HiRez Poll Wilson, Steven - THE RAVEN THAT REFUSED TO SING [Blu-Ray Audio]

[boxhead]

Shame you missed it - it was great. The band was spot on, and the rear speakers were quite active with backing vocals and occasionally instruments. All material was from the 3 solo albums except for the encore which was a track from the first Porcupine Tree album. He said that the first three PT albums were solo efforts, so in that sense they were fair game for a solo show!

His only other Australian show this time round is tomorrow night in Brisbane. Perhaps you can pick up a cheap Jetstar flight?

 

[jamesdak]

As usual, I am late to the game. Just received the Blu-ray today and after the first two listens all I can say is wow, wow, wow!!!! Different from his other works in some ways but it still totally reaches out and grabs the soul. The MCH is steller as we all expect now from SW, the man just totally get's it. I'm on my 3rd listen now going through the instrumental versions and totally loving it. Right now the WATCHMAKER is playing and I am in a very, very happy place. Was going to give it a few more listens to until I voted but you know, there really isn't a need. This is a 10 nothing is going to change that!

 

[IMachine]

Hey. I thought I already voted. Oh man, a ten for sure!

 

[Cygnus_X1]

Dumb question but is there a DVD-A version of this album? I can't find it anywhere and that's the only 5.1 media that will play in my Acura.
Thanks.

 

[warp2600]

There is a cd+dvd version issued as a media book. The dvd includes the 5.1 surround mix in dts96/24 and I think dolby too. They are lossy compression formats but the dts96/24 sounds OK.

There is no dvd-a version

 

[Failed Muso]

Dumb question but is there a DVD-A version of this album? I can't find it anywhere and that's the only 5.1 media that will play in my Acura.
Thanks.

There is a cd+dvd version issued as a media book. The dvd includes the 5.1 surround mix in dts96/24 and I think dolby too. They are lossy compression formats but the dts96/24 sounds OK.

There is no dvd-a version

Yup, it comes in the following formats:

CD Only
Vinyl Only
CD/DVD-V (96/24 LPCM Stereo, Dolby & DTS 96/24 5.1)
Blu Ray (96/24 LPCM Stereo, 96/24 5.1 LPCM & DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)

 

[elroy]

ICYMI, Steven Wilson gave his opinion about DVD-A here: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...an-be-played-at-home(Oppo)-and-in-Cars(Acura)

 

[wavelength]

ICYMI, Steven Wilson gave his opinion about DVD-A here: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...an-be-played-at-home(Oppo)-and-in-Cars(Acura)

This link gets you to Steven's post:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...in-Cars(Acura)&p=195555&viewfull=1#post195555

 

[Cygnus_X1]

Yup, it comes in the following formats:

CD Only
Vinyl Only
CD/DVD-V (96/24 LPCM Stereo, Dolby & DTS 96/24 5.1)
Blu Ray (96/24 LPCM Stereo, 96/24 5.1 LPCM & DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)

Yeah, that's the formats I saw. Unfortunately Acura's won't play DVD-V, only DVD-A (unless someone knows otherwise). If the files are in the VIDEO_TS folder they won't play. I learned that the hard way with "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" from Primus...it's a DVD-V.
This might be a good chance for me to buy it on one of the other formats and try to convert it to DVD-A? My goal is to get all the PT and Steve Wilson albums on DVD-A for my car, using legal purchases of course. I like to supports artists I listen to.

Note: I just read the post from Steve Wilson about moving away from DVD-A. Kind of sad but he has a point. I need to start buying up DVD-A's while I still can lol. Now I'm really wondering if Acura is supporting it in their new TLX?

 

[kap'n krunch]

Well, I don't know about SW's hearing , but I DO hear quite a difference between the DTS 96/24 and the BD version. All my players are HDMI in to my receiver ,so , the D/A converters are the same....
The BD just blows it away...

 

[IMachine]

Well, I don't know about SW's hearing , but I DO hear quite a difference between the DTS 96/24 and the BD version. All my players are HDMI in to my receiver ,so , the D/A converters are the same....
The BD just blows it away...

I also hear differences, but there are other examples like "Morph The Cat", where I cannot hear any differences at all between the high-rez and dts stream.

 

[peterzach]

Watched the formula 1 movie,'RUSH' with Chris Hemsworth-highly recommended movie as has amazing racing scenes and really puts speakers and sub through a workout, ok what does this have to do with Steven Wilson, well I did not know abut this but watching movie preview before the Rush Bluray movie started there was a preview for movie called Pompeii and guess who's music is on there:

http://stevenwilsonhq.com/sw/the-raven-that-refused-to-sing-featured-in-pompeii-trailer/

very cool

 

[timbre4]

Thank you Peter! That is definitely on topic and cool!

 

[HomerJAU]

For many the only surround they ever hear is at the movies. Let's hope some discerning viewers get hooked by the SW music and discover what he has done for 'quad' music.

 

[ji eff]

ji eff says: "Wanna hear my new speakers?"

(ji eff puts on Luminol)
guest says: "Wo! That's totally amazing!!" :yikes


That's what The Raven That Refused To Sing is to me. Pure magic. The first thing I let people hear when I introduce them to surround music, or to my new setup. Everybody just cracks for it, even those who aren't fans of the genre. Mr. Wilson just keeps getting better and better over time, and with the addition of Alan Parsons on the team... well, what more can I say?

The album features my (so far) top 3 tracks in Steven Wilson's solo project: Luminol, Drive Home, and The Watchmaker. The first thing I noticed when I first put it on, was that I had to set my amp 3dB louder than his previous albums to get to the same volume (great! more headroom!), and even then, it was less "bass driven", more evenly spread across the frequency spectrum. Written and produced with the 70s sound in mind, this album delivers the goods really well. In my "appreciation review" of Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet in the HiRez Poll thread, I said there was a quality to it that wasn't usually found elsewhere: well, that didn't include Steven's Raven and the following releases... (please let it be more to come!!!)

The compositions and musicianship are top notch. And so is the mix.

Content: 9.5
Mix: 10

Overall: 9.75 (rounded up to 10 for the poll)


Never heard of this album? Run! Just RUN to the store right now!

 

[rtbluray]

I can't remember the last time I played this full album in surround (it's been a while), but after playing it just now, I think I have forgotten in the intervening years with all of these other releases to remember just how good this album truly is. From start to finish, it's a masterpiece, and there's not one thing that's out of place from both a music and a surround standpoint. (Not to mention that this album also has EXCELLENT dynamic range that will make you really want to crank this one up!)
If you don't have it yet, don't hesitate another moment! Go out there and get it! (On Blu-Ray of course…)

 

[chuckflhp]

I can't remember the last time I played this full album in surround (it's been a while), but after playing it just now, I think I have forgotten in the intervening years with all of these other releases to remember just how good this album truly is. From start to finish, it's a masterpiece, and there's not one thing that's out of place from both a music and a surround standpoint. (Not to mention that this album also has EXCELLENT dynamic range that will make you really want to crank this one up!)
If you don't have it yet, don't hesitate another moment! Go out there and get it! (On Blu-Ray of course…)

I just want to say Thank You for posts like these! Sometimes you get a bumper crop of releases and you get caught up in the new stuff. Thanks for reminding me about this one. Great for a snowy winters night...

 

[rtbluray]

I just want to say Thank You for posts like these! Sometimes you get a bumper crop of releases and you get caught up in the new stuff. Thanks for reminding me about this one. Great for a snowy winters night...

You're quite welcome!
I agree that it's a perfect album for a snowy winters night, not only because of the imagery but especially because I first heard the album during the wintertime, forever cementing my impression of it as a great winter album.

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Who knew that Steven leaving Porcupine Tree would make even more amazing music??

He graduates into reference quality production here. And having world-class musicians and fine compositions make this a 10.
Steven relies less on heavy metal than he did in PT, so I am a very happy camper indeed.

Redundancy is truly uninspiring, but yep, another must-buy.

 

[rtbluray]

Who knew that Steven leaving Porcupine Tree would make even more amazing music??

He graduates into reference quality production here. And having world-class musicians and fine compositions make this a 10.
Steven relies less on heavy metal than he did in PT, so I am a very happy camper indeed.

Redundancy is truly uninspiring, but yep, another must-buy.

I really don't think that any of Steven Wilson's solo albums are better than the last six he made with Porcupine Tree. (from "Stupid Dream" to "The Incident")
They are all just different. On this particular album, I can get tired of the extended solos at times, particularly the ones from Adam Holzman and Theo Travis, but there's no doubt that the compositions between the solos (i.e. Steven's melodies and lyrics) are just as good as they have ever been.
I can't wait to hear where he'll go with his next album.