HiRez Poll Tears for Fears - SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR [DVD-A/BluRay Audio]

[lennon fan]

very late to the party on this 5.1 but I bought the stand alone blu and am more than pleased.. superb mix, inspired performance, who could want more? It was a wonderful experience that sounds great cranked. 10

 

[skherbeck]

Great breakdown of my favorite Tears For Fears song, "Head Over Heels"... and you can hear every one of these details in Steven Wilson's surround mix!

 

[sjcorne]

I know I’m way late to the party with this review, but I finally got my hands on a physical copy of this without spending an arm and a leg. Strangely enough, the box set now seems to go for much less than the standalone Blu-Ray.

I agree with a lot of the comments--positive and negative--posted throughout this thread. On my system, the center channel definitely needs to come up a few notches to really bring out the vocals and some of the center-panned instruments (synth, guitar, sax, etc).

Some more detailed observations...

• “Shout” - I can’t help but nitpick a bit here as I’ve listened to this track dozens of times over headphones. There’s a lot to juggle here and while I enjoy the clarity/separation of the instruments in the remix, I don’t think SW quite nailed the balance. Some elements that were prominent in the original stereo mix seem to have been pushed into the background on the 5.1 - the hammond organ leading into the next chorus at around 2:26, the short guitar stabs during the synth solo midway through, the sax blast at 3:42, and the little vocal ad-libs on the fade. The big guitar solo towards the end should cut through all the noise and get right up in your face, but it just kinda lays there (raising the center helps in this regard).
• “The Working Hour” - once the descending guitar run started from the left rear speaker, I knew this would be a highlight. The rhythm section hits a lot harder in 5.1 thanks to the awesome 'drums all around' effect.
• “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” - now this is exactly why I love surround music. It sounds just like the original, but also reveals hidden details - particularly in the synth parts in the rear channels. Starting in the second verse, there’s a low repeating synth in the left rear that stands out much more than before. During the chorus, you can hear a high synth in the left rear and a low synth in the right rear pinging back-and-forth. Never noticed that before!
• “I Believe” really surprised me! I never liked this song until I heard the surround mix. The clarity is astonishing, and despite the minimal arrangement it still fills the room nicely.
• “Head Over Heels” - again, a great combination of familiar and revealing. I love how it kicks off with a subtle around-the-room pan on that little synth flourish. If you listen to the rears only on this one, you can hear all the vocal overdubs on their own. During the second verse, you can actually make out what the backing vocals are singing (“nothing ever changes when you’re acting your age”). In the original, you can tell there’s another voice in the background, but it’s obscured by everything else. I noticed a similar effect in Steven’s mix of “White Feather” on Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood.

Overall, I'm gonna knock off one point for the low center channel and another for the slightly disappointing mix on "Shout". An "8" isn't a bad score by any means and I can't wait for The Seeds Of Love!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I know I’m way late to the party with this review, but I finally got my hands on a physical copy of this without spending an arm and a leg. Strangely enough, the box set now seems to go for much less than the standalone Blu-Ray.

I agree with a lot of the comments--positive and negative--posted throughout this thread. On my system, the center channel definitely needs to come up a few notches to really bring out the vocals and some of the center-panned instruments (synth, guitar, sax, etc).

Some more detailed observations...

• “Shout” - I can’t help but nitpick a bit here as I’ve listened to this track dozens of times over headphones. There’s a lot to juggle here and while I enjoy the clarity/separation of the instruments in the remix, I don’t think SW quite nailed the balance. Some elements that were prominent in the original stereo mix seem to have been pushed into the background on the 5.1 - the hammond organ leading into the next chorus at around 2:26, the short guitar stabs during the synth solo midway through, the sax blast at 3:42, and the little vocal ad-libs on the fade. The big guitar solo towards the end should cut through all the noise and get right up in your face, but it just kinda lays there (raising the center helps in this regard).
• “The Working Hour” - once the descending guitar run started from the left rear speaker, I knew this would be a highlight. The rhythm section hits a lot harder in 5.1 thanks to the awesome 'drums all around' effect.
• “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” - now this is exactly why I love surround music. It sounds just like the original, but also reveals hidden details - particularly in the synth parts in the rear channels. Starting in the second verse, there’s a low repeating synth in the left rear that stands out much more than before. During the chorus, you can hear a high synth in the left rear and a low synth in the right rear pinging back-and-forth. Never noticed that before!
• “I Believe” really surprised me! I never liked this song until I heard the surround mix. The clarity is astonishing, and despite the minimal arrangement it still fills the room nicely.
• “Head Over Heels” - again, a great combination of familiar and revealing. I love how it kicks off with a subtle around-the-room pan on that little synth flourish. If you listen to the rears only on this one, you can hear all the vocal overdubs on their own. During the second verse, you can actually make out what the backing vocals are singing (“nothing ever changes when you’re acting your age”). In the original, you can tell there’s another voice in the background, but it’s obscured by everything else. I noticed a similar effect in Steven’s mix of “White Feather” on Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood.

Overall, I'm gonna knock off one point for the low center channel and another for the slightly disappointing mix on "Shout". An "8" isn't a bad score by any means and I can't wait for The Seeds Of Love!

So what exactly did you do with the center, like +3dbs for all of it, or just select sections?

 

[sjcorne]

So what exactly did you do with the center, like +3dbs for all of it, or just select sections?

I'd say 2-3 dB across the board, except maybe on the upmixed tracks? "Shout" and "Mother's Talk" are the worst offenders to my ears, no doubt due to dense those tracks are. "I Believe" sounds pretty good as-is. Other factors like room size, speakers, distance to seating position, etc could affect how one perceives the center volume though.

 

[salsdali]

so good

so almost a year later and I revisit the masterpiece that is a 10

if someone can find any flaws that would knock it to a nine please LMK cause this disc is perfection

"...find out, find out
What this fear is about?..."

I'm listening to the 5.1 DTS-HD MSTR 24/96 and btw the 5.1 PCM won't play anything but Stereo in PowerDVD 17 so, weird,, right?

 

[salsdali]

so almost a year later and I revisit the masterpiece that is a 10

if someone can find any flaws that would knock it to a nine please LMK cause this disc is perfection

"...find out, find out
What this fear is about?..."

I'm listening to the 5.1 DTS-HD MSTR 24/96 and btw the 5.1 PCM won't play anything but Stereo in PowerDVD 17 so, weird,, right?

definately some moments in "Listen" that are used in trip-hop (portishead, Massive Attack) 20 years later so a nod to that

 

[ar surround]

"Sold and shipped by Walmart," so if it's actually in stock, it should arrive as-advertised.

When I ordered the Bluray of "The Future Bites," it said that the item was sold by Walmart and fulfilled by Walmart. But it was actually shipped from Kentucky by the parent company of Import CDs and Deep Discount. It arrived via FedEx very quickly as opposed to taking forever using USPS media mail.

This is still a great disc and I'm keeping the 9 rating even after having it for quite a while.

 

[KG10]

Any reason why the original mix went through a 20 kHz digital compressor?

 

[DanRuben]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this November 2014 HiRez 5.1 release by Tears for Fears - SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR, remixed for 5.1 by Steven Wilson.

Not sure what to think The first thing that hit me was the vox in the centre channel really loud, with the choir pad in the surrounds soft and distant on 'Shout'. First I thought something was broken or disconnected then spent about 5 minutes adjusting speakers to get it all back into balance lol because with everything at zero which is normally fine, pretty much all I can hear is Roland's voice. Quite a radical mix. I have lots of respect for Wilson but this is out there. Maybe it'll grow on me but this seems like a total reconceptualization of the original album mix.

 

[Simon A]

Not sure what to think The first thing that hit me was the vox in the centre channel really loud, with the choir pad in the surrounds soft and distant on 'Shout'. First I thought something was broken or disconnected then spent about 5 minutes adjusting speakers to get it all back into balance lol because with everything at zero which is normally fine, pretty much all I can hear is Roland's voice. Quite a radical mix. I have lots of respect for Wilson but this is out there. Maybe it'll grow on me but this seems like a total reconceptualization of the original album mix.

I sold my Blu-Ray if this disc after hearing it once. This mix was my first disappointment and it's made me more selective in my buying.

I never thought I"d vote 6 for a Wilson mix, but here we are.