I got the Moodies double 'hits' album in the '70s and played it to death, that's when I first got into "Eyes of a Child" and "Watching and Waiting", which then brought me back to get the missing albums from the classic seven, but since it was stepping back, they never got the same concentrated playing that DOFP, OTTOAD, EGBDF, AQOF or SS did.

That being said, I have listened to this new release and compared it to the SACD tracks on my PC and with my limited hearing I can still hear the better details and finer points of the songs I really know well. Stephen did a great job.

And the live tracks are great as well. I just love that sequence from "Are You Sitting Comfortably" through "Have You Heard, Pt 2", the end of the Threshold album. My favorite.

I sure hope Stephen gets to do "On the Threshold of a Dream". That would be sweet
 
I just finished listening to the 5.1 mix and it sounded great!

Stephen, I hope you get a chance to mix the rest of the Classic Seven Series including the first album, Days Of Future Passed, instead of what we received as a manipulated version from the quad tapes. I’d like to see DOFP in a proper box similar to the current and last sets. Plus, it would be great if you could do the other Moody Blues albums in the series too. Personally, I don’t necessarily have to have any of these future albums in Dolby Atmos. 5.1 will do. I hope I’m not asking for too much. :giggle:
 
Listening now to this new release. A little weird.
Mix in 5.1 is very good, strong and powerful.
It's got a 60's (1969) music vibe and I am just past that now these days.

I have no prior listening experience to this release.
Nice packaging box.
I purchased the Japanese release.
Looking forward to the live 5.1, maybe it will be better for me.
 
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