Rick Wakeman - Six Wives and Arthur

Thanks for the write-up! I've only closely listened to Wives - I have the CD. I've auditioned other recordings in streaming.0 and found some likeable and some silly.
I love Wives! I also like the "snippets" I've heard him play on Yes recordings.

Of the albums you like, are there any excellent MC digital releases yet?

I have Journey on CD-4, btw. Bought it before I knew how impossible CD-4 is to get in to!!!

rtbluray said:

Not entirely confirmed at all, but based on this amazon.co.uk listing, can we expect a reissue of the Quad mix of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" on DVD this coming Spring?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-Centre-Earth-Rick-Wakeman/dp/B019JMC8C2/

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Thanks rt:

A mystery link such as this is indeed our first notification of a pending release. So I do think its the one for Journey. Most of the folks in the know seem bound by gag orders so this is all we get until much later in the game.

I am THRILLED & EXCITED to get another Wakeman classic release, with whatever surround mix it offers. I was disheartened by all the negativity over the 1st two releases(yes, I was pissed off too...) but I was worried that we were scaring away future releases. I pray the re-release campaign continues through Criminal Record.

I have the original Journey digitized from quad and it is nice but very thin sounding like many from back in the day. We will get at least a wider dynamic range version which fills our listening rooms much fuller due to Neil's or whomever computer digital magic.



Count me in.


P.S.: 2.0 mixes. I've never been convinced we've got the best 2.0 sourced tape mixes on any prior Wakeman CD. I hold out hope we get a better & clearer stereo mix as well.:music

edisonbaggins said:

Thanks for the write-up! I've only closely listened to Wives - I have the CD. I've auditioned other recordings in streaming.0 and found some likeable and some silly.
I love Wives! I also like the "snippets" I've heard him play on Yes recordings.

Of the albums you like, are there any excellent MC digital releases yet?

I have Journey on CD-4, btw. Bought it before I knew how impossible CD-4 is to get in to!!!

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Ah, you have the quad LP without the thousands of dollars of gear. So like me you depend on modern mixes.

Sorry, no professional multi-channel Wakeman records exist. That is what all the fuss is about. Rick Wakeman sold his rights to his music many times over so he has NO input on what comes out and we are at the mercy of what Corporate America thinks we should get. Plus, looks like A&M did a poor job of archiving, so we don't know if any classic Wakeman multi-track tapes exist at all. This is a humble reminder of the heartbreak(for us) of missing material such as the lack of multi's for Steely Dan - Aja.

I bought the new Six Wives & King Arthur and I really enjoy the quad mixes. King Arthur in particular. It FILLS the room, quite nicely.:music
Neil Wilkes did a fantastic job on both sources and they do play well on a modern system, considering the sources & the alternatives.

The new 2.0 versions do sound fanstastic on my near field 2.1 system but I have no data to compare with prior versions.

Did you buy the new Six Wives & King Arthur releases?

If not, I would do so. And instead of spending money on old Wakeman releases, just wait to see what Universal comes up with in the near future. We should get two per year. Having listened to your original music that you shared with us here, I would say your tastes would align quite nicely with the Wakeman records I mentioned in my first post.

DennisMoore Jr. said:

I have the original Journey digitized from quad and it is nice but very thin sounding like many from back in the day. We will get at least a wider dynamic range version which fills our listening rooms much fuller due to Neil's or whomever computer digital magic.

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I hope you find its been eating a few mince pies since you digitised your Quad and its not so thin anymore.. (I know how it feels! Ho ho ho.. pass the brandy butter..! :friday:

DennisMoore Jr. said:

Did you buy the new Six Wives & King Arthur releases?

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I don't know much about them. Are they the needle drops I've seen referenced?

fredblue said:

I hope you find its been eating a few mince pies since you digitised your Quad and its not so thin anymore.. (I know how it feels! Ho ho ho.. pass the brandy butter..! :friday:

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edisonbaggins said:

I don't know much about them. Are they the needle drops I've seen referenced?

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Yeah..

fredblue said:

Yeah..

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Not a big fan?

edisonbaggins said:

Not a big fan?

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Long story.. (probably best not for the open forum..! )

edisonbaggins said:

I don't know much about them. Are they the needle drops I've seen referenced?

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Yes, as that is all that was available. I have become such an HDMi/digital snob that this was a HUGE disappointment for me, but after listening...

King Arthur is the better of the two and is quite worthwhile. Neil Wilkes really did a fabulous job sweetening these up.

and...6 Wives is still very good to my ears.

One can bitch & moan all day but the alternative to these needle drops is still the same: zero.

If you are yet to own either, it is a no brainer I say.

I, like you do not plan to invest thousands in analog gear to play the legacy quad mixes of Wakeman and the new ones(needle drops) have much better dynamic range and sound fuller anyway...

OK, so how else can I spend your money???

Lemme c... I lived in the Bay Area for 18 years, so I will now direct you to The Cheese Steak Shop...

http://www.cheesesteakshop.com/locations.htm


Holy Crap. @: When I lived there, there were only 4 locations.





and of course an old favorite:

http://www.tommysjoynt.com/


Cheers!

DMJ

I'll chime in for me, I would rather have a needle drop than nothing at all.

of course i would ideally like to have it properly remixed, but if teh alternative is nothing then i buy nothing.

I am 'trending' with a few exceptions now to avoiding any release without a surround option.

DennisMoore Jr. said:

I, like you do not plan to invest thousands in analog gear to play the legacy quad mixes of Wakeman and the new ones(needle drops) have much better dynamic range and sound fuller anyway...

OK, so how else can I spend your money???

DMJ

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And here I did it the hard way, going Oppo AFTER buying all the legacy gear. :couch My partner and my wallet agree, I am crazy. In my favour, I did start before a bunch of these wonderful reissues came out and I don't have enough Ikea shelving to fill like Fred!

I wonder if we should include the additional legacy quad title??


My Honourable, Rt. Honourable Lord Dennis Moore, how is the legacy quad Lisztomania by Wakeman and Daltrey?

I ask only because you seem a YES-and-YES solos fan (er..super fan).At least I must surmise this from your prior posts, dear friend.:sun






The album (A&M Records), supposedly contains the QS quad matrix intact from the movie soundtrack, the movie was WarnerBros.







your gracious servant, fizzy

Not entirely sure yet, but besides the amazon.co.uk link posted above for a CD/DVD edition, there may also be a bigger edition coming as well, one with 3 CDs and a DVD. One could assume that the other two CDs will consist of "Return to the Centre of the Earth" and the 2012 extended studio recording of "Journey", but there's no specifics yet. Stay tuned!

The original 'Return To The Center Of The Earth' CD was Dolby Pro-Logic encoded. If this encoding wasn't done on the fly during the mixing process, ie the final master was derived from a discrete 5.1 mix, it would be amazing to have the original 5.1 mix on the DVD as well.

steelydave said:

The original 'Return To The Center Of The Earth' CD was Dolby Pro-Logic encoded. If this encoding wasn't done on the fly during the mixing process, ie the final master was derived from a discrete 5.1 mix, it would be amazing to have the original 5.1 mix on the DVD as well.

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Do you know who owns the RCA/Red Seal/BMG stuff now? Sony?

I thought why not ask the maestro himself about the forthcoming release of Journey to see if we are getting the Quad mix, so I've sent an e-mail via his website. So we'll see what comes back.

Return To The Center Of The Earth was released on the EMI Classics label originally, which according to Wikipedia is now part of Warners:

With the sale of EMI to Universal Music Group in 2012, European regulators forced Universal Music to divest itself of EMI Classics, which was operated with other European EMI assets to be divested as the Parlophone Label Group. In February 2013, Universal Music sold the Parlophone Label Group, including EMI Classics and Virgin Classics, to Warner Music Group. The European Union approved the deal on May 2013, and WMG took control of the label on 1 July 2013. It was then announced that the EMI Classics artist roster and catalogue would be absorbed into the Warner Classics label and Virgin Classics would be absorbed into Erato Records.

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There's a 2014 re-release of the album on Amazon UK that was released/licensed by some label called 'Music Fusion' which also bears a Warner Bros. copyright so this seems correct. So unless Universal is willing to license the album from Warners it seems unlikely you'd see it on a deluxe edition...but I suppose stranger things have happened.

DuncanS said:

I thought why not ask the maestro himself about the forthcoming release of Journey to see if we are getting the Quad mix, so I've sent an e-mail via his website. So we'll see what comes back.

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I'm hopeful we will be getting the Quad mix... lets keep everything crossed including our eyes!

steelydave said:

Return To The Center Of The Earth was released on the EMI Classics label originally, which according to Wikipedia is now part of Warners:



There's a 2014 re-release of the album on Amazon UK that was released/licensed by some label called 'Music Fusion' which also bears a Warner Bros. copyright so this seems correct. So unless Universal is willing to license the album from Warners it seems unlikely you'd see it on a deluxe edition...but I suppose stranger things have happened.

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Interesting, thanks Dave.. anything is possible these days, I discount next to nothing!