Please post your comments, thoughts and observations.......
HiRez Poll Taylor, James - FLAG [SACD]
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I've been looking for a long time...anyone know where I can find this SACD?
Hmmm. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen this one in a store in a while. I do see the other JT SACDs from time to time.
Since no one has commented on the disc, I would rate it a 7, but only because the music quality is not up to the JT standard he has created for himself. Most of the tunes on this disc are weak, there's even a cover of the Bealtes "Day Tripper"!
As for the sound and surround, those are both excellent. If you like the album, you will love the SACD. The surround mix is very discrete, as are all of the JT SACDs except October Road.
Since no one has commented on the disc, I would rate it a 7, but only because the music quality is not up to the JT standard he has created for himself. Most of the tunes on this disc are weak, there's even a cover of the Bealtes "Day Tripper"!
As for the sound and surround, those are both excellent. If you like the album, you will love the SACD. The surround mix is very discrete, as are all of the JT SACDs except October Road.
I think it got overlooked because there were so many James Taylor multichannel sacds released at once...and most of them were probably better quality musically overall..
The only bad sounding one for surround was the most recent JT one remixed to 5.1 (can't remember the name of it now...but it was a digital recording not analogue)... the rears were basically useless....but all the earlier JT ones are great surround demos...it basically comes down to this...if you like the JT release get the sacd because the surround is great.
The only bad sounding one for surround was the most recent JT one remixed to 5.1 (can't remember the name of it now...but it was a digital recording not analogue)... the rears were basically useless....but all the earlier JT ones are great surround demos...it basically comes down to this...if you like the JT release get the sacd because the surround is great.
I think you're referring to the October Road SACD. I'd agree that it wasn't as interesting as the earlier James Taylor Surround Sound SACDs.
I've spotted the Flag Surround Sound SACD at some of the Best Buy stores mixed in with the regular Stereo CDs by James Taylor. It was also at some of the local Tower Record stores before they started their liquidation sales.
Sendmemovies seems to have it
http://www.sendmemovies.com/ps-42790-77-james-taylor-flag-1979-sacd.aspx
They're an interesting place to find things. I picked up some laserdiscs from them once - years after everyone else stopped carrying them !
just got this nice and cheap in a thrift store ($29.. it's $188 on amazon marketplace at the moment!)
it sounds absolutely gorgeous!
and the mix is more ambitious than I thought it would be.
if it were to be judged on sound quality alone, I'd have to give it a "9", maybe a "10" even, it's that sumptuous!
it's just such a shame then that the music itself is so boring and bland, lacking almost any inspiration!
so I'll have to dock it at least a couple of points for the actual content!
ok, decision made. it's a "7" overall.
it sounds absolutely gorgeous!
and the mix is more ambitious than I thought it would be.
if it were to be judged on sound quality alone, I'd have to give it a "9", maybe a "10" even, it's that sumptuous!
it's just such a shame then that the music itself is so boring and bland, lacking almost any inspiration!
so I'll have to dock it at least a couple of points for the actual content!
ok, decision made. it's a "7" overall.
7. Mix is great. Material is thin. Daytripper is the best track here. When it was a new LP, it was in a pile of promos I got when I was working under the watchful eye. I played it once, put Daytripper on a mix tape (remember those?), and filed it away. Rainy Day Man is the best original track, Up On the Roof is good. Not much else here worthwhile.
I give it an “8”
The sonics are very good and the surround mix is very nice! Pretty much “10”s in those departments.
This album was always a bit of a disappointment as the follow up to the excellent “JT”, but I do have some fond memories of a lot of the material as well, as I did play it a lot when it was first released. And I still like better than the last couple of albums he did for Warner’s in the mid 70s
But there are some very nice moments here. “Rainy Day Man” is a lost Taylor classic, IMO. As is “Millworker”.
And the surround mix on the near a cappella and fun “Is That The Way You Look” is a joy.
Nathaniel Kunkel’s mix is very good. Some odd choices at times, but it helps to make it interesting as well.
The sonics are very good and the surround mix is very nice! Pretty much “10”s in those departments.
This album was always a bit of a disappointment as the follow up to the excellent “JT”, but I do have some fond memories of a lot of the material as well, as I did play it a lot when it was first released. And I still like better than the last couple of albums he did for Warner’s in the mid 70s
But there are some very nice moments here. “Rainy Day Man” is a lost Taylor classic, IMO. As is “Millworker”.
And the surround mix on the near a cappella and fun “Is That The Way You Look” is a joy.
Nathaniel Kunkel’s mix is very good. Some odd choices at times, but it helps to make it interesting as well.
Checking this out today... while this disc sounds great in terms of fidelity, and the music really fills the room, the activity in the surrounds is severely lacking... I can't hear much of anything in the surrounds that isn't also in the fronts... the surround mixes on "JT" and "October Road" (if you turn up the rears) are superior (IMO). I'm always looking for songs to add to my "surround demo" SSD, but unfortunately I didn't find any here. 7.
I listened to this album the other day after putting it in stasis for a decade or so. It always struck me as a bad JT album. The best tracks are some of the older songs, his: "Rainy Day Man" and Carole Kings: "Up on the Roof". There are actually some nice JT tunes here, but some others that sound horrible to me today, songwriting-wise.
On the whole I personally thought it was a rush job to get an album out after the critically aclaimed release of "J.T", which was a comeback album of sorts for him after he left WB and went to Columbia. The song "Company Man" is based loosely on this move.
This album also came out at a time when his marriage to Carly Simon was dissolving. If you listen to the words of B.S.U.R. you can see he's torn between giving up "Do you think you might improve me? Trying to take control. Watching every little thing I do,
Just like a bleeding movie, Just like a leading role. Mama, this ain't me and I can't believe that's you"
and then self depreciation and sorrow, maybe thinking about staying around: "I'm bound to let you down. Then it's I who have been deceiving, purposely misleading and all along you believed in me"
In the last verse, Carly sings the lyrics as a harmony in the rears. If you listen to her alone, you can hear the emptiness in her vocals. Distant and uncaring with no spark or enthusiasm. It's sad really.
I do like the fun side of "Is that the way you look?" and also the pretty little French language tune "Chanson Française"
Here's what he's saying in English:
I've found this French song
Put in a corner
Deep down in my brain
Not yet expressed
And thus I'm lacking of English ideas
It seems, perhaps, as something I hadn't thought
If I say I love you
It's not at all
The same old thing
Because the words that I say
Don't come from the same spirit
And here I am, baby
A new foreigner
I try and I try, but I know
That I don't have enough French.
But what can I say?
It's necessary to finish
Suffice it to say
I'm never going to write
A French song again
Goodbye, my friends
I love you very much.
Yes!
Anyway, I will stick with my earlier vote. The mix is nice, the sound is great, but some of the songs, especially "Day Tripper", "I Will Not Lie for You", and "Company Man" are tough for me to take as a BIG JT fan.
On the whole I personally thought it was a rush job to get an album out after the critically aclaimed release of "J.T", which was a comeback album of sorts for him after he left WB and went to Columbia. The song "Company Man" is based loosely on this move.
This album also came out at a time when his marriage to Carly Simon was dissolving. If you listen to the words of B.S.U.R. you can see he's torn between giving up "Do you think you might improve me? Trying to take control. Watching every little thing I do,
Just like a bleeding movie, Just like a leading role. Mama, this ain't me and I can't believe that's you"
and then self depreciation and sorrow, maybe thinking about staying around: "I'm bound to let you down. Then it's I who have been deceiving, purposely misleading and all along you believed in me"
In the last verse, Carly sings the lyrics as a harmony in the rears. If you listen to her alone, you can hear the emptiness in her vocals. Distant and uncaring with no spark or enthusiasm. It's sad really.
I do like the fun side of "Is that the way you look?" and also the pretty little French language tune "Chanson Française"
Here's what he's saying in English:
I've found this French song
Put in a corner
Deep down in my brain
Not yet expressed
And thus I'm lacking of English ideas
It seems, perhaps, as something I hadn't thought
If I say I love you
It's not at all
The same old thing
Because the words that I say
Don't come from the same spirit
And here I am, baby
A new foreigner
I try and I try, but I know
That I don't have enough French.
But what can I say?
It's necessary to finish
Suffice it to say
I'm never going to write
A French song again
Goodbye, my friends
I love you very much.
Yes!
Anyway, I will stick with my earlier vote. The mix is nice, the sound is great, but some of the songs, especially "Day Tripper", "I Will Not Lie for You", and "Company Man" are tough for me to take as a BIG JT fan.
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