HiRez Poll Marillion - BRAVE [Blu-Ray Audio]

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Rate the BDA of Marillion - BRAVE

  • 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Poor Content, Surround Mix, and Fidelity

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    46

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Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2018 reissue of the classic 1994 album by Marillion entitled "Brave".
This new 4CD/Blu-Ray deluxe edition includes a brand new 5.1 surround mix remixed by Steven Wilson as well as a 70-minute documentary on the making of the album and three music videos.

(n)(y)

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I'm listening to this album on Tidal (hi-res and CD quality) while waiting for my parcel... Therefore, I could only hear the stereo remix, the original mix and the live album.
At the moment, I'd give this a 9. It's a great remix - the music has so many layers that it definitely benefits from having more clarity and detail. I also like that the piano note at the beginning of "Living with the Big Lie" has been shifted earlier, of about 1sec. It's more logical to me now. The live performance is great and a nice addition to the studio album. I think I'll play this quite often in the coming weeks.
Looking forward to hear the surround mix, then I'll vote.
 
Listened to this yesterday. Much more discrete mix compared to Misplaced Childhood. Great low end.
As an album I have always liked & listened Misplaced Childhood a lot more than Brave but this mix will surely make me listen to Brave a lot more than before.

A solid 10.
 
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Mine came from Racket Records, the bands website. Its 24.99 pounds without VAT... right now. I'm not sure what that translates to for you Kap. I think I paid $36 or so, shipped.

That’s like the same as Amazon UK (£29.99 incl. VAT. £24.99 without). Mine arrived from base.com today (not seen it cheaper anywhere else). They sell it for £20.83 without VAT (£24.99 incl. VAT). Their shipping charges is also less than what Amazon UK charges. At least within Europe :cool:
 
This release is a revelation for me !. I followed Marillion closely back in their early days and loved their first 4 albums with Fish at the helm. The Hogarth years have somehow past me by until I gave this a try, I buy anything that Mr Wilson has remixed. This album is superb very layered and complex compositions superbly mixed to 5.1 and very discreet. It's very clear that Wilson was heavily influenced by this album as you can pick out various parts and arrangements similar to his solo work. It's a very solid 10 for me.
 
This has been a highly regarded album of mine since its debut in 1994. After hearing the first Porcupine Tree surround mixes over a decade ago and getting the 5.1 bug, I have hoped for someone to create a 5.1 mix of this album and prayed that the "someone" would be Steve Wilson. He was already familiar with Marillion as a producer/mixer + his music seemed to resonate with Marillion fans as well. I had high expectations.

I am not disappointed. Vote is a 10
The 5.1 mix is an immersive/discrete treat that pleasantly surprised me with some subtle and not so subtle changes to the mix.

It may be the farthest Steve Wilson has gone in modernizing an original mix. But don't get me wrong, it never quite crosses that line of changing the whole dynamic of a song.

At most a couple of notes get moved around a measure or two. It will likely throw off those well familiar with the music - as your brain beats your ears to the next note that comes in a second later in the new mix. There are also a few choices of de-emphasizing some instrumentation over highlighting things that were a bit more murky in the original.

The main improvement over Dave Meegan's fantastic original mix is in the main vocals. There is a dramatic improvement in the clarity of the vocals.
The main vocals are mostly front and center “in the room”. The do not come across as murky as the original mix.

You can clearly make out the sound of the lead singer taking a breath in. Kind of cool. This mix does put more reverb in the vocals. This probably will throw off some people that are very familiar with the music. I got over it by the second listen and I doubt the uninitiated will notice it as a distraction.

Wilson has done a great job of placing instrumentation and effects discretely into the hard left and right sound fields. Very cool as my set-up is a traditional 5.1 set. Left /Center / Right up front - Left and right rears behind me & sub. It really sounds like I have an extra pair of surrounds on the side of the room.

The highlight of the mix may be freeing up the vocals but it also does a great job uncovering all the different guitar sounds. Solos and quick focus points appear in different quadrants and really give you a better sense of all the layering that took place on the original.

Wilson really starts getting Flaming Lips crazy (well maybe not that crazy) during the frantic “Wave /Mad /Opium Den/Slide” suite of songs. Vocals bouncing to each speaker, swirling effects and immersive drums and ebow like guitar solo. Very fitting for the underlying drug trip subject concept of the song.

The bass guitar is still a tad bit too powerful, but that was an issue on the original 1994 release and made worse on a 1998 remaster. Think U2’s Joshua Tree type bass. The bass sound just seem to lack precision and reverberate a bit too long for my taste.

As I mentioned before, this remix is a subtle reworking on Dave Meegan’s original. The 5.1 mix takes that a bit farther. So it is tough to say that the 5.1 sound field naturally uncovers things that were simply buried in the original stereo mix. Wilson must have tinkered with the masters just enough to introduce elements that were not audibly present in the original.

Example:
“Paper Lies”- introduction of a backing vocal line at the end of the song that was not audibly present in the original. The line comes across as a man counting.

To me, it is a masterful effort of reinventing the piece without destroying the familiarity of the music that I have lived with for 24 years. (The band also did this with their album called “Radiation”. The band wasn’t happy with the original and had their current day producer re-work it. Perhaps not with the same success as here and certainly not in 5.1)

I know Steve Wilson has committed to the next release in this series "Clutching at Straws" - the last album recorded with Fish. While I am certain to enjoy that (the lyrics on that album are among my all time favorite & the guitar solo in "Sugar Mice" will be unbelievable - I am sure), I would really hope SW stays the whole course of this project and mixes the bands "Afraid of Sunlight" and "Seasons End". Those two are the EMI era albums that are really sonically layered.
 
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I rarely give out a 10. I mean if your giving out 10's on every new release then it kind of waters down what it takes to receive the highest of all ratings.

Anyway, I digress. This is an easy 10 for me. Great music, content, packaging, and mix. It has it all.

I had a nice listen today at near reference levels. Closing my eyes, I totally melted into the couch as the album progressed. The songs seamlessly moving from one to another with Mr. Wilson's surround mix done to perfection. By the time you get to the wonderful closer, 'Made Again', you are simply siting there wishing for more, wishing the musical journey would never end.
 
FEAR is a musically great album, but I think the surround 'mix' is truly awful, loud mono centre-centric with stuff in the other 4 speakers (yes some people do like it), but if its cheap enough get it, if you don't like the surround you'll still have a good album to listen to in stereo.

I was trying to find out what the members thought of the surround mix on the SACD release of the F E A R album, but I can’t find it.

This dude seems pretty happy about it though:

https://www.hiresedition.com/review/neo-prog/marillion-fear.html

It’s still cheaply available:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HC94ADO/?tag=hraudio-20

https://www.wowhd.us/f-e-a-r/4029759113577
 
It may be the farthest Steve Wilson has gone in modernizing an original mix. But don't get me wrong, it never quite crosses that line of changing the whole dynamic of a song.
Well, he has also "modernised" the original mix in several other cases. A few examples: KC's Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair: they all sound quite different from the original mixes (where bass and drums are more dynamic and pronounced). His mixes have a better balance, vocals have less reverb and there's more detail in the guitars. The mixes have been mastered a bit aggressively. At times, you might miss the dynamics of the old EG CDs. Lizard is another example where there has been a lot of revisionism (probably asked by Fripp?). Thankfully, there's a new version on the blu-ray that is much better and more faithful to the original mix. I can also mention JT's Aqualung. It sounds great, but not very similar to the original. For all of these I prefer the remix, don't get me wrong. I am just saying that SW is not afraid of changing things when he feels that he might improve the mix!
 
don't know why but I enjoyed it way more than "Misplaced Childhood" (which I DID enjoy...I remember when the LP came out in the 80's and I dismissed them as a "Genesis" wannabe band... which they WERE but I shut down and did not appreciate it back then like I do now...)... the on;y beef I have is the vocals...maybe it's my setup but they are buries half the time....the rest I thoroughly enjoyed...
 
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