Just gave this a listen. There is lots about it to like. I remember Steven Wilson saying in the past that when he mixes an album into 5.1, that it's important to him that the new mix still have the same feel as the original recording that people are familiar with. I have felt that some of Oldfield's previous 5.1 mixes have strayed too far from the feel of the original. This is not the case here. The mixes are very nice with very active use of the rears but still feel like the same music I've been listening to for the last 30 years. The two opening songs ("To France" and "The Lake") are real highlights. Very immersive mixes with very nice sound. Unfortunately, the next track ("The Killing Fields (Main Theme)") has a particularly harsh sound to it. I had to lower the volume as it was causing me fatigue and gave me a bit of a headache. The mix on this track is nice, but the sonics poor. The transition into the next track ("Etude") is abrupt. Sounds like a poor edit or perhaps an authoring issue. The surround mix continues to be excellent on this track as it is through the rest of the disc. I was excited for the next track, "The Royal Mile", as it had been billed as a previously unheard tune from the era. It is however an alternate version of the b-side "Afghan." Nice none the less. After that we have "Zombies (Halloween Special)". As mentioned above, this is pretty unforgivable. A perfectly good song destroyed with a horrendous new alternate vocal and lyric. Who knows, maybe Mike's a big Walking Dead fan? But if he had to pay tribute, couldn't he have done it with a new tune (or at least destroyed a tune I already didn't care for like "Magic Touch"?) And besides, if anyone is going to pay tribute to The Walking Dead, shouldn't it be Ian Anderson? After all, it's his son-in-law who's the star of the show! But I digress..... The 1984 Suite ends with the title track from Discovery and another fine mix.
Hard to know how to rate this one. Other than the harshness on one track, it is overall an excellent mix, probably the best mix that Mike has done yet. However, Discovery and The Killing Fields comprise approximately 80 minutes of music but we only get about 37 minutes of that mixed into surround. If this was due to missing multi-tracks then it can be forgiven, otherwise there was no reason not to mix both albums in their entirety into 5.1.
Maybe The Exorcist finally caught up to him...
