Some clarification is needed, I guess.
Because the series flies all around the map--from vintage(let's call it 'pre-Beatles')pop and surf-oriented material to '60's & '70s C&W to '80s mainstream AM--you're going to get a wide degree of mix quality, from very limited 3-track sources, to 8, 16, 32-track for more modern tracks, depending on the source.
ASSUMING the multis WERE used, then, one can't expect much from 3 or even 4-track sources. Even the best remix engineers and producers can only do so much; therefore, you get a lot of ambience, delay, and reverb in the rears, and the rears often are simply duplicating what's up front(which is why a decision was made--right or wrong--to put THE DOORS in L/C/R only for the recent 5.1's. Better a balanced front mix than a wonky 5.1, I guess).
There is also a suspicion that *some* of these tracks did NOT have multis available for remixing, which might explain why some mixes sound very discrete, while others come off as contrived, almost faux 5.1. Either that, or attempts to mix some of this stuff were rejected for diluting the impact of the original stereo mixes(which should always be used as a reference for any 5.1 remixing, obviously).
As for "We Belong," it's one of the more obvious 5.1 remixes in the series, if only because it was mixed almost as if with the more adventurous(some would say absurd)ideas about mixing '70s quad in mind, what with bouncing things around, making it seem wonky and strange, when one expects to hear something more conventional.
ED
