Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" (Remixed in 5.1 surround by Alan Parsons!!)

[Goona]

Well @Goona , as the official QQ Timekeeper, it looks like you'll be running a separate clock for those of us who ordered from U.S. suppliers.

Nah as soon as I get mine on Friday From Good old Blighty, timers off. It isnt officially released in the US so it was always going to be late from US Suppliers

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Got mine from Cherry Red yesterday- nice box!

 

[ar surround]

Nah as soon as I get mine on Friday From Good old Blighty, timers off. It isnt officially released in the US so it was always going to be late from US Suppliers

I’ve still got quite a backlog of discs to go through anyway, so the delay is actually a non-factor for me. (It seems that I have always got a backlog. )

 

[splinter7]

The reviews thus far on AMAZON UK are not stellar. And the bonus concert material seems pretty bad.

There are 5 reviews only 2 are verified purchasers. Complaints seem mostly related to subpar audio of the 1976 concert, limited number of unreleased tracks, demos + such (who knows if anything else exists) and lack of video content on the DVD.

It isn't like they did not announce the content prior to purchase and I am not sure that many of us bought this for the 1976 concert cd.

The worst review is from a poster calling themselves The Vinyl Doctor who basis the one star rating by saying he/she "could not access the surround sound mix either DTS or Dolby Digital other than Dolby Pro Logic on the DVD". Maybe operator error there?

As @perzon57 replied, who is to take an Amazon reply seriously?
I wouldn't be surprised to read a negative review on Amazon claiming that the purchaser thought they were going to receive a Year of Cats - one delivered every month.

Relax and trust the member reviews of this forum!
Four reviews all rated at a 10 at the moment.

 

[christcomesalive]

Just received a shipping confirmation from Deep Discount!!! Can't wait for it to arrive. Will have my dad over for dinner and an evening of multichannel audio once it lands.

 

[MarkN]

I also just received a shipping confirmation from Import CDs.

 

[--Moe--]

Just got the Shipping Notice from ImportCDs. So it looks the YOTC sets have made landfall in the US.

 

[SHB]

Me too! Sweetness

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Just be careful opening the box set; the discs it seems will become dislodged and loose from travel (might want to try the discs in separate paper holders to store more snuggly.)

 

[hirez]

Got shipping confirmation from Import CDs also.

 

[GOS]

Damn, I also got ImportCDs ship notification!!! How did these guys beat Amazon US?

 

[Steve Schoultz]

This confirms DD and ImportCDs are one in the same.

 

[jefe1]

Shipping notification from DD just received.
Price paid $48.02

 

[marpow]

I am ripping the 4 discs now. CD1 is "The Orginal Stereo Mix Re-Mastered"
The DVD has the "Orginal 1976 Mix Remaster" 24/96 stereo.
and
"Alan Parsons 2020 5.1 Remix"
No confusion on the 5.1 but the stereos are worded slightly different. Are they the same, both 2020 re mastered or remixed.
I am a little confused.

 

[rjstauber]

I received my set already two days ago, from Amazon.co.uk.

One of the discs was dislodged in the paper holder, but not causing any severe damage to the affected disc, just very superficial slight marks. Not really an issue.

I have ripped the content including the DVD and have had only the chance to sample the content here and there.

First impressions are good, in my opinion.

The sound quality of the live recording is not absolutely stellar or perfect, but it is also certainly not of bootleg quality. It is a professional recording (not sure what the source is). The vocals are very clear. The rhythm guitar sometimes sounds a bit strange to me, not sure what kind of guitar was played for some of these parts (perhaps an acoustic with less than an ideal piezo pickup?).

Once you get used to the sound of the recording, it is very enjoyable, a very good performance, and it was one of the main reasons that I decided to order the set, since live recordings by Al Stewart seem to be a bit rare.

There is only one studio bonus track, and it is o.k. (but not superb), but not much of other bonus content, but I have no problem with that (many similar sets contain lots of early takes, alternate mixes, instrumental versions, different edits, etc., this is not the case here).

I haven't done any serious comparisons regarding the stereo remastering. I have the old MFSL silver CD which I quite like, and the new version is definitely louder, but I think the MFSL CD was mastered overall quite low in volume, so I don't know yet how much of the volume difference is attributable to making better use of the dynamic range of the CD format (i.e. mastering with peaks closer to 0 dB) and how much is the result of some slight limiting/compression during the mastering (I am guessing it is a combination of both effects and am hoping that the dynamic compression applied is only minimal).

I also sampled the 5.1 mix (the main reason for my purchase), and it is certainly a nice mix. Maybe not extremely progressive, but overall well done.

Overall, I think this is a nice release. Still have to do some more evaluation to come to a final rating, but it will be in the 8...10 out of 10 range.

 

[Hamilton59]

I received my copy from Cherry Red yesterday afternoon. I popping in the surround sound disk now....

 

[marpow]

The Dynamic Range per track of the three CD's are 9's, 10,s, 11's, 12, 13, average 10.

 

[rjstauber]

I am ripping the 4 discs now. CD1 is "The Orginal Stereo Mix Re-Mastered"
The DVD has the "Orginal 1976 Mix Remaster" 24/96 stereo.
and
"Alan Parsons 2020 5.1 Remix"
No confusion on the 5.1 but the stereos are worded slightly different. Are they the same, both 2020 re mastered or remixed.
I am a little confused.

I checked the first CD with the remastered original mix and the DVD with the 24/96 remaster of the original mix, and these are definitely mastered differently. The CD has some form of limiting/dynamic compression applied, resulting in an overall slightly hotter mastering (perhaps around 1.5 dB difference in average level). The DVD certainly "looks less futzed with" compared to the CD. I would expect the 2.0 24/96 version on the DVD to sound slightly better than the CD, but I will have to do some actual listening comparisons.

And then the important question to me is, how does the new stereo mastering (on the DVD) compare to the old MFSL CD. The MFSL CD has peak levels at less than - 3dB, so really mastered very low, especially by today's standards.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I am ripping the 4 discs now. CD1 is "The Orginal Stereo Mix Re-Mastered"
The DVD has the "Orginal 1976 Mix Remaster" 24/96 stereo.
and
"Alan Parsons 2020 5.1 Remix"
No confusion on the 5.1 but the stereos are worded slightly different. Are they the same, both 2020 re mastered or remixed.
I am a little confused.

I would assume from the wording that they are the same 1976 stereo mix remastered in 2020

 

[marpow]

I am listening to Disc 2, Live in Seattle 1976. It's not bad, good commentary between songs with Al Stewart, audience is pretty mellow, certainly listenable. For a live CD I would say I want to hear the band a little better.