This is the only Al Stewart album that I owned on Vinyl back when it was first released. For me, his voice, while not bad, has always been an acquired taste. I did get used to it and played the hell out of the record because the songs were so darn good. But, what is interesting, I never did purchase it on compact disc. So, after dumping all my vinyl records in the mid 1980’s, I don’t think I ever did hear it again. At least, not that I can remember.
I was so excited when this album was announced that it was coming out in 5.1. I just couldn’t wait to hear it. Overall, I find it to be a decent mix with a couple of exceptions. While listening to it for the first time, I found it to be overly bright, with the first track being the worst on the entire album. Also, the mix is lacking on the low end. Because I listen with Audyssey XT32 room correction, my remedy while using Dynamic EQ is to use the Reference Level Offset set at zero, as opposed to the -10 that I use the majority of the time with music tracks. That raised the low end back up and helped take care of the majority of the brightness, which makes sense. The exception was Broadway Hotel. That track is still lacking bass.
I heard a couple people mentioned that Midas Shadow is most likely an Upmix. I wouldn’t doubt it. It sounds very much like the Moody Blues 5.1 surround mix of In Search Of The Lost Chord. It’s like the front speakers were folded into the rear speakers sans vocals and it has this out-of-phase sound.
It was great listening to this album again and bringing back all those memories from years ago. I’ve had several of the songs playing in my head for the past week. This one, while not perfect, will be on heavy rotation in my disc spinner for some time. I’m giving it a ’8’.
