HiRez Poll XTC - Nonsuch [DVD-A/BluRay Audio]

[cupboy]

Is there any content on the Blu-ray that's not on the dvd-audio version?

 

[milt]

cupboy,
The content of each disc has been listed multiple times.
I may be sounding like a curmudgeon but good lord anyone can find this for themselves in myriad ways.
Have you considered looking at Amazon, APE or Burning Shed?
In short, NO.

 

[MyCuff]

cupboy,
The content of each disc has been listed multiple times.
I may be sounding like a curmudgeon but good lord anyone can find this for themselves in myriad ways.
Have you considered looking at Amazon, APE or Burning Shed?
In short, NO.

Which question are you answering? Yours or his? Well done, sir!

 

[Perp]

I'm finally listening to this BD. I've never heard this XTC record before but I'm on track 7 and liking what I hear. Though, not too crazy about the two surround mixes. DTS-HD sounds a bit louder in the center channel. Overall, the DTS-HD is about 5 db hotter than the LPCM. I find the LPCM smoother and it has a bit more depth to it. What I'm not liking so far is the lead vocal in the rear channels in many songs. I'm on track 8 now. Also, don't like that the drum kit sounds like it's over my head. My surround speakers are to the side of the room.

Last XTC record I purchased was "Oranges and Lemons". I've own everything from "Drums & Wires" through O&L, minus "Skylarking". I've had Skylarking for a couple of years now and know it well.

I'm saving my vote until I have a few more days to go through the entire disc.

 

[Perp]

Not sure about the DVD-A but has anyone noticed that on the menu screen where it lists the song titles, Humble Daisy, The Smartest Monkeys and The Disappointed are shown as, Humble Daify, The Smarteft Monkeys and The Difappointed?

 

[Perp]

Also, The Ugly Underneath is shown as The Vgly Vnderneath.

 

[sukothai]

They are trying to mimic old English script where u is written as a v and s is written as an f.

 

[Perp]

^ So much for my education.

 

[Failed Muso]

Is there any content on the Blu-ray that's not on the dvd-audio version?

Yes, lots

Ignoring the audio track differences, the BD gives you multiple demos, promo videos, studio video recordings and instrumentals...

https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/

 

[zabble]

Coincidence vortex. I watched the extras portion of this last night. Having never seen the promo films before, I was surprised to see that of "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead", especially being that yesterday was the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Surreal.

On top of that, I just heard TBOPP on the radio not more than 15 minutes ago.

Overall, the realease is a bit too "poppy" for my personal tastes, but I have a better appreciation of the record after having watched the studio footage. My favorite moment on the disc is the guitar solo in the rears during "That Wave".

 

[Perp]

Now that I took more time with this release, I finally voted it a 10. This is a well done very playful surround mix. The problem with the center channel volume that I previously reported is due to my AVR and how it is calibrated, not a fault of the mix. This is one of the best discs in my collection as far as fidelity & content. I like the Gus Dungeon Home Video which is dated and shows the equipment that was being used back then. I don't think I've ever seen an XTC music video before. Being the first time I've ever heard the music here, with the exception of two tracks, I don't know why I waited so long. I can't wait to hear Apple Venus Volumes 1 & 2 since I have not heard those either and hope they get combined on one BD. Also, I hope they throw in The Dukes of Stratosphear releases too.

 

[Perp]

I can't remember but is XTC the artist that takes a lyric out of a previous record to title their next effort? I hear the lyric "Apple Venus" contained in the song "When She Appeared".

 

[ChristopherLees]

Now that I took more time with this release, I finally voted it a 10. This is a well done very playful surround mix. The problem with the center channel volume that I previously reported is due to my AVR and how it is calibrated, not a fault of the mix. This is one of the best discs in my collection as far as fidelity & content. I like the Gus Dungeon Home Video which is dated and shows the equipment that was being used back then. I don't think I've ever seen an XTC music video before. Being the first time I've ever heard the music here, with the exception of two tracks, I don't know why I waited so long. I can't wait to hear Apple Venus Volumes 1 & 2 since I have not heard those either and hope they get combined on one BD. Also, I hope they throw in The Dukes of Stratosphear releases too.

the bluray of nonsuch has a demo of "I'm the man who murdered love" which appears in finshed form on apple venus

 

[peterzach]

Well, since 10 is the highest score that can be given, this one deserves it for sure.
I have always been a XTC fan so was really glad to get my hands on this. This album originally came out when I was a new dad and my second child had just been born so I did not have as time to devote to listening to music so when this came out I liked the album and thought there were a few good catchy songs and disliked some of the songs and thought the album was a bit long, that they put to many songs on it. Now 20 years later and being able to listen to this in all its lossless glory and being able to give this album the attention it deserved after repeated listening some of the songs I disliked all of a sudden become some of my favorites and the album does not feel to long at all and I like the diversity of songs on this release.
I listened to this title on home system loved it but being able to listen in the car every day for over a week the songs really soaked in and love what Andy P. and band bates recorded over 20 years ago and of course Steven Wilson has done another exceptional job on the mix for this surround.
Can't wait to hear the next title to come out in surround in this series and only reason this album got bumped from my car system is I finally got Yes CTTE and am soaking that title in now.

 

[jdmack]

Now 20 years later and being able to listen to this in all its lossless glory

Well, somewhat lossless. The album was recorded on a Mitsubishi digital system. I can't find any information online to know if this was any better than 16 bit 48K, but I suspect that this is the specs for the source material.

J. D.

 

[Woody71]

That's likely 'Books Are Burning', where David Gregory plays a multi-part solo on the fade. Right rear and then left rear with a different effect on it that boosts midrange as my guitar tech friend says.

Having XTC in surround is a dream come true.

It's actually Dave and Andy duelling solos, a'la 'Abbey Road' at the end of the track....Andy first, then Dave.

 

[Woody71]

I can't remember but is XTC the artist that takes a lyric out of a previous record to title their next effort? I hear the lyric "Apple Venus" contained in the song "When She Appeared".

Yes, it's detailed in the XTC book "Chalkhills and Children". Partridge says any reference before that was coincidental, yet he made it happen for "Apple Venus" after being made aware of an internet debate. 'Nonesuch' is used in the previous album too, so don't know how coincidental the whole process was!!

 

[jdmack]

Yes, it's detailed in the XTC book "Chalkhills and Children". Partridge says any reference before that was coincidental, yet he made it happen for "Apple Venus" after being made aware of an internet debate. 'Nonesuch' is used in the previous album too, so don't know how coincidental the whole process was!!

"Ballet for A Rainy Day" on skylarking contained the phrase "Orange and lemons..." The next album was "Oranges and Lemons." The song "Chalkhills and Children" from this album has the word "nonsuch" in the lyric, which became the title of the next album. Andy says that these were coincidences, but when the fans started speculating which word or words from Nonsuch would be the title of the next XTC album, Andy decided to go with it. The next and final XTC album, Wasp Star, was not derived from any previous lyric.

 

[timbre4]

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for clarification.

 

[dobyblue]

10 for me, I knew "My Bird Performs" would sound amazing in 5.1 and I wasn't wrong, goosebumps before the bass even kicked in. Such an expansive surround mix. This is how all albums should be done, so many goodies, no loudness wars, surround sound, lovely jubbly.

Sorry to hear that your still waiting. At least the BD gives you the option of LPCM 5.1 - it's a dual layer BD with about 33 GB of data so storage space is not the reason for going with 24/48 DTS HD MA - not a deal breaker for me. Still a curious decision.

Surprised that Neil hasn't mentioned it here, but the reason the dts-ma track is 24/48 instead of 24/96 is that they couldn't get it to mux correctly within specs for old profile 1.0 players, throwing a "possibly exceeds maximum bitrate" error when compiling. At first I thought it curious that they wouldn't just do it anyway and not worry about players like the BD-P1000 (remember the only Blu-ray player on the market for a couple months?) which represent no more than 0.01% of players on the market...but honestly the ONLY reason to include dts-ma anyway is to allow compatibility with all set-ups, it allows those without HDMI or analogue multichannel to stream 1.509 Mbps dts core.