HiRez Poll Tears For Fears - THE SEEDS OF LOVE [Blu-Ray Audio]

[sjcorne]

Maybe the surround will change my mind.

My interest in this album used to sort of wane after "Advice For The Young At Heart", but the 5.1 mix really transforms the last four songs for me. I keep replaying "Standing At The Corner Of The Third World" and "Year Of The Knife". The immersive opening section to the former reminds me a lot of "Ride Across The River" from Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms.

Unrelated side-note: I noticed that the LFE channel hasn't been low-pass filtered on all the songs, so you can hear the rhythm section completely isolated! I attached a short stereo MP3 clip of just the center & sub channels from "Woman In Chains". It's incredibly cool.

 

[Strilo]

For me, The Seeds of Love was always my least favorite Tears For Fears album of all time. I loved "Sowing The Seeds Of Love" from the moment I saw the video on MTV, "Woman In Chains" grew on me once I got their Tears Roll Down Greatest Hits album, but "Advice For The Young At Heart" was always a bit schlocky for me (and apparently for Curt too). I never owned the album back in the day, but loved Elemental, Raoul and beyond. Hell I even love Roland's solo album from 2001, which isn't on streaming anywhere and might be hard to find. I just never really went back to Seeds of Love and listened to it much. I never even owed the CD until like 2017. I literally bought this box set because TFF is one of my favorite bands and on the strength of Sowing The Seeds Of Love in surround.

What I've found is a much deeper appreciation for the rest of the album in the process. They played "Bad Man's Song" when I saw them in concert in 2016 and that got me exploring that song more. I wound up adding that to my normal rotations, making it 3-4 songs I liked off the album. But now having really listened to the whole album over and over (largely in surround) I have found that I really like the whole album, except I am still not into "Standing On The Corner Of The Third World." Just does not grab me. Everything else is good, though I do still have to be in the right mood to listen to "Advice." I still think they could have included "Always In The Past" on this album, which still holds its own alongside the album tracks. Heck maybe even "My Life In The Suicide Ranks" would fit too.

So for me, the rating I gave was strongly weighted towards the surround mix, the overall audio quality and the bonus track content, along with the excellent packaging. The album itself grew on me after my initial rating of 9.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

For me, The Seeds of Love was always my least favorite Tears For Fears album of all time. I loved "Sowing The Seeds Of Love" from the moment I saw the video on MTV, "Woman In Chains" grew on me once I got their Tears Roll Down Greatest Hits album, but "Advice For The Young At Heart" was always a bit schlocky for me (and apparently for Curt too). I never owned the album back in the day, but loved Elemental, Raoul and beyond. Hell I even love Roland's solo album from 2001, which isn't on streaming anywhere and might be hard to find. I just never really went back to Seeds of Love and listened to it much. I never even owed the CD until like 2017. I literally bought this box set because TFF is one of my favorite bands and on the strength of Sowing The Seeds Of Love in surround.

What I've found is a much deeper appreciation for the rest of the album in the process. They played "Bad Man's Song" when I saw them in concert in 2016 and that got me exploring that song more. I wound up adding that to my normal rotations, making it 3-4 songs I liked off the album. But now having really listened to the whole album over and over (largely in surround) I have found that I really like the whole album, except I am still not into "Standing On The Corner Of The Third World." Just does not grab me. Everything else is good, though I do still have to be in the right mood to listen to "Advice." I still think they could have included "Always In The Past" on this album, which still holds its own alongside the album tracks. Heck maybe even "My Life In The Suicide Ranks" would fit too.

So for me, the rating I gave was strongly weighted towards the surround mix, the overall audio quality and the bonus track content, along with the excellent packaging. The album itself grew on me after my initial rating of 9.

My favourite part of the album is Swords and Knives - Year of the Knife - Famous Last Words. Those songs connect really well and I always find myself listening to them in sequence. I didn't like Swords and Knives much at first, but the instrumental section in the middle is breathtaking.

 

[Strilo]

Yeah I agree those three songs are pretty amazing, especially together.

 

[JohnG]

Played the album tonight, my only criticism is that on some songs the lead vocal in the center channel does sound muted compared to the rest of the sound from the left/right speakers. Especially on Sowing The Seeds Of Love, everything sounds great but the vocal sounds mumbled then the big chorus sounds great.
Other than that, its a fun surround disc with real big wide sound which fills up the room.
It is one of my favorite albums and love the first 4 songs immensely. And the sublime "Famous Last Words".
It's a short album compared to these days, just 8 songs.

I give it an 8.

 

[JNL]

This is a great album and surround-wise there are many highlights to be enjoyed. Therefore, highly recommended!

I do agree with all the comments about the vocals on the title track, unfortunately. That song could have been one of the most impressive songs in surround ever (what a trip in terms if composition and arrangement!). I cannot understand why one would want to mix the lead vocal so quietly. It makes it sound really weak, it takes away so much of the impact of the song. On one of the magic moments in the song (for me), when the higher of the two voices joins the lower one at the word ‘time’ (at 04:05) the impact of this added voice is absolutely zero. I struggle to understand this mixing decision.

All in all, I just voted 9. As I said, highly recommended because apart from my complaints about the vocals on the title track, there is SO much to enjoy here!

 

[edisonbaggins]

Y'all, not hearing the volume disparity for lead vocal from the title track to all other tracks. Sounds very consistent to me. 3rd listen. LPCM each time.
Anyone else want to weigh in?!

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Y'all, not hearing the volume disparity for lead vocal from the title track to all other tracks. Sounds very consistent to me. 3rd listen. LPCM each time.
Anyone else want to weigh in?!

I’m not hearing the volume disparities. However I’ve only listened to the LPCM in my car. I give it a 10 all the way. I never listened to the group back in the day. Just their hits on the radio. I love this album. So nice to discover an unknown treasure.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

Y'all, not hearing the volume disparity for lead vocal from the title track to all other tracks. Sounds very consistent to me. 3rd listen. LPCM each time.
Anyone else want to weigh in?!

Not really noticing it either. I always have my centre bumped by a few dB when listening to 5.1 mixes, but I'm also not really hearing anything particularly inconsistent with that track.

 

[JohnG]

I know it’s not my center channel as it is always point on for any material I throw at it. The lead vocal on the title track is mixed way too low. Everything else in the song sounds great though especially the chorus which makes the lack of lead vocal jarring.

 

[edisonbaggins]

So, some of us are hearing a low vocal on the title track and some aren't...

 

[skherbeck]

For me, there are sections of the center channel I felt the need to amplify on the title track, and there are other sections of the same channel on the same track that sound fine as is. Whatever. I love the track and I love the mix. Some people make adjustments to bass/ treble when listening to music; I tinker with the mixes , lol. Since I only listen to ripped FLAC files, rather than actual discs, if there are some minor flaws in a mix (IMHO) and I can fix them to my satisfaction, I'm happy (I always save a copy of the unmolested original mix as well). I really have grown to love 6 out of the 8 tracks on this album, and it's the excellent fidelity and surround mix that has led to my appreciation of the music! (the only songs I still don't care for are "Advice For The Young At Heart" and "Standing On The Corner Of The Third World".) I'm voting 9.

 

[sjcorne]

For me, there are sections of the center channel I felt the need to amplify on the title track, and there are other sections of the same channel on the same track that sound fine as is.

Same here. It starts off ok, but then I hear a slight drop in the center starting in the second verse (I spy tears in their eyes..."). What's still weird to me is just how different the song sounds compared to the old stereo version. Something about the original stereo mix just worked perfectly: it's amazing that they managed to pack all those sounds into two speakers and maintain cohesion. On the 5.1, previously-obscured instrument lines seem to stand out more than the parts I'm used to hearing---and the lead vocal has an entirely different sound to my ears. I'm not sure if it's a different take altogether or if the effects on it aren't a perfect match to the original. Like I said upthread, it's not quite what I was hoping for--but I guess it's not really fair to play armchair mixer here given the challenges SW had to overcome on this project.

 

[edisonbaggins]

10 for me. Thoroughly enjoyable, including the title track.
Review video:

 

[harync]

I have attached an mp3 excerpt from the center channel of "Sowing the seeds of love" and wondering if this is what people are hearing. Below is the L, R, and C in Audacity. During the refrain, the repeated "Sowing the Seeds" is dropped in the center but not the left and right (see first circled section). In addition, there are many places where the vocals are dropped in the center but not the left and right. I would guess this is a stylistic choice by Steven Wilson that doesn't match up to previous experience with the stereo version.

 

[MrSmithers]

I voted a 10 and I have to say this album is just great!!!

On the title track I also noticed the main vocal volume drop, therefore sounding slightly buried at certain points. It's not a biggy to me as it's easily tweak-able. And it doesn't overly detract from what is just a great sounding mix.

I think Year Of The Knife could be one of the best 5.1 mixes there is out there?!?

I haven't listened to any of the CDs yet and, erm, probably won't for quite a while... ☺

Thoroughly recommended. A hot contender for release of the year?!

 

[sjcorne]

During the refrain, the repeated "Sowing the Seeds" is dropped in the center but not the left and right (see first circled section).

Interesting. I hear the processed backing vocals singing "sowing the seeds" primarily in the front right channel, though towards the end of the song they jump between the front left and front right speakers.

 

[harync]

Interesting. I hear the processed backing vocals singing "sowing the seeds" primarily in the front right channel, though towards the end of the song they jump between the front left and front right speakers.

You're right that it's loudest in the Right front. Earlier in the song it sounds like RF>LF>C when listening to each channel separately. There are times at the end of the song when it is only the right front. The original stereo mix is also RF>LF but I never noticed before.

 

[Mackspower]

This thread is getting a bit long so sorry if somebody has already pointed this out. In regard to Steve Wilson's referenced post on page 1:

"In one case, I had to take the first five seconds of 'Sowing The Seeds Of Love' from the original stereo tape, those static sounds of radio tuning that I could have had a lot of fun with in surround. I couldn't find that on any of the multitracks. We tried going to Roland's personal tape store, but it was nowhere to be found, and nobody remembered where it had come from.

I believe the 'static sounds' he's referring to actually come from a Dolby set-up CD. They are a combination of Pink and White noise samples along with some other interesting wide spectrum and phased sounds to help installers and engineers set-up physical sound systems. Great forum, my first post.

 

[musicmanhires]

Another home run for Steven Wilson!
Awesome 5.1 mix.
Album sounds fantastic in surround.