HiRez Poll Marillion - MISPLACED CHILDHOOD [Blu-Ray Audio]

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Rate the BDA of Marillion - MISPLACED CHILDHOOD


  • Total voters
    66
Another band that I had not really heard of until getting into surround music. This album was recommended to me if I liked the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis, and I can see the similarities between him and Fish a little bit. I also probably wouldn’t have given this my time if SW did not mix it. Seems like this community loves his Marillion mixes and the others are not too stellar. I’m glad this was my introduction to them because if it had a bad mix, I probably would have given up on them.

Pseudo Silk Kimono: Nice use of guitars in the rears. It balances out nicely with the keys up front. Vocal reverbs sounded great as well. “Safe in the century” vocals in both the center and phantom rear caught my attention.

Kayleigh: First off, those guitar tones are AWESOME. Those first couple of notes are pretty damn chilling. I’ve never heard of Steve Rothery before but based on his tones, I will definitely be looking into him more now. He has exactly what I love in a guitar sound. A really catchy tune too. I can see why this the most popular in their catalog. I don’t really like the reverb in the center channel with Fish. Sounds like he’s in a tin can. Most of the song is balanced really well with the keys and synth mostly in the surrounds. Never feels like its a front heavy song, when in reality it kind of is.

Lavender: Loved how it switched to keys up front and guitars in the rears. The doubled vocal in the phantom rear helps this song out greatly.

Bitter Suite: The tom hits traveling all around the room were great! That continues to keep my attention after the previous 3 great songs. Started out going right to left and then smaller hits going the opposite way. The “Lager” delay happening into the left surround was great too. The guitar solo in this song sound like Alex Lifeson around the Grace Under Pressure years. Loved the roto toms? or some sort of percussion happening in the SR during that. The ”I Can hear your heart” reverbs sounded really lovely as well!. The piano ending of the Blue Angel section in the rears with the bass up front kept the balance really well. Great vocal doubling in the phantom rear during the Misplaced Rendezvous section as well. I wasn’t expecting the "Reign On Me" vocal as well. That made me smile a bit.

Heart Of Lothian: Again, not much happening so the vocal delays/doubling and keys are in the surrounds with the guitar lick happening. Works beautifully and creates such a huge soundstage. That synth fade from the surrounds to the front was done so well. The synth section with the spoken word happening is so huge!

Waterhole: That opening guitar note panning from the left to the right in both the fronts and rears was great! Though the low end on this song seems a little lacking.

Lords of the Backstage: The two different synths happening in the rears during the start were great. It really brings interest back to continue the song.

Blind Curve: The guitar starting on the left side and making its way right was very nice. When the solo changed from the center to the surrounds, its another wonderful ear catching moment without active panning. It then had the electric up front, an acoustic in the SR and a nice synth happening in the surrounds. That “Childhood” buildup and then Fish screaming it from speaker to speaker was awesome as the band comes back in!

Childhood’s End?: Good balance between the electric up front and acoustic / keys in the rears in the beginning. There isn’t a whole lot of backup vocals/doubling but when it comes into play in the surrounds, it is very effective. The end of this song is pretty chaotic with the backing vocals and a couple different keys happening.

White Feather: I loved the two guitars mirroring each other in the FL and SR.

Lady Nina: Cool vocal doubling between the center and phantom center. The laughing in the surrounds startled me as I thought my wife had come down to say something! I’m glad he was able to mix this song as well, it’s a solid track.

This is really hard material to mix because there isn’t a whole lot going on to aggressively pan. Instrument placement is key and SW is just really good at doing that. The fidelity is great, everything sounds really full and balanced. I will say the first three songs on this is one of the best trio’s i’ve heard in a while, they just flows perfectly. I didn’t even know Lavender was playing the first couple of times I listened to it until that chorus came on.

I love the first half of this record. The material is fantastic but after Heart of Lothian, I feel the quality of everything goes down and I lose interest quite quickly. I looked over a couple of times during Blind Curve to see where I was in the record. Childhood’s End? is my favorite from that side, and a couple of the parts of Blind Curve were cool, but it’s just not as great as side one. However, The main guitar riff that is all over this record is an absolutely phenomenal one. Some people are saying that the lead vocals are buried a little, but I feel like everything is fine and intelligible. Though, being locked in on what someone is singing is something that I don’t really follow closely, so YMMV.

Other Audio: I love the live album on this disc. The band’s performance was great and I loved that they released a show with a decent amount of vocal feedback happening. Some other artists would deem this unacceptable and it would just sit in the vaults. The alternate mix of Kayleigh is funny. So much vocal delay happening! Glad they didn’t go with that mix. The demos are ok, but they’re pretty much a less polished version of what is on the album. Sounds like it’s just a studio rehearsal of it. It’s one of those things i’ll listen to once and be done with unless I absolutely loved it.

I do have to note that the way this is packaged is PERFECT. 4 CD’s on the ends with a easy to take out BD-A. The nice compact book in the middle is great too. I don’t need huge LP sized photos or stories of any band to be honest. I will probably only look at them a handful of times. All for ~$40! I wish every band could put out a version of their releases exactly like this one.

I’m going to give this a 9. As I listen to more and more albums, getting that elusive 10 takes something really special and this just misses that. This is a good record and mix and will get played often. I’m also really glad I snagged this when it got repressed! I don’t think any blu-ray is worth what this was going for on the secondary market and would have been upset if I bought it for that price.

Mix Highlights: Bitter Suite, Blind Curve
 
Heart Of Lothian: Again, not much happening so the vocal delays/doubling and keys are in the surrounds with the guitar lick happening. Works beautifully and creates such a huge soundstage. That synth fade from the surrounds to the front was done so well. The synth section with the spoken word happening is so huge!

I'd agree that it's not the most exciting track on the album from a mix perspective, but there's actually a really cool bit of ear-candy in this song--when Fish sings the lyric "..they'll score their Friday night goals", his vocal comes only from the rear speakers. It took me a few listens to pick that up.
 
I'd agree that it's not the most exciting track on the album from a mix perspective, but there's actually a really cool bit of ear-candy in this song--when Fish sings the lyric "..they'll score their Friday night goals", his vocal comes only from the rear speakers. It took me a few listens to pick that up.
I did not pick up on that. I only had a chance to play this one 3 times (2 critically listening and 1 as background noise) before I wrote this instead of my usual 5-6 play routine. I’ll have to go back and listen again!
 
I did not pick up on that. I only had a chance to play this one 3 times (2 critically listening and 1 as background noise) before I wrote this instead of my usual 5-6 play routine. I’ll have to go back and listen again!
that was a great review on 2 critical listens ... can you check out the items on my ImportCDs wish list so I know the sequence I should order them!
 
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