DVD/DTS Poll Miller, Steve - Fly Like An Eagle (30th Anniversary) [DD DVD+CD]

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Rate the Audio-DVD of Steve Miller - FLY LIKE AN EAGLE [2006]


  • Total voters
    87
I've never opened the stinker. I have the recalled version.

For listening to, I'm sticking with the original dts disk.
 
If I'm not mistaken I read in one of the threads that the Audio/Video from the concert was out sync because they used the video for the concert projection at the Shoreline amphitheater for the concert footage on the DVD. Totally lazy way to do it. They should have caned this lousy concert for DVD-Audio. Steve Miller recently played the same venue a couple of months ago and no way I'm going. An hour's drive across the bay in traffic. I saw him in the late 1970's at the concert in Oakland they refer to in the interview portion of the DVD. I liked the interview. But the Oakland Coliseum never held 100,000 people ever! It's not big. Maybe there was 75,000 to 80,000 people there. Still one hell of a party though.

Another fun fact about the Shoreline amphitheater: it was built by Bill Graham on an old garbage dump. And when it first opened for concerts the ground caught fire on the lawn seating in the back when someone lit up a joint to smoke.
 
If I'm not mistaken I read in one of the threads that the Audio/Video from the concert was out sync because they used the video for the concert projection at the Shoreline amphitheater for the concert footage on the DVD. Totally lazy way to do it. They should have caned this lousy concert for DVD-Audio.

Couldn't agree more - on both counts.
As far as a sync issue goes, the copy I have is not clever sync-wise, it drifts all over the place. It's not even close to as bad as the recent Duran Duran live DVD though - that is a real shocker. It also got recalled but the replacements are STILL off-sync by some way. It's unwatchable. Most disconcerting.
To have this instead of High Resolution is a real kick in the face IMHO.
 
I have both versions and never noticed any sync problems when I watched either. I'll have to double-check sometime.

I think the inclusion of the concert was an afterthought. It wasn't filmed with a release in mind as is evidenced in the liner notes. Whoever was in charge of putting together the 30th Anniversary FLAE DVD-V, probably threw it on as a "bonus" thinking he was doing us all a favor.

The weird thing is, Steve Miller just taped two concerts July 13th and 14th at Ravinia in Highland Park, IL, for an upcoming DVD release. My first thoughts when I heard of his plans were :

"WTF? Why would you need another so soon?"

Especially when the band and set list this time around was very close to that of the 2004 show. Apparently, Steve doesn't think much of the current DVD release.

If we're lucky, maybe he'll re-release "Fly Like An Eagle" without the concert. That would make room for an upgrade to high resolution, wouldn't it?

Oh, the dream of a dolby-digital-free "Fly Like An Eagle".............................................................................................................................................One can dream.
 
Oh, the dream of a dolby-digital-free "Fly Like An Eagle"............................................ .................................................. ...............................................One can dream.

Indeed.
 
After giving up on the idea of selling this turkey I opened it up and played some of the dvd. I chose the concert. My first thought was my system was malfunctioning so plugged in the headphones, and still was getting static and dropouts. Serious dropouts too. Nothing subtle about it. I then dumped it over at FYE and collected $9.75 credit for it. You gotta wonder how this ever got released.
 
Definitely. I've also wondered why they didn't do a better job with this. I can't tell which track all that hiss is coming from, but for some reason I'm inclined to think it's one of the vocal tracks. This, by the way, is not unique to the multichannel versions.


I have a funny feeling the lack of quality is due to the amount of overdubbing that went into making this track. To me, it sounds like a hissy, well-used tape to me. Even the Q8 has the same imperfections. The DTS CD suffers from hiss too, notably on the title track as the 'dubs come in. You can hear varying amounts of hiss come and go.

Having said that, I will add:

The Q8 is the grand-daddy of them all. While hardly discrete, it is fun to listen to. Extended version of Take the Money and Run. (y)

The DTS CD, while hissy, and still containing the truncated version of Mercury Blues is the one I listen to the most. More discrete than the Q8, and the versions haven't been mucked with.

The Dolby Digital CD is ... a mixed blessing. The mini-documentary is a nice addition, though they really don't dive into much detail. The gist of it is thus:
"Lonnie, Gary and I recorded a bunch of basic tracks after The Joker came out. I took two years off at home overdubbing the crap out of the tapes in my 8 track home studio. That's how we got Eagle and Book of Dreams."

Wow. Enlightening stuff.

The most discrete of them all. I like the remixing and how the sonics on most songs are astonishing, but the revising of the songs is painful to listen to. The clumsy ending on 'Eagle', the butcher job of 'Mercury Blues' - my gawd, you can HEAR the scotch tape holding that one together!! They cut off the intro to 'Take the Money..' , alternate (or previously deleted) vocals on "Wild Mountain Honey".... it sounds like a totally different version, though I've not done an A/B compare. I seemed to notice other "alternate" pieces, such as the drums on 'Rock n' Me', the flub on acoustic guitar during the intro of 'The Window' (Front left after the moog part) I dunno. It's a very valiant effort, I just don't agree with the butchering of VERY classic Album. Oh, and is anybody experiencing phase issues on 'Dance, Dance, Dance'? I don't have a center channel, so the vocals sound really hollow when "downmixed" to the two fronts. However, when telling my decoder box there is a center channel, and no downmixing is done, the hollowness goes away. My last gripe is with the wandering levels on 'Dance' and 'Mercury'. Dunno if that's why some discs were recalled or not. Particularly bad on 'Mercury'.

How was this album created? Obviously, with the differences from the original album, what was their source for this one? Did they go back to a session tape? It obviously was NOT the album Master tape.The Q8 and DTS CD match exactly note for note but there are mixing differences. The DVD-A is .... wierd. Reminds me of the Meatloaf SACD a few years back.
 
oops, yes indeed. :eek:Is there 'undo'?

And what is a 'Dolby Digital' mix anyway?:confused: A music DVD of some sort?

I don't know about an undo. The dts mix is based on the original 1976 quad mix. The 2006 mix is completely new. A decent mix but tragically encoded in the dreadful dolby digital format.
 
I just listened to this the other day followed by the DTS and quickly realized just how much more alive this new mix is, despite it being in Dolby.

I grew up listening to this album and learned several of the tracks on guitar as a teen so I consider myself knowing the mix and edits of the original stereo tracks rather well.

I have very few complaints about this release, but like the DTS, the near-omission of "Space Intro" is incomprehensible (it always prepares me for 'takeoff', if you will, into the title track) and yet no one, including Miller himself, has ever offered up an explanation for this being chopped to a lousy ten seconds. Even if the multitrack tapes were lost or destroyed, they could have pulled a Bob Clearmountain and at least panned the stereo mix around the room like they did with "India" from the wonderful Roxy Music Avalon SACD.

Felix (see his post above) stated that his copy included the entire "Space Intro" segment - if you read this, can you confirm the time length of this track on your player Felix?

Also, despite this being labeled a classic rock album (which I'm sure means to most that the mix and edits shouldn't be messed with) I choose to welcome the new mix and edits with open arms. While it does cause my heart to skip a beat or two (or six!) when I hear synths that I never heard growing up with this on both vinyl and CD as well as extended measures thrown in, it makes the album an engaging listen. If there was ever a space-themed album to be put to surround, this is definitely one of 'em!

I'd also like to add that one of the aspects of this record that I have always loved is the drumming of Gary Mallaber. I know Steve did a lot of overdubbing in private after recording Mallaber and Lonnie Turner's rhythm section, but the drums sound like drums should on record and some of Mallaber's fills are just killer (the outro of "Serenade"). The toms, hi-hat and cymbals are so much more dynamic on this release.

The interview segment is excellent and while the concert didn't do much for me, I was floored when my favorite guitarist, Joe Satriani, showed up on stage!

However, because we're only rating the surround mix and not the entire package, I'd give it an 8 due to "Space Intro" being virtually non-existent and the Dolby processing not being as wonderful to listen to as it might have been in MLP. Nevertheless, this release is cheap everywhere so whether you're a die-hard or casual fan, you should definitely pick this up.
 
I see this has been re-issued on Edsel for a reasonable £10. CD and DVD with 5.1 of teh album plus concert stuff.
I assume its the same mix from 4 years ago I dont have it compare.

This is a nice active mix though nice and discrete. Still Dulby Digital as well.
 
It's a pretty popular album. Glad to hear it's getting a second, more affordable run. I wonder if Mr. Miller will remix Book of Dreams like he mentioned he would oh, about 6 years ago?

Incidentally, since there's no thread for it, but does anybody else have the original Q8? Does yours have a swapped channel too? Mine has lead vocals in both lefts. When I compare to the DTS CD; front vocals are dry and loud, rear vocals are echoed and soft. On my Q8, left vocals are dry and loud, right vocals are soft and echoed.
 
When I get a chance I'd love to try and pull up that 'Space Intro' from the CD and incorporate it into the main 5.1 mix. For personal reasons... LOL

The mix was pretty good otherwise, I must say. Didn't sounds half-bad for AC-3, still wish they would have considered lossless somehow.

It's just a testament that we are living in an era of such mediocrity, what with physical media not selling as well as it used to, one would think they'd come up with ways to entice people to buy the product.
Even if only offered for sale as a download-only on a site like HD Tracks or something of that order. I mean, what would they have to lose in doing this? The mixes already exist.

It was only done this way because they ran out of room on the DVD. Minimal cost, way to please fans and audiophiles.

Since the DVD has been out for a while, make it now available with a one-time-only download code to get the hi-rez.

Brains, Brains! (I feel like a zombie saying this...) :mad:@:
 
Got this one recently....

Not a bad, but I find the do do do do do at the start a bit gimmicky going around all the speakers.
 
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