Mix is 10 the extras a 10 the music is not my favourite but not bad and certainly not worth knocking points off (Its a grower I think) The Visuals with the music synced lyrics etc take this to the 10/10 level.
When the first song started , I thought it was JUST the intro , but the visuals are just OUTSTANDING ALL THE WAY THROUGH ("Aspirations" the only REALLY weak one, as an artist myself I could've done a MUCH better job, but then...)- a LOT of work went onto this...funnily enough, there are NO CREDITS about the Authoring (or Mastering) -are we to assume it was by Ray Shulman at his place?
No, the fact that it sounds better, not the least because we're having someone look at it objectively. We figured, "Yeah, listen, why not give other albums a shot," and at the same time utilize my brother's skills at illustrating via motion graphics and video to highlight the songs and the stories.
Speaking as someone who authors discs myself, Ray has excelled himself with the authoring on this release.
It is absolutely stunning visually and I shudder to think how many hours was spent in After Effects doing the backing video - very effective indeed. 10/10 right there for the visuals.
Steve's mix is also as good as ever, and he has extracted every single nuance from the original here - a stellar job. Another 9/10 for this part.
Overall, there is a nice amount of material here all beautifully presented so it simply has to be a 10 because this one has raised the bar so high visually and it really complements Steve's mix.
GG may well be an acquired taste for some people, but even if you have never heard them before this is well worth picking up as a demo disc it's that good.
100% agree!!! The visual aspect of this disc was completely unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable!!! Music was pretty good tooI have to agree about the visual component taking it to a whole other level. It made this 1974 album seem contemporary and that was wholly unexpected. Perhaps not their best album but certainly not their worst. Always a favorite.
From QQ deep space
As much as I love the CTTE and TYA 5.1 mixes SW did of my favorite band, I have to say this disc is even better, given the creative use of video to enhance the listening experience. I actually dreamed about something similar (though less ambitious) for the CTTE blu, though I never thought it would actually happen: something that incorporated the lyrics with a look similar to the album sleeve- that distinctive RD font in black against a green background- that scrolled down in time w/ the music; during instrumental passages, we could see some of the scenes that are used as screen-savers, but with some movement incorporated that would give different perspectives; and flowing over that green fog from the album cover, w/ the 1st instance of Dean's iconic logo showing up at opportune times, again incorporating movement.
And how we would have liked the time & the budget to animate every single screen frame by frame whilst bringing in pre-built wire models in 3D.
Ray can do this on GG because not only are they his band (well okay, he's a member anyway) but because he can treat it as a showcase for the format - which he has succeeded in doing in spectacular fashion as well.
But the sheer cost of this type of work is prohibitive for most releases - we looked at flowing the water over the edges and drifting things around - and the time it took to prepare 5 minutes worth was incredible. The cost would have been up in the many thousands of pounds in five-figure sums which let us be honest most releases will never sell enough to cover the cost and given the accountant driven mentality these days it is rare indeed that a disc like this can be produced at all - expecting anything like this to become the norm is simply unrealistic because it is prohibitively expensive to do. We are talking an After Effects 3D fest here running 3D models, animated 3D text - all in 1920x1080HD which will bring most systems to their knees in very short order.
Then there is rendering this lot out - wow, it must have taken days - literally. I've seen a full HD concert running 90 mins take 29 hours to encode & this is whole magnitudes of order more complex.
As I said - if I had the budget we would love to take a leaf and do likewise. Now all we need to do is work out how to sell these discs in the millions instead of mere thousands.
But again, serious kudos to all involved with this - it is a true labour of love and if accuracy in language interests you, "labour of love" is exactly what this release is, and it's wonderful with it.
Yes, you are absolutely correct! The drums and bass are fantastic on this album. I can dial in my sub to just the right volume and perfectly compliment the low-end of my full-range speakers. It wasn't until my 3rd listen to this album that everything clicked in. What a groove John Weathers and Ray Shulman got going on - and it comes across so well on this recording. Funny thing is it may or may not be because of SW.For once SW got the bass/LF effects right. I purchased this album having previewed in 2 channel loss-full mode. And I did not like it, but boy did I do a complete flip when I heard this mix. It is a always a challenge when an album such as this, a bit oblique, at times discordant but nonetheless very interesting can be mixed to yield a revelatory experience.
I like this mix so much more than previous two SW effort on mixing the Yes albums. And I am not giving him a 10 just because he is SW. I am giving this a "10" because he got it right!