Since we're now over halfway through the year, I thought it might be a good time to take a look back at the good, bad, and even ugly from this year so far and also speculate a little more about what could be coming in the next 6 months.
The Good (So Far...):
-Dutton Vocalion are slaying it yet again with 9 Quadraphonic SACDs that contain a total of 16 Quadraphonic albums. I have yet to receive my Poco & Johnnie Taylor SACDs but I've thoroughly enjoyed the Art Garfunkel, Rick Derringer, Guess Who, and Hues Corporation SACDs. DV continue to be the best reissue company for Sony-owned Quadraphonic mixes, and I'm sure they will have at least a few more SACDs for the rest of the year too!
-My favorite releases of the year (so far) have once again been the fabulous 5.1 remixes from Steven Wilson. "Brave", "Heavy Horses", and (especially) "Roxy Music" continue to be played over and over again, and I can't wait to see what other remixes are lined up for later this year. (More on that later...)
The Not So Good (even bad & ugly...)
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"Fleetwood Mac": Great album and mix, but the DVD definitely suffers from subpar audio quality, no doubt as a result of the Dolby Digital encoding.
-I've also been a lot less impressed with "Barclay James Harvest" and Mansun's "Attack of the Grey Lantern". The latter record is particularly disappointing in 5.1, one of the least impressive mixes I have ever heard.
Finally, I have never been a big Guns N Roses fan, but people seem to like the new 5.1 surround mix, so even despite the expense, I would consider this release a win for those that like it.
Now, on to the future!
-I am very happy for all of you who will finally get to hear the great 5.1 surround mix of "Eye in the Sky" from the Alan Parsons Project when the single disc Blu-Ray is released. It's one of the best 5.1 surround mixes of 2017 and it's definitely worthy of the Surround Sound Grammy!
-Despite the expense, I'm also looking forward to both the Quadraphonic reissue of "Bitches Brew" from Miles Davis and the new 5.1 surround mix of "Music From Big Pink" from the Band.
And last but not least, speculation time!
-Starting with Steven Wilson and his remixes: "This Was" from Jethro Tull and "Clutching at Straws" from Marillion appear to be the most likely remixes to be released this Fall. There will also be another remix from XTC, but it's not official yet what that title will be. On the RUSH front, there should be a 40th anniversary reissue of "Hemispheres", but it's not known at this time whether or not there will be any 5.1 surround mixes included. If there is a new remix from Gentle Giant, it will probably be "Free Hand", but again, there's hardly any news about that sort of thing right now. Finally, the outlier as always is "The Seeds of Love" from Tears for Fears. It's been completed for years, so will it finally arrive this year or continue to sit on the shelf?! (And I would die happy if Steven Wilson remixed Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure"!)
-Beatles-related projects: Two big reissues are supposedly in the works for later this year, and there's a very good chance both of them will contain 5.1 surround sound on Blu-Ray. The first is the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' White Album, and the other release is supposed to be a big reissue of John Lennon's classic album "Imagine". I expect we will hear more about both of these releases starting next month.
-"Animals" from Pink Floyd: After the "Early Years" debacle, who would ever have imagined that we would get "Animals" in 5.1 surround this year, but according to a recent Roger Waters interview, that's supposed to happen! I'm predicting an Immersion-Style box set with Blu-Ray & DVD along with a single disc Multichannel SACD from Analogue Productions/Acoustic Sounds (also a box set release of "Animals" should confirm once and for all if the album was ever mixed in Quadraphonic)
-On the Rhino front, good sir ForagingRhino has already kindly alerted us to the release of the Doobie Brothers Quadio box set later this year, but I'm sure there might be a few more surprises in store (maybe a 40th anniversary box set for "The Cars"?!)
-Later this year we should also see both "The Construkction of Light" and "The Power to Believe" remixed and released in 5.1 surround from King Crimson, both in a box set and as CD/DVDA-V releases, just like the rest of the 40th anniversary series
I think that's all I've got for now, except to say that there will surely be some surprises that we don't see coming. Aren't there always some of those?
