HiRez Poll Weather Report - MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER [SACD]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this HiRez Surround Disc!
The Quadraphonic mix is also available to stream in Dolby Audio via Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/mysterious-traveller/188263606

 

[VACamper]

I've owned this disc as a CD for years, and it never got a lot of playtime, so I resisted buying this single-layer SACD for quite a while. I'm glad I finally took the plunge, because this disc is really good. The 5.1 mix is quite adventurous, and uses the rear channels for more than just ambiance, often placing sax, synth, and percussion tracks in the rear. Sometimes, the rear channels sound very discrete, and other times, they mimic the mix in the front channels. The front image is spread out across the front three channels, with no instruments bunched up in the center channel (which I generally dislike, perhaps because my center speaker is different from the L/R main speakers).

The 5.1 mix really opens up the music and lets you hear what's going on far more than the stereo CD. That's especially important for music of this complexity. In 5.1 surround, this music is far more interesting to me than before. This is very creative jazz fusion, especially for it's time (1974). It has never really been matched by other bands since - there is no other band quite like Weather Report!

Fidelity is very good, especially for it's age. There are some quiet moments, like at the beginning of track 2 (American Tango), where the notes just pop out of silent darkness, and their tonality and reverberation are so life-like that the band must surely be in the room with you. Bass seems to be a little underwhelming, but that's the only flaw I can find.

I gave this disc a 9. Highly recommended if you like this type of music.

 

[EMB]

Excellent album and mix...another 9 here!

ED

 

[Cai Campbell]

It really doesn't get any better than this. A perfect marriage of music and surround mix. Ten points!

 

[seriousfun]

I reviewed this for Surround Professional magazine:

http://surroundpro.com/articles/publish/article_51.shtml

Mysterious Traveler

Weather Report
Columbia/Legacy
SACD Stereo/Multichannel

This is a reissue of the 1974 original recording of Weather Report’s Mysterious Traveler. Weather Report was formed from some of the best players from Miles Davis’s groundbreaking, sometimes derided, and still debated post-jazz bands. Davis, taking off from his modal soundscapes in “Sketches of Spain,” made choices to take far left turns to “Bitches Brew” and “In a Silent Way.” This music sounds tame today, but it does not sound like what evolved into Fuzak over the next decade.

This surround mix as delivered on the SACD is strictly 4.0, with no center channel or LFE content ever. Seated precisely, with tape measure and laser level in hand, this 4.0 mix is one of the most sumptuous I’ve heard. Percussion instruments, such as in the opening of “American Tango.” are heard from the rear and sides with a presence that just isn’t there in the 2-channel mix (although I’m comparing this to a well-worn LP). Ambience that leaves you cold in the 2-channel mix places you in a wonderful space in the 4.0 mix. The ‘verbs sound like EMT plates in all their glory.

Joe Zawinal’s Moogs and Fender Rhodes weren’t the vintage Holy Grail sounds that we try to duplicate virtually on computers these days; they were just the tools at hand then, and are well served by this SACD presentation. Solo synthesizers carry just as much weight as Wayne Shorter’s majestic sax. The rhythm section of Ishmael Wilburn on drums and Alphonso Johnson on bass float, groove, and swing, but serve as machines. This disc shows this group delivering living, breathing music, not jazz as it was or rock as it was, but certainly its own animal.

The liner notes call this a compact disc…can Sony sue itself? Certainly an SACD disc does not conform to any color-book standards, and this SACD can only be played on an SACD player. This is touted as “24-bit digitally remastered,” so I’m not convinced this was DSD until mastering onto the SACD. The sound is undeniably clean, quiet, warm, and three-dimensional. —Doug Osborne

 

[JohnA]

Very clean, I was pleasantly surprised by this surround effort. Certainly worth having.

 

[Bob Romano]

I just found this today and after listening I was wondering if this is the original quad mix (like Jeff Beck and Isley Brothers) or if it was completely new. Just wondering...

Oh and I give the disc an 8 though it is lacking in the bottom end.

 

[EMB]

Bob,

I'm pretty sure this is the original 4-channel quad mix; as noted in the review above, it's strict 4.0 discrete, no center channel, which is why it's hard to imagine it NOT being the old quad mix.

On the other hand, although the Isleys SACD appears to be the old quad, it was remastered for 5.1 with a mild center channel presence(really unnecessary, IMO, but then again, not really noticeable, either).

As for the bass response, I'm not sure the old SQ vinyl offered much more(don't have it here to compare, alas), so it may just be how the quad was mixed.

ED

 

[The Rang]

I gave this one a strong 9.

The recording has a somewhat distant sound but I found that "sound", when combined with the surrounds adding some nice discrete detail, very immersive.
Maybe the nature of Weather Report's music contributed to that effect.
Bass not super strong but adequate IMHO, certainly better than on my 2 channel rig which has no sub so the end result is somewhat anemic.

 

[Quad Linda]

I gave it a 9. Perhaps it's because I prefer Miroslav and Jaco to Alphonso Johnson. Alphonso is a great bassist, none the less. I was a HUGE fan of this band when they hit and remain so to this day. Saw them live when Jaco was the bassist. He sat atop his amp and played Purple Haze solo on his bass! I also have a CD & Q8 of this. Their only albums that are better are Heavy Weather and Black Market, both of which I have on SACD 2ch.

A couple years ago, I did one of my college lectures. Though the lecture was unrelated to music, the question came: "did you listen to glitter rock?" I replied, "a little, but I was too busy listening to jazz fusion" (like this.)

Do you dig Quad/surround? Do you like jazz fusion? If the answers are yes, then you NEED this album! Great mix, great musicians and great songs. GET IT!

Linda

 

[mandrix]

When I saw this post revived, it started me thinking. I bought the SACD a long time ago and for whatever reason evidently forgot about it after a while.
A trip to the disc rack(s) and a thorough search found it buried in a bunch of DVD's. Time to pull this puppy out and listen again.
Thanks for jogging my memory, folks!

 

[d0zer]

Excellent music, excellent surround mix, good sound quality, 9 points.

 

[hirez]

I am now on my fifth iteration of SACD players, Sony, McCormik (sp ) , (which was a slightly modified Pioneer), Marantz, Oppo, Cambridge(CXU), The Cambridge unit is the first one I can listen to this disc without my ears squirming because of the high end. The surround and music have always been excellent but to me the fidelity left a lot to be desired. Now I can say the fidelity matches the rest of the album and I can now vote on this disc, 9. This is perhaps my favorite Weather Report album. I had the four albums that where all released in SQ back in the 70's. I always found the discs to have a hard high end so the Cambridge serves as a revelation to me . Looking forward to Tale Spinning when I get around to ordering it with my next batch of DV discs.


BTW I don't give out 10s easily so a 9 is very good from me.

Interesting that I should think about it but I am now on my third iteration of AVP, first an Arcam reciever, then a McCormik AVP, and now a Marantz AVP. Interesting how each one keeps making it sound better. Which is what they should do. Always Magneplanar speakers.

Current system has Cambridge CXU and Marantz AV7005. Sounds better than ever.

McCormik surround amp.

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Man, I sure wish there was a way for someone to reissue some of this stuff. I love this album, but I can't afford $100+ for the surround version.

 

[sjcorne]

I lucked out and won a copy for like $35 a year or two ago. I have the SQ LP as well. Good columbia quad mix, but the content is pretty far out and just doesn't suit me- It's a good collectable though. Tale Spinnin' is way better in terms of mix and content IMO.

 

[sjcorne]

I had the four albums that where all released in SQ back in the 70's.

As far as I’m aware there were only two Weather Report quads- though I believe Miles’ two quad releases did feature some WR players.

Shame that Heavy Weather and Black Market never made it to quad.

 

[hirez]

As far as I’m aware there were only two Weather Report quads- though I believe Miles’ two quad releases did feature some WR players.

Shame that Heavy Weather and Black Market never made it to quad.

Thanks for the correction of my ageing memory.

 

[Scott M4]

I'm digging the DV edition of Tale Spinnin'... Is there a good reason why DV can't release Traveller too?

 

[hirez]

I just changed my vote from a 9 to a 7. After having listened to both albums, Mysterious Traveller and Tale Spinning, through my current system I find Tale Spinning a much more sonically pleasing sound than the hardness of Mysterious Traveller.

Micheal Dutton succeeds once again and if he releases Mysterious Traveller I will buy his version in a heartbeat.

I much prefer the sonic sound of Tale Spinning over Mysterious Traveller but I prefer the music of Mysterious Traveller.

BTW: I played both through the analog outputs of my Cambridge player and pure sound through the Marantz AVP.

And yes the MT is cut at a higher level than the TS sacd and I tried to adjust for it!