Coldplay "A Head Full of Dreams" (5.1 Surround Blu-Ray)

[peterzach]

Ryan, thanks for your review on this.
I will be picking this up for sure but just waiting to see over next few weeks if this can be ordered from a Canadian site or at least a reseller on amazon.ca.
Hmv is one of the last places to go into a physical store here in Canada and they don't have it either as far as I can tell.
Still seems bizarre to me that I can't find one place to order it from in Canada, a band as big as Coldplay and this has gotten really weird distribution as to even the main selling sites in USA as it's available, then not available, then available again. Is that because it sold well or did they not press very many copies of this.

peter

 

[quattroatl]

I just had a full listen and am very pleased. It's not a Steven Wilson or Elliot Scheiner mix, but it's definitely enjoyable and well executed. You can tell that they put some effort into the new mix. Track 2 (Birds) and track 6 (Fun) really sound great to my ears. For a contemporary release, the entire album sounds warm and full. The bass notes are robust throughout the album. If we as surround enthusiasts show our appreciation by buying these up, then maybe other artists will follow. I would definitely buy their back catalogue in surround!

 

[Quad5Ny]

It's not a bad 5.1 release. Stay away from the PCM track though, it is horribly clipped.

Linked below are 45 second clips of 3 songs (in 5.1). They should play fine with most TV's built-in media players or on your PC if you have a surround setup.
Birds (45s), Fun (45s), Up & Up (45s)
Right click, Save As

PCM 2.0 (24/192)

DTS-HD MA 5.1 (24/96)

 

[timbre4]

Update from Bullmoose:

Tim: I have been touting Bullmoose for having this release with a great price all along, while other vendors release information changed by the hour. Now Bullmoose lists the Coldplay BD as "This item is not available at this time"? I ordered it as soon as I learned about it a few weeks ago. Folks that ordered elsewhere are already listening and commenting on it. Help me help you! Please advise.

Chris: "Hi Tim, Your order is fine. We stopped taking orders last week when we found out what our allotment was. Not many copies were actually sent to the US. They only did it for Grammy considerations, I'm told. That's a funny move if you ask me. Your copy was shipped to us last Thursday. As far as we know, it's still scheduled for Friday, so we should have it to you by then."

Tim: Thank you. The second question will be are you expecting to receive more and at what price?

Chris: "Tim, I think we probably can get more. How many, I don't know. We will keep it at a reasonable price if we get more."

 

[fredblue]

Update from Bullmoose:

Tim: I have been touting Bullmoose for having this release with a great price all along, while other vendors release information changed by the hour. Now Bullmoose lists the Coldplay BD as "This item is not available at this time"? I ordered it as soon as I learned about it a few weeks ago. Folks that ordered elsewhere are already listening and commenting on it. Help me help you! Please advise.

Chris: "Hi Tim, Your order is fine. We stopped taking orders last week when we found out what our allotment was. Not many copies were actually sent to the US. They only did it for Grammy considerations, I'm told. That's a funny move if you ask me. Your copy was shipped to us last Thursday. As far as we know, it's still scheduled for Friday, so we should have it to you by then."

Tim: Thank you. The second question will be are you expecting to receive more and at what price?

Chris: "Tim, I think we probably can get more. How many, I don't know. We will keep it at a reasonable price if we get more."

Oh.. How.. Bizarre..

..so the label (or distributor?) chose not to send many copies of Coldplays' latest album in Surround Sound to vendors in the U.S.. the nation which has got to be the biggest potential market for surround on the planet by a long chalk..!?

They just sent a small number to justify a potential Grammy nomination..!?

Can you figure it out? Cos unless it's part of some longer term strategy for the people who remixed this into surround to either go back and do the whole catalogue in 5.1, or they're looking at remixing a slew of new albums from other big current artists into surround.. then I can't imagine why they would pursue such a thing unless it were for their own kudos or something..!

Either way, you've uncovered this surround discs' limited status in the States at least, so hopefully that should be all the extra nudge of encouragement anyone here needs to buy it now before U.S. vendors are all sold out..!!! :yikes

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I purchased. Just under $15 shipped for the BRD from Import CD. Excellent price I thought.

 

[rtbluray]

Ah, so that's why it came out last Friday. Considerations for the upcoming Grammy awards have to be releases that came out between Oct 1, 2015 and Sept 30, 2016, so by releasing it on the 23rd, they are ensuring that it can be put up for Grammy consideration in the surround sound category.
And hey, if it got nominated (and won) that would be fine by me, cause it is indeed a worthy release!


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[DuncanS]

Its not released until Friday (30th Sept.) in the UK, so I wonder if the Grammy nomination is the reason its appeared in the USA before over here? It does seem a bit odd to limit the number of copies to what must be the biggest market. But logic, labels, and marketing never seem to go together!

 

[von kulper]

Wow, thanks for the update on that, Tim! Feeling much better

 

[fredblue]

Ah, so that's why it came out last Friday. Considerations for the upcoming Grammy awards have to be releases that came out between Oct 1, 2015 and Sept 30, 2016, so by releasing it on the 23rd, they are ensuring that it can be put up for Grammy consideration in the surround sound category.
And hey, if it got nominated (and won) that would be fine by me, cause it is indeed a worthy release!


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ahh.. and that's why they are seemingly not in any hurry about releasing it here in the UK before the 30th..! (they might never release it in the UK after all..! Haha.. )

Oh yes! it would be wonderful indeed if this Coldplay 5.1 were to win the Grammy..!!

(but a part of me would love to see one of the Unsung Heroes of Quad, Wayne Tarnowski, win for his incredible Quad mixing that finally made it out in pristine discrete surround master tape quality on that stunning Rhino Quadio Chicago Blu-ray Audio set..! Is that even eligible under the rules of entry for the Surround Sound Grammy, do you know Ryan? )

 

[rtbluray]

ahh.. and that's why they are seemingly not in any hurry about releasing it here in the UK before the 30th..! (they might never release it in the UK after all..! Haha.. )

Oh yes! it would be wonderful indeed if this Coldplay 5.1 were to win the Grammy..!!

(but a part of me would love to see one of the Unsung Heroes of Quad, Wayne Tarnowski, win for his incredible Quad mixing that finally made it out in pristine discrete surround master tape quality on that stunning Rhino Quadio Chicago Blu-ray Audio set..! Is that even eligible under the rules of entry for the Surround Sound Grammy, do you know Ryan? )

That's a good question that I do not know the answer to.
All I know is that only newer 5.1 mixes (not classic Quad mixes) have ever been nominated, so I would say the chances are pretty slim.


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[JonUrban]

Here's the thing that ticks me off about this. Sure, it's out there and we can buy it. But if it's only out there to win an award, and the concept was created to win an award, then what good does that do for surround music?

Looking back at the earlier surround winners, former chart familiar names like Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to name a few, it didn't do shit for them or for surround. People who should be winning this award are named Steven Wilson and Andy Jackson and others who do it for the LOVE OF THE MUSIC and not to win some award no one gives a crap about.

(Pardon my angry old fart rant)

:nuke

 

[kap'n krunch]

ahh the Grammies (Grannies)---

IIRC its last name was PAY. O. LA.

 

[kap'n krunch]

he married ... "Gwyniee"...the most hated...oh I mean , the most disliked star in Hollyvooooooood!

but

you know?? I STILL Like her...

yeah , you can throw me out of your party for saying that...but I have a soft spot (my underbelly)...for Libra girls...even when they spew out such nonsense as " we had to have a kid because.....(fill in the blank)"
...something like.."we OWE IT to the World"....Gwynnie , Gwynnie, Gwynnie...we still love you anyway!!!...although not as much as we used to...BUT.....we do-----"

 

[quattroatl]

Did you hear the Keane surround mix rejigged, Kap..??

That's a big time improvement imho!

Yours impatiently,
FB x

I have Keane's Hopes and Fears in both SACD and dualdisc. The surround mix is disappointing to say the least. In fact, I listen to this mix in 2-channel DTS-X Neo the few times I pop it in my player.

Is there a "corrected" mix out there that makes this surround mix better?

 

[fredblue]

I have Keane's Hopes and Fears in both SACD and dualdisc. The surround mix is disappointing to say the least. In fact, I listen to this mix in 2-channel DTS-X Neo the few times I pop it in my player.

Is there a "corrected" mix out there that makes this surround mix better?

I will PM you when I am back at the computer, should be in the next 20-30 mins

 

[rtbluray]

Here's the thing that ticks me off about this. Sure, it's out there and we can buy it. But if it's only out there to win an award, and the concept was created to win an award, then what good does that do for surround music?

Looking back at the earlier surround winners, former chart familiar names like Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to name a few, it didn't do shit for them or for surround. People who should be winning this award are named Steven Wilson and Andy Jackson and others who do it for the LOVE OF THE MUSIC and not to win some award no one gives a crap about.

(Pardon my angry old fart rant)

:nuke

Pardon me, Jon, but I don't think the Grammys should stop us from buying or enjoying this release. Even if it was done for the wrong reasons, who cares?! It's still great! This is what we have all been clamoring for! This is a great surround sound mix (released in high-resolution) by a very popular artist that has the ability to shift a lot of units.
We support a lot of flawed releases. Some are too expensive. Some are released in the worst possible format (DVD-V). Some have terrible mixes, and even if the mixes are good, sometimes the music is too terrible to bear!

Well this is a release that does everything extremely well, and anyone who doesn't support this release for the wrong reasons is doing a terrible disservice to everything we stand for!

 

[perzon57]

Well,my reason for not supporting this is that I don't like the music.

 

[rtbluray]

Well,my reason for not supporting this is that I don't like the music.

That's a perfectly legitimate reason, and there's no reason to roll your eyes because if it...


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[drphibes]

I spent some time over the weekend spotify-ing the album to see if I liked it. It's worth it for the money. I pulled the trigger just now over at ImportCDs. Amusingly, I had to search for "Head Full of Dream" (Dream, not Dreams) to find it.