Caravan: In the land of grey and pink - Pre order!

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5.1 sells discs. I'm gullible.

I bought that Barclay James Harvest disc to give it a try. I hated it. I bought that disc by some Canadian trio. I was unimpressed - can't even remember their name.

This one is different. Maybe it is quintessentially British - it has a certain je ne sais quoi that appeals to me. A very pleasant surprise.

And if Steve Wilson is doing a 5.1 of Arrival - or indeed any Abba - I'll be first in the queue to buy.
 
Whoops, sorry i've Cambridge on the brain, I'm from Oxford, and the boat race.... ect LOL
 
5.1 sells discs. .......

I bought that disc by some Canadian trio. I was unimpressed - can't even remember their name..........

1- Yes, it sells discs!!
2-Wasn't that canadian trio the one that Rik Emmett refused to even acknowledge being their guitarist for many years ???LOL!!! (I do get your sense of humor , don't worry!!)
 
I first got into Caravan in 1970 with their album "If I Could Do It Again I'd Do It All Over You" and have several other Caravan LPs and a CD or two. Glad to get this especially since I did not have it in another form. Parts of it are reminding me of Camel, another group I would love to hear some multichannel mixes of. (y)(y)
 
This is the first time I have heard Caravan, and I can't say I could be more pleased! The Dolby Digital business seems not to be a problem with this one. Maybe they used a higher bit rate, but I couldn't tell it was an inferior codec. It sounded good. I love the music, and this is destined to become a favored recording in my collection.

The Quadfather
 
OOOh more time - another disc still in its sealed wrapper (along with my Aretha Franklin) and a Moody Blues - must wire up my SACD player soon!
 
I only had a chance to listen to this in stereo two nights ago. This is the first time for me hearing the album. In a bizarre coincidence less than an hour after hearing the song "Golf Girl", there was a hail storm outside with hail the size of golf balls. If your'e unfamiliar with the song, the lyrics are as follows:



"And later on the golf course
After drinking tea
It started raining golf balls
And she protected me
"

:yikes

I should play the lottery.
 
For me, 'Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night' would be the obvious one for release, and a cheap option if they just released the Quad mix that was supposed to have been done at the time.

This was the album that introduced me to Caravan, the local H-Fi shop played it to death, a superb demo record. They normally played a cassette becacuse Decca's releases were that good.

So if anyone has a copy of the Q8 or Q4 of the album tucked away under the bed, now's the time to dust it off and do a conversion

OD
 
I'm late to the party but here are my impressions.

I have no trouble with DD. Still sounds fine. My problem is with bass response on the extended track, Nine Feet Underground. The difference between it and the other tracks is very noticeable.

Secondly, and this has nothing to do with Steve Wilson, NFU is kind of boring, and length is not the problem.

I enjoy plenty of prog rock's extended tracks. There is something kind of lackluster about the playing on this piece as compared to "For Richard" on Caravan and The New Symphonia. Yes, one is live, and the other is not, but Close To the Edge & Suppers Ready are not live and they are more engaging.

I put on the UK vinyl, and ran NFU through the S&IC. The missing bass was there, but it still feels to me like it isn't going anywhere.

I have no regrets about the purchase. The 1st four songs are worth the price of admission.

I did a search of this thread for LFE & bass. There were no comments. Anyone else notice a difference?
 
I did a search of this thread for LFE & bass. There were no comments.

LFE is not the bass.
LFE = Low Frequency Effects, not a dedicated bass channel.
In music use this can safely be ignored altogether, unless you really want to use it, as all 5 channels are supposed to be treated as full range.
When used, the .1 channel is supposed to be LPF at 80Hz (some use 120, but 80 with a steep 48dB/Octave slope is recommended).

See http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/zz-_Shared_Assets/English_PDFs/Professional/38_LFE.pdf
and note particularly the following
LFE does not equal subwoofer
Dolby Digital programs may include a bass-only LFE channel, but this channel does not correspond directly to a subwoofer output. It is possible for a program to contain an LFE channel, but a decoder may provide no subwoofer output because all of the bass information in the program, including the LFE channel, can be reproduced by the main speakers. The opposite is also true: it is possible for a program to not contain an LFE channel, yet a decoder may provide a subwoofer output because some or all of the main speakers are unable to reproduce the bass information in the program. The difference between the LFE channel and the subwoofer output is that the LFE channel is used to carry additional bass information in the Dolby Digital program while the subwoofer output represents how some or all of the bass information will be reproduced.
 
LFE is not the bass.
LFE = Low Frequency Effects, not a dedicated bass channel.
In music use this can safely be ignored altogether, unless you really want to use it, as all 5 channels are supposed to be treated as full range.
When used, the .1 channel is supposed to be LPF at 80Hz (some use 120, but 80 with a steep 48dB/Octave slope is recommended).

See http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/zz-_Shared_Assets/English_PDFs/Professional/38_LFE.pdf
and note particularly the following

I appreciate your expertise.

Did you notice the bass differences I mentioned?
 
Did you notice the bass differences I mentioned?

I don't own it, so would not like to comment on something I have not heard.
However, guessing out loud, it could be incorrectly set metadata that triggers this, causing the decoder to get the output wrong.
 
'Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night' is definitely my favorite Caravan album. Probably their most guitar heavy one. Dig up the quad mix!

Rick
 
I'll chime and say I think this is a great disc, even with just a DD track. I didn't know the album or the band and enjoy the music a lot. The mix is spectacular and the sound quality is as good as my 50 year old, been to way too many concerts, ears could expect. I would rate it in a poll, but don't think I see one available. Anyway, I'd recommend to anyone who appreciates early prog rock and wants to hear a great surround mix.

K
 
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