HiRez Poll Olu Dara - NEIGHBORHOODS [DVD-A]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this HiRez surround release.

This one was a nice suprise. Really active mix. Really good songs. Great musicians. Has a very open and powerful overall sound. The music is hard to catorigise but its all good in fact its one of those albums that ends to soon leaving you wanting a few more tunes. Its is short at around 43min. 9

I am giving this disk as a stocking stuffer to several friends. This disk reminds me of walking through faubourg St. John John during Jazz Fest. It is often heard playing at many crawfish boils and pool-parties during the spring/summer in New Orleans. You can definately taste the BBQ in the first Cut, "Massamba", feel the Mississippi Delta in "Strange Things Happen Every Day", and enjoy a buzz with "Rain Shower".

His other disk, which isn't DVD-A, but is excellent none the less is titled "from Natchez to New York". I consider it the definitive Olu Dara work. It goes well with spicy food, fun people, and anything from a blender. :banana:

Any one else get this one? It doesn't seem to be hard to find.

I was spinning this one on my way to work this morning: GREAT DISC!!!

The music is some kind of fusion between world music (many of the musicians have african roots), jazz and blues, with some funky songs, and some mellower... Very eclectic!!!

The fidelity is great. So is the mix! Vocals spring from speaker to speaker during the songs. Even on the songs with very few musical instruments, the additionnal intruments, percussions and vocals move from speaker to speaker during the songs!

Highly recommended. Be sure to grab a copy of this one before it dissapears from the physical and internet stores!!!

Music: 9/10
Fidelity 9/10
Mix: 10/10

Musically stellar and sonically quite good. Very nice and recommended disc.

JonUrban said:

Any one else get this one? It doesn't seem to be hard to find.

Click to expand...

I decided to buy this. I'm a sucker for any brass and I love the cornet that is on some of the tracks. The vocals are the bit I probably like the least. Overall excellent 5.1 mix.

I remember seeing this in the stores (even over here!) back in about 2003 when they still had dedicated surround sound sections, but never picked it up - I'm glad I finally did.

Hmm....thanks to the forum for letting me know about this. It is still available very inexpensively on Amazon. While I find the quality of the fusion music a bit uneven (very much a personal taste issue there), the fidelity and the mix are both top-notch. This is well worth taking a flier on for those of you on the fence.

AS noted by the last poster, this title still seems to be available.
I bought my copy a couple of years ago but hadn't played the surround mix until now.

Fidelity and surround mix very nice with guitars coming from the rear left, congas rear right.
The musical contect is fine but I'm docking it one point overall because his vocals, especially on the first 2 or 3 songs, are poor.

I gave it a 9.

If we can get one more person to vote it will have the minimum 10 responses required for the poll.

Yeah

Someone please buy it and vote....

It's damn cheap at Amazon

I love this! Music, mix, everything. Nhammond said it well, "some kind of fusion between world music, jazz and blues." Sometimes it slows down, but at others it's a really funky, groovy brew.

Dara's vocals are quirky, to be sure -- sometimes they sound like they're kind of bleated out. They're probably not for everyone, but if you like the Bob Dylans and Tom Waits and Dr. Johns and other odd vocalists of the world, you probably won't mind his delivery a bit. Speaking of Dr. John, he guests on electric piano/organ, on 4 tracks.

The mix is universally great, especially so on the quite sparse track 4 "Strange Things Happen Everyday" with the response vocals in left or right rear. A great example of how to make such music vibrant in surround.

This is such a cool disc. A definite 10.

Mark Z

Oh! I should vote on this! it's a pretty cool album and mix but I don't think I can stretch to a "9"., maybe a "7" or "8", its very much my musical cup of tea but there's something about it generally that doesn't entirely click for me @:

i'll give it another listen over the w/e and vote.

JonUrban said:

Please post your thoughts and comments on this HiRez surround release.

Click to expand...

As I'm relatively new to QQ, I just cast my vote (a solid 10) for this wonderful and fantastically discrete DVD~A which, surprisingly, is still affordable from AmazonUS. With the flurry of recent 4.0/5.1 remasters, we sometimes overlook the older DVD~A titles which somehow slipped through the cracks. Well worth seeking out!

Really good mix and the music is mostly good. Quite enjoyable. I vote 8.

This release was an unexpected surprise. I found it at used record show last summer and am just getting around to it now. If you love the Neville Brothers...you'll dig this...a lot. I gave it a solid 9

It appears I gave this a 9 back in the day but can not find my comments, i do remember this being a great record from someone I ahd never heard off, and the mix being very surroundy

might have to dig it out again