HiRez Poll Allman Brothers - IDLEWILD SOUTH [BDA]

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Rate the BDA of the Allman Brothers - IDLEWILD SOUTH


  • Total voters
    75
I agree with all the other positive comments; this is a great disc.

I do find that the rears are louder than the fronts. I have to run my rear amp volume setting lower than my front amp volume setting to achieve a balance between the two. I am down-mixing the 5.1 into 4.0; maybe that's part of the reason although this is one of the few discs I own where I've noticed this.
 
I'm not a huge fan of the decision to put the drummers in opposite corners of the room. Jaimoe being in the back corner just seems a little off to me. As bluemonk said in a earlier post, it seems to leave a hole in front left of the room. I thought about trying to swap the LF and LR speakers to see what it would do, but then the chorus that moves around the room in Revival wouldn't work, so this must be how the mixer wanted it.

Am just reading comments as I have another listen and I am trying the swap suggested above. Actually for many tracks, swapping the LF and LR speakers works quite nicely! This puts both drummers in the fronts and lots of trading of leads in the rears. On "Leave My Blues At Home" particularly!

In my previous review I did not mention that I have also experienced the technical glitch whereby the alternate Midnight Rider cuts off. Sometimes if I go straight to that track when I insert the disc it will play through. I have not sussed the guaranteed approach to play it all the way through first time every time. I asked Amazon UK to replace the disc and they sent me a new one - it does the same thing.

So I suppose I should've deducted a point for authoring imperfection. It seems to be annoyingly common in our world. But it is a "first world problem," and I am still extremely grateful that this was mixed and released in surround.
 
I just finishing up listening to the Idlewild South 5.1 mix in DTS-HD and it sounds much better than I recall. If possible I'd like to change my poll vote to a higher score. Is that possible? Thanks :)!

Bill
 
I just finishing up listening to the Idlewild South 5.1 mix in DTS-HD and it sounds much better than I recall. If possible I'd like to change my poll vote to a higher score. Is that possible? Thanks :)!

Bill

They can't do it Bill...sorry...you are just going to have to live with that 5 on your report card:ugham:...but you can always put your revised score in a post on this thread(y)
 
They can't do it Bill...sorry...you are just going to have to live with that 5 on your report card:ugham:...but you can always put your revised score in a post on this thread(y)
I understand, thank you! I would like to raise my 5 to an 8. What was I thinking ;).

Bill
 
Pre-ordered this right off and got what I consider a good price from Amazon UK, ~$41, not bad considering other sets I've purchased.
IMO, price paid, packaging etc., is irrelevant on a poll on for SQ.
Reluctantly I gave it a 9 as I think this was as good as could be done with the available tapes
It is a recording of its time and while the overall sound to me is a bit closed in, I can hear decent detail from the cymbals and the drums.
The bass rendition is outstanding as are the vocals.
The stereo and 5.1 mix are as good as anything I've heard.
The music is killer and this version really captures what the Allman Brothers were all about and the mix\master illustrates this as well as any recording I have.
I can only hope that Eat a Peach gets this same treatment.

I wish people would stop including the price as a factor in their evaluation of the title....I agree with Milt...it is irrelevant on the poll...it's not the "Value Surround Poll"..has nothing to do with the actual music
 
I wish people would stop including the price as a factor in their evaluation of the title....I agree with Milt...it is irrelevant on the poll...it's not the "Value Surround Poll"..has nothing to do with the actual music

This title is still widely available at fair prices. Had no trouble finding a copy for around $30.

BTW if there was ever a mix worth dropping $40 on it's this one- unless you absolutely despise the Allman Brothers, pick this up. The separation and sonics are remarkable.
 
Question for those of you that have this disc: Is there any audio in the LFE channel on the alternate take of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"? (I know why the center channel is silent - no vocals on this song.)
 
Short Take: A 10. Wow

It seems unlikely that many will visit here looking to find out who the Allman Brothers are, so I don't really feel compelled to discuss the musical content. This is Duane Allman era music. He died in October of 1971 and this was released in September of 1970. While I do think the Allmans made great music after the passing of Duane, I have a special affinity for the recordings of the early era, and for Duane's work with other artists, notably Derek and the Dominoes.

So the only questions for me here are mix and fidelity. I am pleased to report that both are excellent on this release. So there is not much to discuss. If you like the Allman Brothers, this is a no-brainer. Buy it asap, open, and enjoy!
What he said.
 
Whoa! Looking at the poll I see that I had given this only an 8. Must have been a spastic mouse click; or maybe my dog licked my hand as I was working the mouse; or the mouse had a bout of temporary insanity. Which will you believe? Changed my vote to a 9.

I vividly remember that I was discouraged with thin sounding bass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm very late to the party, but had to give it a 10.
When I started listening in surround just a few months ago, I compiled a list of titles I needed to pick up, and I've been working my way through the list. Even though the ABB is one of my all-time favourite bands, I hadn't come around to this title until now. I think it's because I already have the Fillmore East set and Eat a Peach in surround, and those two are perhaps bigger favourites of mine. Even the debut album has been in much heavier rotation on my system over this follow-up album. I've always considered it a fine album, but one which somehow lacked a little of the power of the first album or the next two.

This 5.1 mix has dramatically increased my appreciation of the music on this album. I was really knocked out - this is a phenomenal surround mix, which suits the music incredibly well. As has been mentioned, it's very discrete; instruments and voices are very distinctly spaced apart and almost one to each separate speaker. Yet it hangs together and the music flows beautifully. A must-have surround disc IMHO.
 
I recently purchased this used from a QQ member.

As others have said, the surround mix is truly spectacular. I like the two drum kits placed in various corners and the level of discreetness imparted to everything makes for a great experience. I also like the bonus tracks in surround.

There are 2 issues.
1. As others alluded to, the track indexing for the surround tracks is badly butchered. Starting with track three (Midnight Rider), the last 30-40 seconds of every track is cut off and the remainder of each appears as the beginning of the next track. The last track (Midnight Rider Alternate mix) is cut off 50+ seconds early. The remainder of the song shows up as track 12 when ripped (there are only 11 surround tracks in total 7 from the album proper, and 4 bonus tracks). This only happens with the surround tracks on the BRD (regardless if you rip the DTS or Dolby option). The 24/96 stereo tracks are fine. If you are the type that plays strictly from disk and you tend to play the whole album through, you may not even notice it.

Using Audacity I successfully cut and pasted the tracks back together to get the proper structure back. When the BRD is ripped there are two titles available. The first one has the wrong indexing. The second one has the entire album as a single continuous file. If you have a PC with a decent processor and enough RAM you can load the continuous file, find the silence breaks, and cut the individual tracks out and save them in separate files. You can also cut the ends of each song from the following track and paste them back in place. There may be an easier way to do it using a cue file, but Audacity copy and paste is how I did it. If you own this album and rip your music I can save you the trouble of fixing it. Just PM me.

2. I have to listen again once or twice but I may go back and turn up the LFE level a bit. There is a decent LFE track, but the level seems is very low, and the albums base response seems somewhat anemic. This might be a personal preference and YMMV

I voted a 9. It would have been a 10 if authored correctly.
 
I had also voted a 9, way back I suppose. The surround is great, but I totally agree with you about the lack of bass. When I ripped mine, I also noticed the screwy indexing...though can't recall if I mentioned it on this thread. I might monkey with the bass in Audacity myself. :)
 
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