This is indeed a strangely constructed Blu-Ray disc (Disc One anyway, as I haven't gotten to disc Two yet). 'Eclectic' is right. In order to get a quick look at the BluRay last night, I just let DVDFab9 do it's thing with it. It revealed a LOT of "titles", over SIXTY!!!, on the disc. Using DVDFab, I converted all of the DTS 5.1 tracks to FLAC files and let it rip. What it displayed to me was some really strange formatting.
The earlier numbered "titles" consisted of multiple songs, and later the same songs are represented in titles of their own. Very odd. Once I got the audio into Sound Forge (16/48) and checked it out it was clearly revealed throughout that this is an ambient mix. They might have well have just run the stereo through a Surround Master, the rears might have fared better! However, for the late '60s tracks, the lead vocal is sorta separated in the center channel, but it sounds very hollow, almost like you were listening to it over a phone line on some of them.
And as for the reported "little bits and pieces in the rears", I didn't hear it. For example, in "Yellow Submarine", the reply vocal (i.e "As we live a life of ease" "a life of ease") is there in the right rear but it's also in the right front, which to me is a mild disappointment. And on Eleanor Rigby, a tune we all have heard on Anthology and Love in decent surround, this version is strictly a "Pro-Logic Sounding Ambient" presentation.
The video's are, of course, historic, but as I watched them I not only felt old, but after 50 years, I've heard these "hits" so many times that I was almost wishing they would hurry up so I could get to the next one. (I know, Blaspheme!) But really, this would have been an amazing release when VHS first appeared, or even when LaserDisc and DVD came out, but if you remove yourself from your youth and the whole Beatlemania thing, most of these are pretty dated looking films as you might expect, especially the non-performance videos.
ASIDE: I remember after the Beatles broke up how I was so bummed, and looked for every solo release that came around. All through the '70s any Beatles video sighting was very rare either on TV and/or at the movies. A Hard Days Night, Help!, and Let it Be disappeared and were rarely seen. These promo videos were traded at conventions and swap meets on various poorly recorded tapes. In the late '70s a midnight showing of Magical Mystery Tour might be able to be found on a Saturday Night, but you were not going to see any Beatles filmed performances at all through most of the '70s and '80s, until their 3 movies came out on VHS and LD. (Even today Let it Be has yet to be made available [Yes, I have the LD and there was a beta])
So, these videos coming out 35 years ago would have been monumental. Today, they are basically just another product at the few stores that still sell this stuff.
It's all great, it's all nice to see finally come out, but IMHO, it's a few decades too late, and the 5.1 Remix is disappointing at best. I supposed we should be happy with the Anthology and Film 5.1, as well as the "Love" DVD-A, but instead, I feel a bit ambivilant, mostly because of the time lag and the amazing joy we experienced when Anthology and Love hit the streets. It's too bad that the audio here did not more resemble those earlier video releases, or even the "McCartney Years", which is an impressive audio and video presentation without it being too overly surround.
Your results may vary.
