Steven Wilson is a genius and a god. (Yes, I pray to him... right now I'm praying for another Rush surround release)
This is the definitive way to listen to this album. No other version, stereo or surround, even comes close.
This is the way I've always dreamed Rush could sound in surround... every song is full of surround surprises! I assumed Steven would put various percussion, synthesizers, and sound effects in the surround channels, but he's achieved so much more with this mix in terms of spreading the drums around the room (and he does it differently from song to song, and even within a given song), varying where vocals come from, or where the instruments are located (again, sometimes varying where they come from within a given song). There's a moment in one song where the bass fades in from somewhere behind you, eventually kicking-in at full volume front and center. Elsewhere, a quiet moment occurs where it's just Getty's voice and his bass, but this time the bass is up front, and his vocals are in the rears, singing to you in stereo. The acoustic guitars spread out around you in "Cinderella Man" are gorgeous. There are guitars popping up in the rears throughout the album. There's a solo on one song where Alex sweeps back and forth between the LF and RF, then at a key moment briefly zooms back to the left rear, immediately returning to the fronts... there are cool little moments like this throughout. The "Xanadu" mix here kicks the mix on Sector's butt. And "Cygnus" is an epic masterpiece of surround... it's never been my favorite song on the album until tonight!
I must say, though, that the most exciting thing about this mix is how incredible the drums sound, especially the way the fills swirl around the room, toms sweeping across you. I thought maybe other Rush albums wouldn't sound very good in surround when the arrangements are mainly just Alex, Getty, and Neil (just guitar, bass, and drums), but I'm confident after hearing this album that Steven would be able to make a great surround mix from the sparcest of Rush albums.
Also, I really found myself enjoying the screen-savers that play during each song... they perfectly capture the mood and are somewhat mesmerizing.
Another thing: there's an endless loop of cool Cygnus sound effects in surround that plays when the menu screen is on... best surround menu music mix ever.
Finally: The ring is cool! This is a 10 all the way.
