Roxy Music - Avalon (SDE Blu-Ray #36, May 9th, 2025)

[BillSamm1]

Kissing Cousins- Roxy Music and Wishbone Ash.
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Argus needs a good surround mix as well. Brilliant album.

 

[GabeL]

I'd really like to know what the other title is before ordering a bundle. Guessing they'll tell us before the Avalon cut-off date?

I am counting on it.

 

[Owen Smith]

Love this album. But if I don’t need Atmos does this release offer anything my SACD doesn’t already have? Doesn’t look like it.

You get a surround mix (the True HD base for the Atmos) done from the earlier lossless analogue multitracks, rather than the lossy digital multitracks claimed to be used to mix the SACD (and a basic upmix for India).

I'm intrigued now, I didn't know lossy digital multitracks were a thing. I know about lossy codecs obviously, but not that they were ever used for multi track masters. And I don't count digitising the analogue masters at 16/44.1 LPCM or similar as lossy, that's lossless to me.

 

[omega4]

I've ordered the bundle. This follows the receipt yesterday of the Bryan Ferry and Simple Minds blu-rays, so just two this time!

My wish is for EJ - Two Low For Zero but as that is not really a band I feel a possible fit for Paul's description for No. 37 is Simple Minds - Once Upon A Time given the recent announcement of its reissue this year. We will know soon - and with much less time for guessing than with Quadio bundle 7. (Not that I am complaining about that as it is really fun seeing guesses drawn from some staggering knowledge of the quadraphonic release history).

 

[Owen Smith]

I'm hoping for Welcome To The Pleasure Dome for #37. I still have my 12" single of Two Tribes, only played once.

 

[Monkish]

Love this album. But if I don’t need Atmos does this release offer anything my SACD doesn’t already have? Doesn’t look like it.

If you're only equipped for 5.1 listening, then I don't think there's any reason to order this Blu-Ray (unless you're really jonesing to hear a true surround version of India).

I found the 5.1 fold-down of the streaming Atmos mix to be an interesting one-and-done experience, but nothing more than that. FWIW, here's what I had to say in another thread from last year:

I don't know which differences are due to the fold down, and which are a result of revised mixing choices, but while some songs feel similar in the two versions, others have significantly different placement choices. For instance: in The Main Thing, synths that were in the rears are now up front, while percussion and backing vocals from the fronts have flipped to the back.

Beyond the location shifts, there are a lot of touches I'm used to in the original 5.1 that are just gone in this fold down, and which I miss a *lot*. The tom hits during the intro section of Take A Chance With Me no longer echo front to back. The background vocals in the chorus of True To Life no longer travel from front to back. The tom fills in More Than This that were in the back are now up front. Etcetera.

A couple more random observations: the lead vocal on While My Heart Is Still Beating is much drier in this 5.1 fold down. And the cymbals during the big lead-up to the title phrase in To Turn You On, which were so wonderfully spread out in the original 5.1, feel really stifled here.

To me at least, it very apparently lacks the warmth and lushness and magic of the SACD mix, which is on my all-time top five 5.1 list.

Now, I realize that the Blu-Ray will have better audio quality than the stream, and being mixed from the original multis rather than a digital backup might make a difference. However, the inferior (to my ears) placements vs. the original dedicated 5.1 will still be there.

Plus, as already reported, Always Unknowing isn't on the Blu-Ray.

 

[SyrinxTemple]

Ordered, along with #37, which I would buy anyway.

 

[Muppet69]

It’d be great if the mystery one was David Gilmour’s About Face.

 

[JulesRules]

You get a surround mix (the True HD base for the Atmos) done from the earlier lossless analogue multitracks, rather than the lossy digital multitracks claimed to be used to mix the SACD (and a basic upmix for India).

I'm intrigued now, I didn't know lossy digital multitracks were a thing. I know about lossy codecs obviously, but not that they were ever used for multi track masters. And I don't count digitising the analogue masters at 16/44.1 LPCM or similar as lossy, that's lossless to me.

Apparently they weren't lossy, but 16/44 (actually a higher sampling rate than that). Thanks to @sjcorne for linking this article: https://www.mixonline.com/recording/avalon-surround-best-gets-better-377114

 

[Teamcowboys1]

Fingers crossed that #37 will be ‘Boys and Girls’.

They talked about it briefly in the interview with Ferry on the SDE site.

Hopefully, our friend Paul is assuming that Avalon buyers will also want it. Otherwise he is maybe creating a lot of extra work for himself with a lot of potential cancellations.

Just a thought.

The Avalon SACD is excellent, can’t wait to get my hands on the BluRay! Paul is doing great work over there!!

 

[JulesRules]

I don't think it will be Boys and Girls, because that would be another mediabook.

 

[splinter7]

Hopefully, our friend Paul is assuming that Avalon buyers will also want it. Otherwise he is maybe creating a lot of extra work for himself with a lot of potential cancellations.

That is great observation

 

[fourml8r]

Bundle ordered. Can't wait. The sacd is a reference disc and the Atmos streaming version is good, so this should be a notch better.

 

[Bluedemon25]

Can someone please clarify I was reading on the sde site and sh forum discussions and it sounded like this mystery part 2 of the bundle will be revealed I thought someone said by the end of February and that the bundle is going to be orderable beyond that so that if one waits throughout February one should be able to find out what both of them are and then place the order. Please correct me if I'm missing something. Is this like a very limited amount that it's not going to be an open-ended order until the pre-order is closed or something that that strategy won't work? I have a very limited budget so just ordering for the two when I don't know what one is is less appealing

 

[The Rang]

Pretty sure Paul posted somewhere here that if you order the bundle then decide you don’t want #37 it (#37) can be canceled without one losing their dibs on Avalon

 

[rtbluray]

obvious choices for mystery 80s title (some of these titles have probably already been mentioned before, and these are just choices from 1985):

• "Songs from the Big Chair" from Tears for Fears
• "Brothers in Arms" from Dire Straits
• "Boys & Girls" from Bryan Ferry
• "Once Upon a Time" from Simple Minds

maybe another ABC album or something else from Thompson Twins or Paul Young?
New Order would be incredible, but I think those albums are @ForagingRhino's territory

 

[Victor Bisio]

I'm sticking with just "Avalon" for now. I don't want to gamble on a title I might not care for.

 

[DaveLaPorte53]

oh fuck yes!!!

https://www.thesdeshop.com/products...ive-blu-ray-audio?_pos=2&_fid=37aca451a&_ss=c

got the stand alone copy a couple of months ago, I have the SACD version and it is great! great mix for a great recording!

 

[JulesRules]

Can someone please clarify I was reading on the sde site and sh forum discussions and it sounded like this mystery part 2 of the bundle will be revealed I thought someone said by the end of February and that the bundle is going to be orderable beyond that so that if one waits throughout February one should be able to find out what both of them are and then place the order. Please correct me if I'm missing something. Is this like a very limited amount that it's not going to be an open-ended order until the pre-order is closed or something that that strategy won't work? I have a very limited budget so just ordering for the two when I don't know what one is is less appealing

It's not clear yet when #37 will be revealed but if that happens before February 21, then the bundle won't be available anymore - so you can still get Avalon and #37 in one order until February 21, which will still save shipping costs but be a little more expensive than the bundle is right now.

 

[splinter7]