Finally got my hands on this one (not cheap, and two of the disc holders are broken
) and gave it a few careful listens. For whatever reason, I had difficulty getting into this album, but now I can safely say that I finally “get it” it and I think it’s a brilliant work - though admittedly, I like
Clutching At Straws just a little bit more.
I wouldn’t say this mix is light on the rear channels at all. In fact, there are quite a few moments throughout the album where lead guitar or keyboard lines find their way into the rear channels. The guitar breakdown at around 4:20 in “Blind Curve” - one of my favorite moments in the album - is completely panned to the rear and sounds awesome. I’d go into further detail, but
@edisonbaggins did an excellent job describing the mix in his video review. Though I enjoyed the 5.1 mix of
Clutching, there’s so much more surround activity here and I’m left wondering what SW could’ve done with that album.
The surround treatment on “White Feather” in particular really surprised me. On the original stereo mix, Fish’s lead is emphasized over the backing vocals and you can’t quite make out what they’re singing. In the surround mix, the backing vocals are loud and clear in the rears and you can hear exactly what they’re singing (“moscow children, stockholm children, etc”).
My one gripe with the mix is that, as others have said, the lead vocals in the center channel often seem buried. The “Perimeter Walk” section of “Blind Curve” in particular suffers because of this - though I'm usually all for around-the-room pans in surround mixes, Fish’s vocals are way too quiet as they hop around the room and the moment is totally robbed of its power and intensity.
Raising the volume of the center channel does help, but I find it that it sometimes makes the lead vocal seem way too dry and ‘small’ in comparison to the music. Perhaps this is one instance where the “vocals in the center channel” mixing style wasn’t the right way to go? It's certainly not a deal-breaker, and I get that SW was trying to respect the balances of the original mix.
So I think I’m gonna join the “8” crowd on this one - I’ll be playing this quite a bit. Looking forward to possible 5.1 mixes of
Script For A Jester’s Tear and
Fugazi in the near-future...
"Kayleigh":
"Blind Curve":