DVD/DTS Poll McCartney, Paul & Wings - Venus & Mars [DTS CD]

This multi-channel mix is almost bizarre and it works better on some tunes than others. The album is uneven, in my view, but "Listen To What The Man Says" is always a joy to hear. This is an interesting novelty and fun to hear. For the definitive version of this album, I still prefer the original LP or the Gold DCC in stereo.

I generously gave this a 5, out of respect for Sir Paul. I never really cared for the songs on this album, and the mix did little to change that for me. Band on the run, at least for me, is light years ahead.

I gave this a 5 as well, while I think it is a decent album for paul, I enjoy listening to it once in a while, It does'nt come close to the pinnacle album for him which without doubt is band on the run, band does sound slightly better in mix and sonics but the real problem is that they are both highly compressed lossy dts. definitely could have been better, but I would'nt give either of them up.

Mike Huff said:

I generously gave this a 5, out of respect for Sir Paul. I never really cared for the songs on this album, and the mix did little to change that for me. Band on the run, at least for me, is light years ahead.

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Yeah, I've got to admit that I'm too generous when rating Sir Paul's music with that same old respect or is that just respect for the old. Love Band On The Run, but I have not heard the dts disc. I was told that it lacks bass???
Venus & Mars is an amusement park ride in surround sound. Maybe I'm amused all the way to 9.

cheers!

tootull said:

Yeah, I've got to admit that I'm too generous when rating Sir Paul's music with that same old respect or is that just respect for the old. Love Band On The Run, but I have not heard the dts disc. I was told that it lacks bass???...

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Not even remotely true. Bass is solid and extended. The overall level is a bit low but once turned up, the bass is strong and full.

carledwards said:

Not even remotely true. Bass is solid and extended. The overall level is a bit low but once turned up, the bass is strong and full.

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Band On The Run
That's what the ??? are for. Thanks for the response.

Cheers!
-tootull

tootull said:

Band On The Run
That's what the ??? are for. Thanks for the response.

Cheers!
-tootull

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My pleasure. Wasn't trying to be snippy, just helpful. All the best.

Not sure I can agree with mixes being too "aggressive" in quad/surround effects, but then again I haven't been listening this way for very long, being new to the quad experience.
But I would always take "aggressive" over the lame and feeble attempts found in other, supposed quad, releases like Lennon's Imagine. The only thing revelatory there was the first non-mono appearance of How Do You Sleep?

Aside from the Fireman releases, I would say Paul's worst was McCartney II.
I started listening to Beatles solo material with the then-current Tug of War. Several years later I started listening to his back catalog and I think the first was this one, Venus and Mars, which I was able to find on an EMI cassette, something very rare at the time.

carledwards said:

My pleasure. Wasn't trying to be snippy, just helpful. All the best.

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All good. Not a problem.

The problem for some might be that I prefer the Venus & Mars album to Band on the Run these days. I'd heard Band on the Run so many times that I was tired of it by 1985. Although, I actually listened to the 25th anniversary edition of Band on the Run this week, sampling a few surround modes. I've never tired of Venus & Mars, strange.

Is it just me, or are the rears on the Q8 reversed? I noticed that certain things didn't swirl right. However, it is correct on the DTS. Odd that I've not seen anyone else mention this about the Q8, but perhaps with the DTS CD existing no one has had those Q8s out. Or maybe it's just the one I'm working on.

A 7. This is the most open, best dynamic range of any album I've heard AND I LIE!!! What the hell were they thinking? Songs are variable. 9 or 10 for the mix, 1 for the fidelity (I'm being generous), and 8 for the music.

I LOVE McCartney II!! Some of it is poppy, and some of it is techno. I'm on my 5th copy, which is the box set. Have also heard the original 2 LP unreleased version, much of which isn't even on the box. That's a larger dose of techno. McCartney meets Kraftwerk. Of course, I dig the Fireman, too.

Listen to what the man said!!

echosend said:

Aside from the Fireman releases, I would say Paul's worst was McCartney II.

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Its taken me years to evaluate this and chew over its merits.

Yes, it's horribly flawed, the mix is all over the place, the track order is all over the place, the sound quality is all over the place..

.. but I love Wings and at this point in my eyes they could do no wrong!

An "8" overall..
as a mean average of "10" for the music, "9" for performance, "7" for mix, "5" for fidelity and "9" because it got released in surround at all..!!

I didn't care for this disc when I bought it years ago but have since learned to enjoy many of its quirks. The compression can still drive me nuts (particularly in "Letting Go") and I don't understand why the tracks were resequenced. But the mix is adventurous (although bizarre at times). It sounds like they were having a grand ol' time experimenting in those lawless early days of quad. There are some fine moments with "You Gave Me the Answer" being my favorite.

7

I just wish I knew about that disc when it was available.
Is it the same quad mix as found in the Q8?

echosend said:

Is it the same quad mix as found in the Q8?

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It is.
And that also answers blue.monk's question about resequencing -- it follows that of the original Q8.

Why do that?

Because, in resequencing the album to create two sides of approximately equal length, it was also necessary to undo the crossfades between some songs (e.g., lead-in to "Love in Song"). Because the quad mix did not preserve the original crossfades, it made more sense to leave the sequence of the quad mix as is.

It annoys me when the creator of a Q8 DTS conversion can't find the time to restore the original album sequence (not naming any names . . . well, yes I am). In this case there really wasn't a good alternative.

Noooooooooooooooo.................The dts cd has got a different running order and edits to the q8 go to https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/QQ-beatles.htm to see the different running order for three formats

ORIGINAL LP .............. QUAD 8-TRACK ............. DTS CD

I got a conversion from the Q8 that kicks the DTS CD's ass big time!!!!

I'm really not a big fan of Letting Go, but even with some clunky editing, it is a far far better listen in the quad mix.

The vocals also sound quite different in some tracks: You Gave Me The Answer, and Spirits of Ancient Egypt for example. As others have said, the compression is still very prominent in places. I'm liking the different sequencing a lot, although some of the edits are jarring, especially when the mix placement changes with it. Enough differences so far to make the album interesting and enjoyable though. Shame about the sound quality.

Musical content is great... I've always enjoyed most of this album. Surround mix is fun and chaotic, which I like. Audio fidelity is variable from track to track, but generally sounds somewhat muffled. I'll give it a 7.