HiRez Poll Talking Heads - REMAIN IN LIGHT [DVD-A DualDisc]

[Monkish]

Dropping my vote from a 9 to an 8 — I think the only two tracks that find the great mix/great song sweet spot are the first two (Born Under Punches and Crosseyed & Painless). I could listen to those two all day.

After that, though... as I mentioned in a previous post, the 5.1 mix of The Great Curve runs almost a half-step sharp, and as someone who is blessed/cursed with perfect pitch, I can’t listen to it.

As others have mentioned, the Once In A Lifetime mix is meh.

And despite the objective quality of the mixes, I’d be fine without ever hearing any of side two again. (A big part of the issue is all four songs are in the same key — E minor. If they’d changed the key of even *one* of those songs, it would’ve helped immeasurably. Instead, it feels like one looong slowly unravelling song. I just can’t stay interested.)

I can’t drop this below an 8 — like I said, for the most part, the mix is objectively a really good one. But it’s an 8 that I just sold my copy of — the first two tracks are good enough for me.

 

[humprof]

Dropping my vote from a 9 to an 8 — I think the only two tracks that find the great mix/great song sweet spot are the first two (Born Under Punches and Crosseyed & Painless). I could listen to those two all day.

After that, though... as I mentioned in a previous post, the 5.1 mix of The Great Curve runs almost a half-step sharp, and as someone who is blessed/cursed with perfect pitch, I can’t listen to it.

As others have mentioned, the Once In A Lifetime mix is meh.

And despite the objective quality of the mixes, I’d be fine without ever hearing any of side two again. (A big part of the issue is all four songs are in the same key — E minor. If they’d changed the key of even *one* of those songs, it would’ve helped immeasurably. Instead, it feels like one looong slowly unravelling song. I just can’t stay interested.)

I can’t drop this below an 8 — like I said, for the most part, the mix is objectively a really good one. But it’s an 8 that I just sold my copy of — the first two tracks are good enough for me.

Well, as the ancients taught us: there's no arguing over tastes. This was both my first Talking Heads album and my first Talking Heads surround album--one of my first surround albums, period, come to think of it--and the Heads are among my desert island artists (if there is such a thing), so it's hard for me to be soberly critical about this one. But I appreciate you spelling out your reasoning. I agree that the mix on "Crosseyed and Painless" isn't mind-blowing, but I don't have the imagination to say how I'd improve it. I think almost every song on this album is brilliant, though, so I'd place several additional tunes into the great song/great mix Venn intersection, including, most notably, "Houses In Motion."

I'd never registered that "The Great Curve" was a half-step sharp, but now that you point it out, it also sounds a little chipmunky--sharp because sped-up. I wonder how in the world that happened? (If it's any consolation: I recently read that you're likely to lose your blessing/curse of perfect pitch as you age....)

As for Side 2 E-minor unravelling: You say that like it's a bad thing! I guess I'd never consciously perceived that that entire side was in the same key, either, although I have always informally regarded that collection of songs as a suite. And for me, there's enough variation from song to song in terms of beats, tempos, orchestrations, and overall moods to keep things interesting. Or, more precisely, mesmerizing. When I was first getting to know this record, back when I still had the luxury of listening to an album side all the way through, uninterrupted, in a dark room, I'd often find myself in a kind of non-drug-induced trance by the time I got to the end.

 

[quicksrt]

Dropping my vote from a 9 to an 8 — I think the only two tracks that find the great mix/great song sweet spot are the first two (Born Under Punches and Crosseyed & Painless). I could listen to those two all day.

I agree that the mix on "Crosseyed and Painless" isn't mind-blowing, but I don't have the imagination to say how I'd improve it. I think almost every song on this album is brilliant, though, so I'd place several additional tunes into the great song/great mix Venn intersection, including, most notably, "Houses In Motion."

I think Monkish is stating that "Crosseyed and Painless" 'Is" one of the great mixes on the album.

At any rate, very strong material imo, and custom-made for an eventual 5.1 mix. Dense and layered, no shortage of tracks to work with here for surround.

 

[cbmmm3]

wow. timing !! was just listening to this gem

 

[humprof]

I think Monkish is stating that "Crosseyed and Painless" 'Is" one of the great mixes on the album.

Right--donno how I managed to misread that. (Sorry @Monkish.)

 

[Malhomme]

I am not enthralled. This is a 7 (I am being conservative, my initial movement was 6)
This is for me the very example of a lazy mix. Just listening to this after Wilson's multichannel mix Seeds Of Love is a catastrophy.

The music is great, no question, the original mix is great, no question.
It is a 7 only for the lazy multichannel mix.

This is exactly what I dislike. Front stereo pair, rear stereo pair, and that's it baby. Come on, quad mix in the 70's were far more adventurous ! They could have done better !
The 5.1 mix doesn't come with the extra clarity you'd like either.
The notable exception is Once In A Lifetime which is well made and makes you regret a little more what the album mixing could have been.

The only one to come out of this in glory in all tracks, is Adrian Belew. For some reason, he has a special treatment with panning movement, and a lot extra attention (but Belew is so much on fire here !!!).

That goes in the 'missed opportunity' basket of mine with Genesis 'And They Were Three'