Silverline DVD-A Winners & Losers

[steelydave]

Yeah, that's been my conclusion too, and I've been looking on and off for a few years now.

I recall reading around the time of the Sanctuary/Silverline lawsuit that some of the Silverline titles apparently didn't even sell 500 units, so it's possible that it sold a few copies and the rest were returned to the manufacturer and destroyed. Obviously the odds are slim that it was released at all, and if it was the odds are even slimmer that the mix was discrete, but hope springs eternal!

 

[fredblue]

(it just occurred to me, sorry I didn't mean to come across as a smartass saying I couldn't find it in ten minutes after you've been looking for years - "I can't find it, therefore it doesn't exist!") its just I've kinda got the hunting for these old surround things down to a pretty fine art now so I've got a sort of ten minute test and if I haven't found it for sane money (or can't find it at all.. which so seldom happens, every man has his price!) in that time then it's more than likely pretty rare or vapourware! still its good to live in hope! it may well have been pressed, withdrawn & binned but as you say hope springs eternal and some could have slipped thru the net! you neverrrr know!

I recall when all that Sanctuary/Silverline business was going on.. what a mess! I guess the poor sales showing is borne out by the propensity of cut outs and hole punched Silverlines out there in the wild today! altho it would be unfair to single out Silverline for that, loads of SACDs/DVDAs/DualDiscs by other labels sold poorly & got relegated to the cut out bins.. I guess DualDisc was a pretty hefty (if not the final) nail in their coffin though.. most of my most crap-est DualDiscs are Silverline's and there was a lot of crap on DualDisc in general!

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Just to bring this thread to life for newbies who aren't familiar with the mostly horrible offerings by the infamous Silverline discs. If you see From The Front Row in the title and it's by Silverline; BUYER BEWARE!

 

[keenly]

What is Off Space like?

 

[fredblue]

What is Off Space like?

it's a Warner Germany DVD-Audio release, not Silverline. I only played it once since I got it, I don't remember much about it to be honest (not normally a good sign).

 

[artwwweb]

The Fall Fiend With A Violin.

Fall compilations are often a murky area and with Silverline's terrible reputation I expected this to be disappointing. But I could find no proper information about this online so when I saw a very cheap copy I had to buy it. And then I just had to post a review somewhere on QQ after I'd taken a hit for the team, to save others getting hurt.

It's a collection of inferior alternate takes and (possibly) some live versions. Par for the course for a Fall compilation.

It's a DVD Audio disc and the sound is pumped out in 5.1 at 96k. I can't see the bitrate on my setup but I assume it's 24. The liner notes say it's 96/24.

It is exactly as hardened Fall fans/ Silverline 'fans' would expect. Some tracks aren't even that much in stereo, but basically it's stereo with some reverb in the rears. I know, nobody will be surprised by that, but being a Fall fan I just had to know for sure. Even the high resolution is wasted because the original recordings aren't brilliant. They're nowhere near as lo-fi as the Fall can be, but they're certainly not HiFi.

A few of the tracks, though not listed as live, have cheering at the start. It sounds very fake. It is (of course!) the only bit of the disc that is in true surround - the band are playing in the front and the cheering comes from the rears. But don't let that slightly positive comment encourage you to buy this disc.

Even if you really like The Fall I can't see a reason for getting this disc over the CD.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

There are always some winners when it comes to Silverline and anyone still curious, I'll list some from my collection.

In the excellent/very good category:

PERE UBU-THE MODERN DANCE
RICHARD THOMPSON-THE OLD KIT BAG
DAR WILLIAMS (BOTH)
BLONDIE-THE CURSE OF
TIPPER-SURROUNDED
TODD RUNDGREN-LIARS (5.1 MIX BY TODD)
WISHBONE ASH-BARE BONES
CLASSIC ROCK--INSIDE THE MUSIC (IF ONLY TO HEAR CANNED HEAT WELL MIXED)
FIXX-1100 WOODLAND
WIDESPREAD PANIC
MOTORHEAD (ALL THREE)
ALAN PARSONS-A VALID PATH (DVD, DTS, DD)
IAN GILLAN-GILLAN'S INN (DVD, DD)
PUNK NEW WAVE MASTERS (DVD, DD)

and good category:

GERRY RAFFERTY-CAN I HAVE MY MONEY BACK
FAIRPORT CONVENTION (COMPILATION OF 2 DISCS)
BLUE OYSTER CULT-LIVE
LYNYRD SKYNYRD-THEN AND NOW (LIVE AND STUDIO POST RONNIE)
SKYNYRD/VAN ZANT MASTERS (DVD, DD)

POOR CATEGORY (SURROUND OR SOUND POOR)

THE BRITISH ARE COMING
THE POGUES-LIVE SWITZERLAND
DONAVAN-FAIRYTALE
*** PISTOLS
FLEETWOOD MAC, PETER GREEN'S (LIVE AT THE BBC)
10CC-LIVE FROM THE FRONT ROW

----I DO LIKE THE PEFORMANCE BY THE POGUES, AND "ALBATROSS" ON THE FLEETWOOD MAC SOUNDS GOOD, AND I'M CERTAIN THE *** PISTOLS PEFORMANCE IS PROBABLY ONE OF THEIR BEST, RAW UNTAMED RELEASES.

IT WOULD SEEM THAT "CAVEAT EMPTOR" SHOULD BE THE RULE WITH ANYTHING ON SANCTUARY/SILVERLINE, MOST ARE AVOIDABLE, BUT IF YOU REALLY LIKE THE ARTIST, GO FOR IT.THE EARLIEST RELEASES BY SILVERLINE AND THEIR FINAL 2 OR 3 YEARS SEEM TO BE THEIR BEST, FROM MY EXPERIENCE.

ALSO WORTH COLLECTING ARE THE INSIDE THE MUSIC DISCS OF WHICH I ALSO HAVE 2 MORE:WOMEN ON TOP, & NEW WAVE.


BLONDIE-CURSE OF BLONDIE
TIPPER
TODD RUNDGREN-LIARS (5.1 MIX BY TODD)
WISHBONE ASH-BARE BONES
DAR WILLIAMS (BOTH DISCS)
FIXX-WOODLAND
CLASSIC ROCK (THE CANNED HEAT TRACK IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THIS DISC)

 

[edisonbaggins]

Listened to DonOvan - Fairytale last night. While the surround mix is nothing to write home about, the sonics were quite good. By far the best I've ever heard DonOvan, FWIW.
If you like a DonOvan song or two and find this for a few bucks, go for it!
I do not understand why Gary Numan Anthology is listed in the excellent category. It sounds bad and is fake surround, so...

 

[Franklin]

You can stick the Toots & The Maytals disc in poor, and the Joey Ramone sounds close to, but not quite, double stereo IIRC.

 

[John Svensson]

...and Colosseum...dreadful. I think its the only surround music disc that I have ever purposefully destroyed!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Listened to DonOvan - Fairytale last night. While the surround mix is nothing to write home about, the sonics were quite good. By far the best I've ever heard DonOvan, FWIW.
If you like a DonOvan song or two and find this for a few bucks, go for it!
I do not understand why Gary Numan Anthology is listed in the excellent category. It sounds bad and is fake surround, so...

I've always wondered why "Epic Records" never issued any SQ Q8 QUADS of Donovan???

Some of his best music and "hits" on that label.

 

[Quadwreck]

I've always wondered why "Epic Records" never issued any SQ Q8 QUADS of Donovan???

Some of his best music and "hits" on that label.

It was hard enough to get Mickey Most to do stereo mixes, and he probably destroyed the multitracks as he did with other artists.

 

[4-earredwonder]

One of my VERY favorite overlooked Silverline GEMS is Rambient: So Many Worlds which gathers a wildly eclectic gaggle of musicians for a super immersive 5.1 Hi Res mix, extremely well recorded musical outing and includes musicians Harry Gregson Williams (film composer), Peter DiStefano (guitarist for ****o for Pyros), chanteuse Lisbeth Scott, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, etc.

Available SUPER CHEAP at AmazonUS http://www.amazon.com/So-Many-Worlds-Rambient/dp/B000BC8SQU

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

[wavelength]

One of my VERY favorite overlooked Silverline GEMS is Rambient: So Many Worlds which gathers a wildly eclectic gaggle of musicians for a super immersive 5.1 Hi Res mix, extremely well recorded musical outing and includes musicians Harry Gregson Williams (film composer), Peter DiStefano (guitarist for ****o for Pyros), chanteuse Lisbeth Scott, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, etc.

Available SUPER CHEAP at AmazonUS http://www.amazon.com/So-Many-Worlds-Rambient/dp/B000BC8SQU

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

OK, ya got me. I'm going to throw that one on right now. Haven't listened to it in years.

 

[wavelength]

One of my VERY favorite overlooked Silverline GEMS is Rambient: So Many Worlds which gathers a wildly eclectic gaggle of musicians for a super immersive 5.1 Hi Res mix, extremely well recorded musical outing and includes musicians Harry Gregson Williams (film composer), Peter DiStefano (guitarist for ****o for Pyros), chanteuse Lisbeth Scott, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, etc.

Available SUPER CHEAP at AmazonUS http://www.amazon.com/So-Many-Worlds-Rambient/dp/B000BC8SQU

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Yeah, pretty good. The mix is very good. I'm not so sure about the fidelity. It has a dense feel to it. Lots of electronics being used so maybe the intend was for distorted, bassy sounds. With multiple artists contributing it does offer an interesting array of song styles.

The link above is for the dualdisc. There is a DVD-A as well (which is what I have).

 

[bktouchstone]

It was cheap, and you convinced me to order it. Fingers crossed.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Yeah, pretty good. The mix is very good. I'm not so sure about the fidelity. It has a dense feel to it. Lots of electronics being used so maybe the intend was for distorted, bassy sounds. With multiple artists contributing it does offer an interesting array of song styles.

The link above is for the dualdisc. There is a DVD-A as well (which is what I have).

Wavelength, I'm one of those "Disc tweakers" and I agree the mix IS dense (a WHOLE lot going on) but after I performed my disc enhancements, it was a whole different ballgame. Actually STUNNING in EVERY respect. I've found with a lot of those pseudo surround Silverline discs it's best to play them in stereo.....because in reality, that's the way they WERE recorded before they tinkered with the phony surround voodoo.

 

[skherbeck]

Dokken "Erase The Slate" DVD-A.... Maybe it should have been called "Erase The Disc", cuz it sucks. Completely brick-walled (but no better/worse than the cd); NO discrete surround activity (the sounds in the rears are distilled from the fronts... Adjustments don't help); great musical content, though (so buy the cd if you like Dokken!) I'd give it a 4 if I could vote on it (3 for content, 1 for fidelity, 0 for surround).

 

[Fourplay]

I have been looking at this. Why does the listing say Tom Waits? Is he on the disc?

One of my VERY favorite overlooked Silverline GEMS is Rambient: So Many Worlds which gathers a wildly eclectic gaggle of musicians for a super immersive 5.1 Hi Res mix, extremely well recorded musical outing and includes musicians Harry Gregson Williams (film composer), Peter DiStefano (guitarist for ****o for Pyros), chanteuse Lisbeth Scott, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, etc.

Available SUPER CHEAP at AmazonUS http://www.amazon.com/So-Many-Worlds-Rambient/dp/B000BC8SQU

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

[edisonbaggins]

I can give two thumbs up for Rambient and one thumb up for Abulum.