HiRez Poll Aerosmith - TOYS IN THE ATTIC [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Aerosmith - TOYS IN THE ATTIC


  • Total voters
    115
a Niner,
Love early Aerosmith...
Great mix , BUT -1 because of its murky nature.
Since it is not the original Quad mix, but it's very good, I respect them for that...
 
never a fan of the band or their music, i'd held off on getting this as long as i could bear, having passed on it when it was RRP..

so, it came up on ebay UK the other week, new/unplayed (with gold/clear slip etc) at the cheapest i've seen it in a while, bid on it never thinking i'd win - and then I did! everybody else must have been snoozing at the time (!) ...

and you know what, its much better than I feared! i say "feared" because this has had a bit of a bashing over the years from certain quarters and pretty mixed opinions, even on here - and like I say I'm not into Aerosmith so it was a bit of a risky buy all-round!

overall the sonics on the M/C layer lack that trademark Hi-Rez sparkle and air, especially the drums which are often recessed with a tame mid and not much top-end.. but the surround mix is much more discrete and effective than I was expecting! there's some fun pans that circle round in quad homage stylee!

vocals and guitars sound very nice too, very clean and detailed and there's plenty of discrete rear and panned effects that work very well in making it all a bit more engaging!

one or two tracks betray their mid-70's vintage, they sound very modern (have they been significantly tinkered with in the remixing process to multichannel, I wonder?) or was this album just very ahead of its time in regards to the sound/production techniques used!?

Overall an "8".
 
10. These guys didn't really hit me back in the day, although I bought the SQ's. I dated someone who was REALLY into them when they hit it big. Since then, I've become a huge fan. This may be their best album, though there are other great ones. Not the Quad mix, but nice, nonetheless. You See Me Crying is my favorite early Aerosmith track.

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Honey was the woids I said. Soitenly!!
 
Classic music (my favorite Aerosmith album with "Rocks" a close second). The surround mix starts out a little disappointing with the song "Toys in the Attic", but improves with "Uncle Salty", and then blows wide open into full discrete immersion mode with "Adam's Apple". Other surround highlights include "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion". Sound quality is really good, although not the kind of sonic upgrade I've gotten used to lately with the SW remixes. Even though I'm giving this an 8, I'm just soooo glad I spent the extra money to get it; this mix gives the album new life. Aerosmith ROCKS!
 
I love Aerosmith ..... and TITA is by far my favorite. And yet I don't play this as much as I thought when I bought it way back when. The clarity that you expect from an sacd is lacking, especially when you stack it up against something like the "Elton John" releases or "JT". The mix is decent though and even shines in a few spots. I gave it an 8. Uncle Salty and You see me Crying are my favorite cuts.
 
A quick check of "sold" copies on eBay shows this is a normal price for a used copy. Given that this one is sealed, it seems reasonable. I didn't see any similarly sealed copies sold recently for comparison.

It is tempting. You could try the buy-it-now option, see if the seller will deal.

This is just listed on eBay ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aerosmith-T...780571?hash=item4d52b07fdb:g:qocAAOSwUKxYhPtC

Do you guys think this it's a good deal?..I recently purchased it for a little less than that $70 to be exact for a used copy..
 
Well, well, well. I purchased for $125.00, used in perfect condition with slipcase, booklet, SACD little DSD explanation card, no scratches on cover, jewell case, etc, quite a deal I think.This is a 10 for my vote, just about perfect. I agree with all before me except the low scores. This will certainly be a reference disc for any hard rock fan. Play this disc first and then Metallica's Black second.
I wish I could be this happy with the boat load of $30.00 surround discs I have.
One mans trash is another's treasure.
I listened to this SACD DSD multichannel (5.1) signal at 70db throughout.
 
Your post motivated me to make an impulse buy. A decent deal on eBay. Can't wait to put this through its paces!

Well, well, well. I purchased for $125.00, used in perfect condition with slipcase, booklet, SACD little DSD explanation card, no scratches on cover, jewell case, etc, quite a deal I think.This is a 10 for my vote, just about perfect. I agree with all before me except the low scores. This will certainly be a reference disc for any hard rock fan. Play this disc first and then Metallica's Black second.
I wish I could be this happy with the boat load of $30.00 surround discs I have.
One mans trash is another's treasure.
I listened to this SACD DSD multichannel (5.1) signal at 70db throughout.
 
This is probably one of my favourite 5.1 remixes from Sony's relatively brief foray in to multichannel SACD. I never listened to Aerosmith before this SACD, and a lot of that had to do with the fidelity of the original stereo mixes, which have a kind of flat, lifeless sound a bit like the early Blue Oyster Cult albums. While the 5.1 mix isn't an audiophile masterpiece, it remedies a lot of my problems with the original mix, especially just in terms of giving the music some punch - instead of being a midrange sonic assault, the bass guitar and drums actually have some heft to them.

The big hits on this album (Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion) fare really well, but for me the real revelations were a couple of deeper album tracks. You See Me Cryin', where the orchestral arrangement surrounds you gives it a real majestic power, and especially No More No More, which quickly became my favourite Aerosmith song. The main riff and the solo that carries the song to its fadeout are things of absolute beauty. The 5.1 mix isn't technically as discrete as the quad mix, but it's still a highly enjoyable listen. Hopefully the quad mix will see digital release in one form or another at some point, but until then I'm not losing too much sleep over it with this in my collection. I don't know if it's $125 good (I bought mine at retail when it came out) but it is still very very good.
 
I used to have a bad habit of buying and hoarding multiple copies of SACDs when they were released, but only titles I would listen to ... often forgetting that I had them. It seems that I bought three copies of TITA, and never opened one to listen to it (probably because I usually listen to the SQ LP). I appreciate everybody's thoughts on this title, and I look forward to cracking one open tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder.
 
I like it. Especially Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, and You See Me Cryin'.

Its not perfect though. The sound feels "heavy" like someone switched on a loudness control (bottom end). Also, if I can steal a line from fredblue:
........overall the sonics on the M/C layer lack that trademark Hi-Rez sparkle and air......

In its favor, the louder I play it, the better it sounds, typical for an Aerosmith title :) I'm glad I bought it even with the elevated prices.

Net I'd say the overall mix is good, but the mastering could be better. 8
 
I like it. Especially Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, and You See Me Cryin'.

Its not perfect though. The sound feels "heavy" like someone switched on a loudness control (bottom end). Also, if I can steal a line from fredblue:

In its favor, the louder I play it, the better it sounds, typical for an Aerosmith title :) I'm glad I bought it even with the elevated prices.

Net I'd say the overall mix is good, but the mastering could be better. 8

I just did a DVD-A from the SQ LP and it's great having a different mix on SACD...
 
It's an 8 for me. It's the best I've ever heard this album sound and the surround mix is pretty good, but I can't ignore the existence of the much more discrete quad mix.

It's worth pointing out that when comparing the SACD with the Q8, I found many of the mixing decisions are quite similar: for instance, the horns are isolated in the rears on "Adam's Apple", Steven Tyler's voice moves around the room at the end of "Uncle Salty", the reversed cymbal effect in "Sweet Emotion" is in the rears, etc. But the quad is definitely more aggressive/showy in places, particularly with the guitar solos in "Adam's Apple". The SACD has them in all five speakers, while the Q8 has them isolated in the rears.

I later discovered that engineer Jay Messina is responsible for both the quad and 5.1 mixes, which makes me wonder why Sony didn't just repurpose his old quad for this disc, as they did for Head Hunters, Ship Ahoy, and several other SACD titles.
 
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Well this was a long time coming, one of the first SACD's I purchased after Dark Side of the Moon I believe, I'm giving it a 10. I love the album, initially back in the day I didn't think the SACD sounded great for some reason (didn't sound terrible but seemed a little off) but as time has gone by and I have made adjustments and improvements to my system setup some of the disks that didn't sound quite right now sound much better and this is one that has improved in my estimation...now if we could just get the 1st album, Get Your Wings and Rocks in 5.1!
 
Stone cold classic and a very good 5.1 mix

Love how the bass and drums sound in Sweet Emotion. Just like you were there......
 
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