Steven Wilson XTC’s Skylarking to be released in Dolby Atmos (Blu-Ray out September 27!)

[rtbluray]

https://burningshed.com/xtc_skylarking-dolby-atmos_cd_blu-ray?page=2

The second of XTC’s albums to be mixed in Dolby Atmosby Steven Wilson, 1986's Skylarking - sequenced and produced by the legendary Todd Rundgren - is perhaps the most acclaimed of all the band's releases.

Mixed from the original multi-track studio master tapes and fully approved by XTC.

Contents:

CD: 2016 album mix plus bonus album track mixes by Steven Wilson.

Blu-ray:
Full album and additional tracks mixed in Dolby Atmos + instrumental versions
Full album and additional tracks in DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound (2016 mix)
Full album, additional tracks and instrumentals in 24/96 stereo (2016 mix).
Full album - original mix (corrected polarity edition) in 24/96 stereo.

Presented in replica mini-vinyl style packaging with booklet including photos and album lyrics

All 2024 and 2016 material mixed by Steven Wilson.

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An album unlike anything else in the band's back catalogue, dense orchestrations and a more organic soundscape were deployed in servicing some of the band's most melodically rich and sophisticated songs.

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Skylarking: XTC’s most commercially successful album was, for many years, also its most mythical with tales of “lost” multi-track tapes (sadly true of other XTC albums but not this one), a song originally dropped from the album only to be replaced when it inadvertently became a hit single in the USA, a perfect match, on paper, between the ideal Britpop band a decade before the term was invented and an Anglophile super-producer that turned rather imperfect in personality terms but still resulted in a classic album.

CD
features the 2016 album mix & bonus album track mixes by Steven Wilson

1 Summer's Cauldron
2 Grass
3 The Meeting Place
4 That's Really Super, Supergirl
5 Ballet for a Rainy Day
6 1000 Umbrellas
7 Season Cycle
8 Earn Enough for Us
9 Big Day
10 Another Satellite
11 Mermaid Smiled
12 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
13 Dear God
14 Dying
15 Sacrificial Bonfire
+
16 Extrovert
17 Let’s Make a Den
18 Little Lighthouse
19 The Troubles

Blu-ray
Full album & additional tracks mixed in Dolby Atmos + instrumental versions
Full album & additional tracks in DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound (2016 mix)
Full album, additional tracks & instrumentals in 24/96 stereo (2016 mix).
Full album - original mix (corrected polarity edition) in 24/96 stereo.

 

[Marplot]

Oh hell yeah. At least these have always been a good price so buying a newer model won't break the bank.

 

[Dynamic Editor]

Is this expected to hit other retailers, or do I have to buy straight from the website?

 

[Tres Discrete]

Oh hell yeah. At least these have always been a good price so buying a newer model won't break the bank.

Seems like the surround world has gone from famine to feast with the adoption of Atmos…

 

[privateuniverse]

I hope SW/AP will use a different company to author this disc than they did with Big Express.

 

[H.A.L.]

Pre-ordered! Enjoyed the earlier 5.1. Should I just send my CC info to SDE and have them take it out on a monthly basis?

 

[GOS]

Pre-ordered! Enjoyed the earlier 5.1. Should I just send my CC info to SDE and have them take it out on a monthly basis?

yes, that's what I'm doing.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I’m honestly getting sick of Atmos upgrades for existing 5.1 titles.

 

[Tres Discrete]

I’m honestly getting sick of Atmos upgrades for existing 5.1 titles.

My ears like it…but my wallet doesn’t…especially since I came to the game late & paid a premium for many of the 5.1 mixes
Still…it’s a good problem to have

 

[edisonbaggins]

My ears like it…but my wallet doesn’t…especially since I came to the game late & paid a premium for many of the 5.1 mixes
Still…it’s a good problem to have

It’s a 1st World problem, to be sure.

Just feels like fleecing fans. I’m all about Atmos, but I take way more kindly to new titles, over rehashed ones. Sometimes re-rehashed…

 

[atlantasteve]

Is all 2016 MCH content on this release?

 

[Tres Discrete]

It’s a 1st World problem, to be sure.

Just feels like fleecing fans. I’m all about Atmos, but I take way more kindly to new titles, over rehashed ones. Sometimes re-rehashed…

Agreed…
I’m a little irked each time I repurchase a 5.1 mix on Atmos…but I keep doing it
I think the Van Morrison “Moondance” Atmos mix convinced me that there was indeed room for improvement

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

We're gonna have to start a new AA group "AA" for Atmos Anonymous! With big pictures of Steven Wilson and Stephen W. Tayler with a big "X" across each of them for all the $$$$ they are costing us. We'll add SDE's Paul Sinclair to the posters, too!!!

 

[sjcorne]

I'd like to think the exchange below maybe had some role in getting the wheels turning for this release

But seriously, all of SW's Atmos upgrades of previous 5.1's released thus far (Larks Tongues, The Yes Album, Fragile) have been amazing and I expect this will be no different. "Summer's Cauldron" in particular seems perfect for Atmos. Glad it's in a relatively-inexpensive two-disc package too, rather than a box set like the Yes titles.

It'll be interesting to see if they carry on with the rest of the catalog - I hope at least Oranges & Lemons gets the treatment, as there's so many layers to that album and the existing 5.1 is a little bright for my tastes.

 

[Dynamic Editor]

I'd like to think the exchange below maybe had some role in getting the wheels turning for this release

View attachment 107738

But seriously, all of SW's Atmos upgrades of previous 5.1's released thus far (Larks Tongues, The Yes Album, Fragile) have been amazing and I expect this will be no different. "Summer's Cauldron" in particular seems perfect for Atmos. Glad it's in a relatively-inexpensive two-disc package too, rather than a box set like the Yes titles.

It'll be interesting to see if they carry on with the rest of the catalog - I hope at least Oranges & Lemons gets the treatment, as there's so many layers to that album and the existing 5.1 is a little bright for my tastes.

I'm actually curious what he wanted to improve upon the Fragile 5.1 mix that he didn't need to do here. Also, are there any other mixes of his that he wants to revisit?

 

[humprof]

I'd like to think the exchange below maybe had some role in getting the wheels turning for this release

View attachment 107738

But seriously, all of SW's Atmos upgrades of previous 5.1's released thus far (Larks Tongues, The Yes Album, Fragile) have been amazing and I expect this will be no different. "Summer's Cauldron" in particular seems perfect for Atmos. Glad it's in a relatively-inexpensive two-disc package too, rather than a box set like the Yes titles.

It'll be interesting to see if they carry on with the rest of the catalog - I hope at least Oranges & Lemons gets the treatment, as there's so many layers to that album and the existing 5.1 is a little bright for my tastes.

I get where @edisonbaggins is coming from: there's lots of stuff out there that has never had a surround mix. But I love hearing what geniuses like SW can do with an expanded palette, especially with albums I know and love. And I resent it less when it comes to Andy Partridge, who--unlike any number of mega transnational corporations or aging musical millionaires we could name--can use the money, and definitely isn't in it to bilk his fans.

 

[M-K]

We're gonna have to start a new AA group "AA" for Atmos Anonymous! With big pictures of Steven Wilson and Stephen W. Tayler with a big "X" across each of them for all the $$$$ they are costing us. We'll add SDE's Paul Sinclair to the posters, too!!!

"AAA": Anonymous Atmos Addicts

 

[JediJoker]

Great to be getting an Atmos "upgrade" of this wonderful album, but its release is bittersweet, as it undoubtedly signals that there are currently no more XTC albums that can be mixed into surround/immersive for the first time. At present, we are missing:

1. White Music
2. Go 2
3. English Settlement
4. Mummer
5. Apple Venus Volume 1
6. Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)

Six albums—that's half of XTC's twelve-album discography (not counting the Dukes of Stratosphear)—have partially or completely missing multitracks, or have other issues preventing new mixes. It's a sorry state of affairs.

 

[nickbee8]

I’m honestly getting sick of Atmos upgrades for existing 5.1 titles.

I agree... the atmos isn't always "better" (Rumours) and yet sometimes it really is (Animals) so there's always that temptation. Thankyou to people like yourself who help us decide. I just couldn't afford the new Yes box-blocked atmos but I love those albums... so, learning to live with what I've got and remember how lucky I am (to have what I have already)

 

[Bluedemon25]

Does anyone know when an Amazon us link may appear for this? Shipping overseas are necessarily gets a little expensive.