New Sounds in Brass (1972) Hybrid Quadraphonic SACD

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I get I'll be labeled as heretic for saying this, but I love this release. Sure, it's an ambience in the rear channels affair, but so are many of other releases I have in my collection.

The arrangements are superb and the highlights for me are the Bacharach songs. The recording itself offers the highest of fidelity with every instrument having its place in the mix without sounding buried by others. I was impressed by how clear and detailed the xylophone and triangle sound.

I played both SACD layers and the Stereo sounds a tad flat compared to the Quad. The mix opens up the soundstage and the whole thing comes alive.

The photo found in the booklet shows how the whole orchestra is recorded live without any separation, which would cause significant bleeding in most microphones. I believe this is why a discrete mix may have not been chosen by the production team. Whatever the reason, I've enjoyed it tremendously and I'll be playing it when the mood strikes.

Happy to have it in my collection.
 
I had a listen to this today, both on my main system, and also on headphones (to see what was going on with regards to front/rear splits) and it is entirely ambient sound in the rears, there's nothing discrete.

However, it doesn't sound like they simply did a stereo mix and threw some reverb in the rears - the drums and other percussion elements have a longer front/rear delay - and repeat at a louder volume - than the horns and other elements, and the bass doesn't repeat in the rears at all. This suggests to me that the nature of the mix was by design, rather than an afterthought.

As for the music, it's impeccably recorded and played, but the arrangements are so earnest and bombastic that they border on comical to my ear. One of the things I love about the easy listening albums of this era from guys like Henry Mancini, Hugo Montenegro and Enoch Light is that their was a certain kind of irreverence and humour in their arrangements and mixes - they almost treated their albums as opportunities to do the same things to songs as modern DJs do now with remixes: keep enough of the main melody that you know what the song is, but change up pretty much everything else. This album is basically the polar opposite - when these songs reach their crescendos, it sounds like every instrument in the room is playing the vocal melody in unison.

The music on this album reminds me of this scene from Airplane II: The Sequel, which, funnily enough, uses music from 101 Strings, another group that had a ton of quad releases.

 
I had a listen to this today, both on my main system, and also on headphones (to see what was going on with regards to front/rear splits) and it is entirely ambient sound in the rears, there's nothing discrete.

However, it doesn't sound like they simply did a stereo mix and threw some reverb in the rears - the drums and other percussion elements have a longer front/rear delay - and repeat at a louder volume - than the horns and other elements, and the bass doesn't repeat in the rears at all. This suggests to me that the nature of the mix was by design, rather than an afterthought.

As for the music, it's impeccably recorded and played, but the arrangements are so earnest and bombastic that they border on comical to my ear. One of the things I love about the easy listening albums of this era from guys like Henry Mancini, Hugo Montenegro and Enoch Light is that their was a certain kind of irreverence and humour in their arrangements and mixes - they almost treated their albums as opportunities to do the same things to songs as modern DJs do now with remixes: keep enough of the main melody that you know what the song is, but change up pretty much everything else. This album is basically the polar opposite - when these songs reach their crescendos, it sounds like every instrument in the room is playing the vocal melody in unison.

The music on this album reminds me of this scene from Airplane II: The Sequel, which, funnily enough, uses music from 101 Strings, another group that had a ton of quad releases.


OK, I can confirm...this title, in terms of it's quadiness....is a complete pile of steaming cow dung. Over and out.
The nays are pilling up, just don't understand why they even bothered with this, I guess to hook hopeful suckers like me ๐Ÿช
 
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