HiRez Poll Moody Blues - TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Moody Blues - TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN


  • Total voters
    60

JonUrban

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Please post your thoughts and comments on the SACD release of this classic Moody Blues album, currently only available in the UK. (y) :phones (n)

If you feel so inclined, please let us know where you got yours and approximatly what you paid - to use as a reference for other members.

THANKS!
 
I ordered mine from Elusive Disc ($129.99 for the set), and all 5 showed up today (Friday April14). Haven't listened, but here are the scans:
 

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This is the second Moody's SACD I've listened to. After DOFP, I was afraid that all of these releases would be no-noised to death. I can't speak to the other releases yet, but thankfully, TOCCC is, by an large, left with all it's intrinsic magic left intact.

This sonic gem has still been stepped on with noise reduction, but nowhere NEAR the levels of DOFP. In fact, you can still hear some tape hiss off the master tape and there is more than sufficient air about the instruments to let you know this was a serious effort.

That said, the overall sound is still slightly diffuse, despite the exceptional fidelity and incredible surround mix. I can't quite put my finger on it... a slightly bloated bass and a sense that things just aren't as "right" as they should be...

Again, overstating here... hard to detract from this disc. It sounds pretty darn good. As for performance, right up there but not my VERY favorite Moody's release. I'll give this one eight points.
 
Cai Campbell said:
This is the second Moody's SACD I've listened to. After DOFP, I was afraid that all of these releases would be no-noised to death. I can't speak to the other releases yet, but thankfully, TOCCC is, by an large, left with all it's intrinsic magic left intact.

This sonic gem has still been stepped on with noise reduction, but nowhere NEAR the levels of DOFP. In fact, you can still hear some tape hiss off the master tape and there is more than sufficient air about the instruments to let you know this was a serious effort.

That said, the overall sound is still slightly diffuse, despite the exceptional fidelity and incredible surround mix. I can't quite put my finger on it... a slightly bloated bass and a sense that things just aren't as "right" as they should be...

Again, overstating here... hard to detract from this disc. It sounds pretty darn good. As for performance, right up there but not my VERY favorite Moody's release. I'll give this one eight points.

OK Cai, is it as good as the Dolby B Q4? I think it is amazing? I won't bother buying it otherwise. Since you are a fellow analogue kid (with apologies to Rush), I trust your evaluation. What do you think? Mike.
 
I'm not sure this can rightfully be called 5.1. There's nothing coming out of the center. (I don't have a subwoofer, so I don't know about the bass.) But it sounds fantastic anyway. (y)

My beef is with the live "bonus" tracks. Has anyone else noticed the pronounced flutter? At first, I thought Hayward was just nervous. (n)
 
I vote 10 again on this MB release, i like 'em.
 
It would seem that something is going on with these releases...not quite the 'natural' sound I had hoped for. But this is an exceptional mix and album, so an '8' from me...but like Cai, I feel these could have been better still.

ED :)
 
Quadzilla said:
OK Cai, is it as good as the Dolby B Q4? I think it is amazing? I won't bother buying it otherwise. Since you are a fellow analogue kid (with apologies to Rush), I trust your evaluation. What do you think? Mike.
This is the best of the bunch. If you're only going to buy one of these SACD reissues, this is the one (sonically speaking) to get. I'm afraid the SACD baby doesn't quite live up to the promise of the Q4 daddy, but TOCCC is WAY closer than the other three titles. I can live quite happily with this release as a digital pacifier.

Sonically, I give this SACD release 9 points. Musically, it's just not my favorite Moodies release, which is the only reason I bumped it down to 8 points. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, and again, the best of the bunch (sonically, if not musically.)

Picking nits on this one... it's definitely worth getting! (y)
 
I gave it a 9 just like I gave OTTOFD. Got 'em at the same time and I have delighted in them both. TOCCC sounds terrific in 5.1 and great using headphones in stereo. Again I feel the bass guitar was slightly under-represented in the surround mix but otherwise a great job (yes, I checked my sub and it's fine on my other discs). The 2nd disc was a total joy to hear. The live versions of these songs show a great dedication to "getting it as right as it can be" on the part of the band members. I have loved this music for over three decades and I intend to enjoy these new versions all too much!. A total guilty pleasure.
 
As I have said before, I have not had the priviledge of hearing the original Q-4, so I have no point of reference to make a comparison there. IMHO this is a great title, and I am happy to have it on SACD. The mutichannel and stereo SACD versions are awesome. I have not listened to the redbook layer on the first disc (probably won't unless I take it in the car). The bonus material on the second disc is a live BBC radio concert. The concert performance is great but the record quality was not that good. So Red book CD was plenty good enough for this. I thought of giving this one a 9, because it is not my favorite MB title. But I was thinking that I do not want to discourage anyone from giving this a listen. Besides that, this one joins many others in my collection as one that I wouldn't have purchased on CD just for stereo, but the mutichannel makes it all worthwhile. And the record quality on the SACD sounds very good to me. I will agree that I have more recent releases that sound much better. However I think we have to take into consideration that these recordings are almost 40 years old. To get them redone (at all) and from the original Quad masters is close to a miracle. Anyway, I am giving it a 10 just because you don't want to miss out on this! (y) :)
 
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10. Their best album. The mix is good, fidelity good for its' time. I still have my Q8 of this and the other five. I got it at Music Direct and it was $129 for all 5.

Left without a hope of coming home.
 
fidelity good for its' time.
That always throws me and I never know what it really says about the fidelity. Fidelity is either good or it's not. If it's not so good because it was recorded 40 years ago then so be it - it's not so good. Come Together on Love is at the same time and to me it sounds fantastic. Is that the kind of fidelity that you are talking about?
 
That always throws me and I never know what it really says about the fidelity. Fidelity is either good or it's not. If it's not so good because it was recorded 40 years ago then so be it - it's not so good. Come Together on Love is at the same time and to me it sounds fantastic. Is that the kind of fidelity that you are talking about?

all titles had been issued at same time span with use of available in their time equipment still greatly varying in sound fidelity.
unfortunately the most selling acts, usually had worst quality of sound and often mixing performance. go back to 70th,
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Queen, etc. perhaps most significant examples. no single album
with decent sound.
seems like only the bands where musicians were involved not in playing only but recording/mixing too or was lucky enough to
have engineering personel who's cares about sound, had left enjoyable sonically releases.
 
There is such a concept as absolute fidelity. Yet, to expect a recording from 40+ years ago to sound as good as a recent Steely Dan recording is an unfair comparison. Taken in the absolute, I'd rate this album as a 7 for sonics. Taken contextually, it would proabably rate an 8 or 9. I don't expect Bessie Smith, recorded prior to the advent of electrical recording, to match up to a modern sonic spectacular. That is unreasonable for something nearly 90 years old. There needs to be some allowance for the prevailing standards and technology of the time.
 
That always throws me and I never know what it really says about the fidelity. Fidelity is either good or it's not. If it's not so good because it was recorded 40 years ago then so be it - it's not so good. Come Together on Love is at the same time and to me it sounds fantastic. Is that the kind of fidelity that you are talking about?

Wavelength, I'd rate the fidelity on this MB recording as good even on an "absolute" basis. Note that this SACD presents a manipulation of the quadraphonic masters and not a remaster prepared from the multi-tracks such as was done for Come Together. But understand that I tend to judge a reissue by comparing it to what I have already heard. Therefore, I strongly feel that this multichannel SACD greatly improves upon all previous stereo releases especially with regard to clarity and dynamics.
 
I gave it a "9" when I rated it a couple of years ago and even though I love this series of Quad>SACD and I love the Moodies, I don't play these as often as I should! I'll pull them out and give them another listen soon and see how I feel now.
 
all titles had been issued at same time span with use of available in their time equipment still greatly varying in sound fidelity.
unfortunately the most selling acts, usually had worst quality of sound and often mixing performance. go back to 70th,
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Queen, etc. perhaps most significant examples. no single album
with decent sound.
seems like only the bands where musicians were involved not in playing only but recording/mixing too or was lucky enough to
have engineering personel who's cares about sound, had left enjoyable sonically releases.

you really feel that there are no albums by Zeppelin, Sabbath, DP, or Queen from the 70's that sound decent?!?

good grief! what's your point of reference?

the original vinyl? the first cd pressings? the remastered CDs? MoFi reissues? high-res/5.1 releases?

I could name a good half a dozen excellent-sounding 70's Queen, Deep Purple, Sabbath & Zeppelin albums on various formats.

The DVDA of Queens' The Game is superb, the SACD quad and DVDA 5.1 remix of DP's Machine Head both sound excellent, the stereo remastered cd of Paranoid is surprisngly good (the quad transfer in the Deluxe Edition is awful though sadly) and the original "target" Barry Diament mastered CDs of most of Zeppelin's albums are really very nice and I never feel when listening to any of them, particularly in relation to my original LPs, that they are of poor fidelity.

Every one of those acts have their albums that appear not to be as well-recorded as they could have been, admittedly.

For me, Queens' A Day at the Races was never that great a recording to begin with, Zeppelins' second album has a good few overloaded/saturated parts with bass distortion etc and perhaps the quad mix of DP's Stormbringer lacks some top end fidelity and bass stability but as has been said, in the context of the era these Moodies albums were recorded in the majority of them hold up well, IMHO, as do the majority of Queen, Zeppelin and Deep Purple albums.
 
ok, I've just spotted my blunder! Apologies!

The Game is (just) from the 80's.. but their ANATO album is hardly a slouch in the sound department. yes, there are issues where the multitracks have been degraded through copious overdubbing etc and theres tape saturation, etc.. but it still sounds great and I would argue the 70's represented a high-water mark in recording quality in general.

I've far more issues with the limitations of 80's digital recording and 80's/90's studio production trends, together with the loudness wars of mastering the last 10-15 years, before I'd even begin to criticise the sound of 70's music generally!
 
Recently purchased from Imp0rtCDs (through Amaz0n=cheaper) for around US 17.58, with no regrets;).

I like this much more than expected, even given that the QQ HiRezPoll led me there. Didn't make any effort to listen to TMB in the past but after two listens, quite pleasant.

I'll feel comfortable voting after one more spin.

Thanks all.
 
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