HiRez Poll Presley, Elvis - 30 #1 HITS [DVD-A]

[JonUrban]

Please post your comments, thoughts and observations.......

 

[Cai Campbell]

I'm not a huge Elvis fan, but this is a pretty fun disc. I'm glad they moved the "real" surround tracks to the front of the disc. The fake surround tracks (from mono source) are fine for what they are, but not terribly engaging. Overall, a very decent effort. I'll give it a 7.

 

[Guy Robinson]

One of the only hi-rez discs that I have sold. Maybe the only one actually. That says it all I think.

 

[dprokopy]

Ugh...

Not one I listen to very often. There are better collections of his stuff out there, to be sure. The latter-day tracks work well in surround, that's for sure, but there are only a handful on the disc. The rest are either mono or were originally recorded direct to 2-track stereo, so there wasn't a heck of a lot they could do with it (except attempt to move them "out" a bit into the surround field, and throw some reverb in the rears).

Not to mention, a handful of the songs are represented with alternate previously-unreleased takes, which makes no sense on an album that's supposed to present hit singles. @:

 

[EMB]

Yes, reversing the tracks to put, essentially, the best and most interesting stuff first(the limitations continue as the disc does)was as wise move. But the faux 5.1 is a cosmic joke, the kind of nonsense you get on too many DVD's, to no real purpose other than offer a pointless gimmick. As far as I'm concerned, those mono 5.1's should never have been issued, but guess they figured they couldn't replace anything, or do a different 5.1 comp with better sources. Alas! But it is good to have some of these, so a '4' is, IMO, a fair rating, it's not a total waste....

ED

 

[Cosmic Debris]

This one I give a 7. It is ok but there is just too much fake ambience going on for me on most of the tracks here. I have actually only played it a couple of times since I purchased it. There are a few tracks that stand out like "Burnin Love" , The surround is full and rich on this track. I guess the Mono tracks are the ones that suffer the most.

 

[beljah]

Lack of menus/graphics hurts this disc too.

 

[bizmopeen]

This is the King we're talking about here, so I gotta give him his props. The music alone makes it a 10 for me; it's just unfortunate that RCA's perceived need to sell Elvis' "classic" material dictates a track listing that will be predominantly the equivalent of "electronically processed for 5.1". Still, it's great to have the true surround tracks available.

Now, if they ever decide on a disc with a 5.1 remix of the cream of Elvis' post-comeback material, THAT would be a 10 in my book...

 

[eelkiller]

I love the music but I prefer the 24K Hits sound by far!!

 

[ferret-e]

I listen this disc only for music, with pleasure... But in general, it has not right to be named "multichannael".

 

[neil wilkes]

Sorry, I really am. What with actually being an Elvis fan and everything.

This one gets a 2. It should never have seen the light on a DVD-A, in this state. If there were to be a DVD-A of Elvis, it really should have been a stereo only one as the Surround versiions on offer here are too dire for words. It sounds exactly like it's been done by one of those dubious companies who bang things through a TC6000 "unwrap" DPL II clone processes, and it should never have been done.

Do yourself a favour - buy the CD instead.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Music a 9 and sound/surround mix a 1. I am sorry I bought this one but will give it a 5 overall by my generous rating method. Surely someone goofed bigtime here and got fired. I am thinking about buying the 3-CD compilation "History" from yourmusic.com but if that CD isn't done better than this DVD-A, I don't want it.

Chris

 

[ChristopherLees]

A couple of years ago, I read an article on how the old stuff was put into surround.From memory they had something like a special 5.1 microphone in a studio room ,some distance back from a speaker system that was playing the old songs.....and they were proud of their achievements....The article made you think that that the old stuff was going to be really good...much better than the originals...
the other strange thing is the short comparison between a remastered Elvis track and the original tape on the disc...as a special bonus... I preferred the original tape by alot...the remastered comparison was just a big bass boost and new treble eq...without any of the nice sweet midrange of the original rca tapes.....sort of like butchering your favourite recording through a graphic equaliser....and then claiming that it's a major improvement...

I thought that the " a little less conversation " remix would have made a half decent 5.1 mix....but alas it seems to be no real improvement at all....like it was mixed to stereo with the old tapes as it was made...with no chance of any seperation....
I'm sure my qrx sansui would do more with the 1960's stuff than this abomination..

in short good for a few 1970's tracks and nothing else..except for discovering that there are people out there who have no idea about making 5.1 discs.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I didn't know any of that and I look at it a little differently now, sort of as if it was a failed experiment. I tried playing with my settings some and I am a little happier with it although I still think a standard CD will sound better. I am listening to it now and the music still has some hold over me. Nostalgia improves a bad surround disc.

Chris

 

[The Rang]

My local store still has a copy. Was tempted at 10% off.
Told the clerk I would wait and research it....glad I did. I'll pass and stick to my DCC's

Bought Alison Krauss "New Favorite" instead

 

[jsgamache]

The most disappointing thing about this disc is that some of the best elements of the original mixes are shoved waaaay into the background, such as the backing vocals on "Suspicious Minds" and the bowed bass on the intro to "In the Ghetto." The latter was what I was most looking forward to, expecting my La-Z-Boy to rumble. Instead, you can barely hear the bass.

However, the latest remasters of Elvis' early mono albums will make your hair stand on end. Done with DSD, they're even better than the remasters done a couple of years ago. It's hard to believe they could bring so much presence and definition to recordings made more than 50 years ago. Do yourself a favor.

I'm not that big a fan of non-Mch SACDs, but Elvis' albums would be prime candidates for that treatment.

 

[filper]

After a refreshing listen, I think it's well done.

As discrete as you are going to get from the masters.

I'm glad I have a copy.

 

[beljah]

Well, since this was bumped up I'll say that when I pull this disc out, I use the Group 2 option and listen to the stereo/mono mixes in 24/96 and it's really enjoyable.

 

[EMB]

The big problem with this disc is that, once you get past the stereo to the 5.1 'might as well be mono,' well...it's really pretty sucky. The original mono/stereo CD sucked the life out of these recordings by their being tweaked to death. 'Cleaning up' sound is one thing, but to spite shine it beyond sense, to bring out 'details' that were not meant to be brought out (except by a listener with a good sound system and an equalizer, if they wished)...just doesn't work for me, especially the mono. It's more of a curiosity than a good disc, IMO.

ED

 

[MyCuff]

I gave it a six, which is admittedly generous but considers the original source material.