Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

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David Hazeltine-George Mraz Trio with Billy Drummond, Manhattan (2006), SACD 5.0. No way for Chesky's omnidirectional one-mic technique to yield anything like "discrete" channel separation, but it does make you feel like you're in the room with the musicians. R.I.P., George.

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Love, Devotion & Surrender - Santana & McLaughlin SQ
Serenade - Neil Diamond SQ LP
Psonic Psunspot- Dukes of XTC BD
Sketches of Spain - Miles DVD-V

Supreme Jazz surround SACD's:
Harry James
Dave Brubeck
Stan Getz
Dizzy Gillespie

I guess the Supreme Jazz are surround, just barely

Have seen/heard all these folks live, except the Dukes & McLaughlin.
Caught Miles and Santana at least a half dozen times each.
Saw George Mraz w/Stan Getz
 
Holst, The Planets (NYPO/Bernstein, 1973), in a conversion from Q8. We probably don't need yet another Planets in a modern surround format--there are several good ones out there--but I'd still like to see Dutton reissue this one. It's Lenny, after all! (He does a crazy-quickstepping "Mars.") And Larry Keyes!
https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/
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Akira Ishakawa and Count Buffalo(es), Uganda (1973), in a software decode from QM LP (apparently QM was Toshiba's version of "Regular Matrix" EV-4?). I think Ishakawa--who started as a jazz drummer before moving into fusion and proto-"world" beats--had more than one quad release; this is the first I've heard. Both the music and the mix are pretty wild, with screaming guitar and discretely mixed African drums & percussion.

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Holst, The Planets (NYPO/Bernstein, 1973), in a conversion from Q8. We probably don't need yet another Planets in a modern surround format--there are several good ones out there--but I'd still like to see Dutton reissue this one. It's Lenny, after all! (He does a crazy-quickstepping "Mars.") And Larry Keyes!
https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/
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Most unfortunately, humprof, the early 00 SONY Multi~CH SACD [?] seems to have forgotten it WAS multichannel!


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Akira Ishakawa and Count Buffalo(es), Uganda (1973), in a software decode from QM LP (apparently QM was Toshiba's version of "Regular Matrix" EV-4?). I think Ishakawa--who started as a jazz drummer before moving into fusion and proto-"world" beats--had more than one quad release; this is the first I've heard. Both the music and the mix are pretty wild, with screaming guitar and discretely mixed African drums & percussion.

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That's an uber expensive one- if .... if... you can even find one. Never heard it either. QM is very similar to QS; always feel the Japanese QM's I have decode out very discretely.
 
The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3 (1973), in a slightly tweaked version of the 2001 5.1 SACD that restores the original 1974 quad mix. Beautiful, lovely, real fine. But never mind "Who's That Lady," which is an undisputed masterpiece: after that, the best things on this album may be the covers. I'm not trying to be heretical--I like my DBs and my JT as much as anybody--but almost every one of those covers is arguably better than the original. (Well, maybe not "Summer Breeze"...)

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To clarify, humprof, for a Larry Keyes remix it was a VERY TEPID AFFAIR!

The 5.1 mix on the SACD is not a faithful adaptation of Larry Keyes' quad mix. It sounds to me like they used only the front channels of the four-channel master as the basis for some type of upmix/manipulation, since the organ that's isolated in the rear channels on the Q8 tape is nearly inaudible on the SACD.
 
The 5.1 mix on the SACD is not a faithful adaptation of Larry Keyes' quad mix. It sounds to me like they used only the front channels of the four-channel master as the basis for some type of upmix/manipulation, since the organ that's isolated in the rear channels on the Q8 tape is nearly inaudible on the SACD.

Precisely, Jonathan. Humprof's wish for a 'proper' D~V QUAD SACD remaster is certainly seconded here!
 
Love, Devotion & Surrender - Santana & McLaughlin SQ
Serenade - Neil Diamond SQ LP
Psonic Psunspot- Dukes of XTC BD
Sketches of Spain - Miles DVD-V

Supreme Jazz surround SACD's:
Harry James
Dave Brubeck
Stan Getz
Dizzy Gillespie

I guess the Supreme Jazz are surround, just barely

Have seen/heard all these folks live, except the Dukes & McLaughlin.
Caught Miles and Santana at least a half dozen times each.
Saw George Mraz w/Stan Getz

QL, the German produced SUPREME JAZZ Multi~CH [?] SACD series were ALL upmixes but sound surprisingly robust for their meager asking price. Some of the Supreme Jazz series were MONO but reconfigured for a faux surround mix but still worth seeking out, IMO.
 
John Klemmer, Magic and Movement (1974), in a Sansui-decoded conversion from QS LP. Not the New Age-y, Smooth Jazz-y Klemmer everybody thinks of. Interesting mix, too, especially for live recordings (and for QS). Also some good sidemen: Mike Nock, Dean Parks, Wilton Felder, Cecil McBee, Alphonse Mouzon... Definitely worth a listen.

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Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, and Jean-Pierre Rampal, Improvisations - West Meets East - Album 3 (1976; released in the UK as Improvisations), in a conversion from SQ LP. Just what you'd imagine. I'd rather we'd gotten Shakti in quad, but this is worth hearing once...

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Air 10,000 Hz Legend [Parlophone/2 RBCDs/1 BD~A Dolby Atmos, 5.1, Stereo] What an unexpected delight from the French electronic duo of Jean~Benet Dunckel and Nicolas Godin. The new discrete surround remix {Dolby ATMOS/5.1} by Bruce Keen & Gildas Lointier at Studio Benezéne, Paris is nothing short of SCRUMPTIOUS! Looking forward to more from this dynamic French duo...like MOON🌕SAFARI, s'il vous plait?


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No, listen 4-earredwonder, darling: 10000 Hz Legend is an appalling album. I don't care how discrete it is, but it just blows chunks. I wondered why I haven't played this album since its release - I play Moon Safari, The Virgin Suicides soundtrack and Talkie Walkie considerably more often. I get all excited, just like you do, when suddenly a new Atmos mix pops out onto a shiny new little silver disc. So I ordered this album, of course. And then I heard the three first songs again and suddenly had a flashback to 2001. The sound of two incredibly bored and uninspired Frenchmen, having spent all their time going to parties and doing drugs, having to put out a new album for their record company. With no new hooks or tunes or anything. Merde!
 
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