HiRez Poll Beyonce - DANGEROUSLY IN LOVE [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Beyonce - DANGEROUSLY IN LOVE

  • 10: Great mix, Great Sonics, Great Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Bad Mix, Bad Sonics, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11

JonUrban

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Please post your comments, thoughts and observations.......(y) (n)
 
Well I did not expect this to be so good. The further I went into this the better it got. The mix makes great use of vocal placement. The use of the center channel for vocal content, at the same time as lead vocals are spread across the front, is fascinating. The mix of the instruments is very solid. The sound is fantasic and the music is more fun than I expected. This is a mix by somebody that has a mastery of 5.1 mixing. I guess he is one of ours Thom Cadley. I guess it's time to digout my PINK dualdisk and give it another spin. What else has he done.
 
I’ve finally been able to hear this mix — very nice and discrete, and musically, the first three tracks are *jams*. For me, though, the album takes a giant nosedive after that — mid-tempos and ballads are *not* Beyonce’s strong suit. I’ll give this an 8 out of respect for Thom Cadley’s work, but this most assuredly isn’t worth the $100+ the SACD is going for these days. However, if you can hear those first three songs (“Crazy In Love”, “Naughty Girl”, and “Baby Boy”) through (cough) other means, you’re in for some fun.
 
I voted 9. I would have never listened to this except for surround. Very nice and I like the songs, a mix of soul, R&B, and hip hop. It is the R&B flavor that really got me with actual musicians, great sound.
Nice discrete surround mix that tended to soothe and relax me.
Hmmm - I figured it was the Jack-n-Coke lmao
 
If any seller would come down to a price I'm comfortable with ($25), I'll bite. It seems they sit around a loooong time, possibly due to little interest in contemporary R&B from most surroundheads.
Only one rejected offer, so far, so I haven't tried too hard.
 
Likewise voted a 9. A point docked for toning down Elliot Scheiner's original 5.1 remix at JZ's request. A tour de force audio/video experience, otherwise!
 
Surround has opened my ears to pretty much all styles and genres of music, but I don’t think I’ll ever invest in anything Beyoncé. Not a fan of any modern R&B due to the fact that I really love hearing real instruments played by real humans; not canned beats and loops. I know I’m old school, but it is what it is.
 
Surround has opened my ears to pretty much all styles and genres of music, but I don’t think I’ll ever invest in anything Beyoncé. Not a fan of any modern R&B due to the fact that I really love hearing real instruments played by real humans; not canned beats and loops. I know I’m old school, but it is what it is.

I used to share that dim opinion of contemporary R&B, Kid. Well, okay, I pretty much still do: three-note melodies; no key changes or even chord changes; no real development or song structure. As for beats and loops: nothing against them per se when they're used creatively, but in contemporary R&B they're generally not. And don't get me started on autotune and melisma-gone-wild. (You kids get offa my lawn!) It's not for me to say this stuff is soulless--plenty of younger folks seem to connect to it, including my own teenager, whose musical tastes are otherwise adventurous and wide-ranging--but most of it leaves me cold.

Beyoncé has started to bring me around, though. Not so much Dangerously in Love or the Beyoncé visual album. I take it Scheiner's mixes were tamed in both cases--which is too bad, because the visual album especially could be really good, and even in its diminished state it sounds great loud. Both albums contain plenty of material that's drecky and banal, but both also have some truly powerful cuts, especially the latter's "Superpower" and "Grown Woman," and the videos--many of them visually stunning, creative, and deep--rescue some of the weaker tracks. Given that album's promise, it was disappointing that its follow-up Lemonade didn't include a surround mix. Those videos are just breathtaking, and for once (for me) the music stands on its own. (I'm wondering if any of our local upmixers have had any success with it...?) Great arrangements, samples, programming, and guest spots, but also plenty of actual musicians, including strings, horns, and jazz sidemen. Give it a shot.
 
The album is okayish, but doesn't really have all that much to add aside from the track Crazy in Love. Thing is, Crazy in Love is a absolute modern Dance-Pop classic and sounds just as it did in 2003. One of the few pop tracks I would really just call "perfect pop". Aside from that, this disc has "Naughty Girl" which is pretty solid and same to "Me, Myself and I". The rest of the tracks aren't really as interesting and are less catchy with less memorable hooks and melodies. Oh and as for the mix, it's quite good. Fortunately the best mix on this thing is for the aforementioned "Crazy in Love" with the surrounds and center definitely being used. It's pretty immersive, but sounds a bit "dry" at times if that makes sense.

This album aside from crazy in love gets a 5/10 but because of that track the album gets a 6/10 with another point for the surround mix making my rating for this a 7/10.

I really badly want to hear the 5.1 mix of her self titled record now, but still haven't bought the blu ray yet. Does her album Lemonade have a 5.1 mix? (edit: answered for myself)
 
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