DVD/DTS Poll Be-Bop Deluxe - DRASTIC PLASTIC [DTS DVD]

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Rate the DTS DVD of Be-Bop Deluxe - DRASTIC PLASTIC

  • 8

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Terrible Content, Surround Mix, and Fidelity

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19

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Please post your thoughts and comments on a new deluxe reissue of the final Be-Bop Deluxe album entitled "Drastic Plastic".
This new deluxe edition features a brand new 5.1 surround mix on DVD from engineer @Stephen W Tayler along with lots of other bonus material spread out over 4 CDs and 2 DVDs! Use Comments thread (link above) if not specifically about this release.

(y) :) (n)

be_bop_deluxe_2cd.jpg

Be-Bop-Deluxe-Drastic-Plastic.jpg
 
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This one gets a 10 from me. The surround mix sounds great, with good use of the rears. I like how at times the synth effects are isolated in one speaker and then move around, it’s nicely done and adds to the enjoyment of the track. Other songs are warm and immersive. Overall a good balance of interesting things going on. The sonics sound good, at least to my ears, it has warmth and clarity. Nice to have the bonus tracks in surround as well. The packaging is consistent with previous releases, and I like the fact that they seem to do their own thing regarding the format, with postcards and a poster, as well as the book with an informative essay from Bill Nelson. It’s my favourite Be Bop record, so easily gets a 10. Excellent job by all involved!
 
I'm going for a 10 on this, great last album by the band, the mix is very good, hearing parts I've never heard before and the inclusion of Bill's home movie from the sessions is most welcome, love it
 
Ok, gave Drastic Plastic in 5.1 two thorough listens and, before I get into the details, color me impressed. I essentially stopped listening to Be-Bop post Live In The Air Age!, so I never actually heard Drastic Plastic until now. It totally eradicated my expectations of a non-guitar centered electronic outing. This is an excellent New Wave ilked album that mostly rocks nicely while featuring excellent ballads when it doesn't. Bill Nelson's guitar work is, as usual, superlative throughout.

I decided to jot notes during my 2nd listen to better justify my final score. I judged each song's surround mix, with a '10' being a perfect score. Of the original album's 11 cuts, 4 scored a '10'; 5 scored a '9', and 2 scored an '8'. I have to say that one of the highlights of the entire album is how great Simon Fox's drums sound. They have a fantastic level of presence and heft which really adds fantastic propulsion to the album.

The '10's: Electrical Language, New Precision, Panic In The World, Superenigmatix
The '9's: New Mysteries, Love In Flames, Dangerous Stranger, Visions Of Endless Hopes, Islands Of The Dead
The '8's: Surreal Estate, Possession

I really loved the very active rear speaker engagement and especially the swirling synths in Electrical Language. New Precision again features very active surrounds with synths and effects ever present. Bill's guitar solo is fantastic! Panic In The World isolates a chugging rhythm guitar in the left rear with some awesome panning synths moving between the two rear speakers. Superenigmatix features a great intro in surround and very nice acoustic guitar and piano accents in the rears for the remainder of the song.

New Mysteries features some very good atmospheric surround action. Love In Flames captures the very cool & cheesy Elvis Costello-ish keys in the rears and some awesome front-to-rear drum rolls. Dangerous Stranger has rhythm guitar and some very nice vocal accents in the rears. Visions OF Endless Hopes features a very beautiful and open sound throughout its brief run with mandolin and synth swells in the rears. Islands Of The Dead allows the rears to create a massive and spacious sound that fantastically compliments the front soundstage/mains.

I won't go into individual song details, but the Singles & EP tracks fare even better in surround IMHO: 5 of the 8 merit a '10' mix-wise. Oddly, I noticed that these tracks were about 2-3dB lower in volume than the main album tracks.

Although fidelity was excellent overall, especially since we're dealing with a lossy format, I did feel that the mastering was slightly compressed yielding a level of fatigue at my usual -85dB volume listening level, but this is generally a full and rich sounding release the belies its age.

Final Score
Content: 10 x .3 = 3
Mix: 9 x .3 = 2.7
Fidelity: 9 x .3 = 2.7
Package/Extras: 10 x .1 = 1
TOTAL = 9.4; which rounds down to a 9, but this is a very deserving and high level 9

Thanks for another great Be-bop mix, @Stephen W Tayler! I was very critical of your work on Futurama but your efforts on the other 4 albums have been great-to-fantastic and I really appreciate that such a fantastic band is receiving this treatment!
 
Damn, forgot to pre-order this one. It is my least favorite Be-Bop Deluxe album so I wasn't that excited about it. Now that I have seen the rave reviews here I am really looking FWD to getting it. It's back ordered at Deep Discount right now and the price also went up to $69.99. Hopefully they get it back soon and the price lowers again. I will NOT order from Amazon.
 
Having purchased every one of the Be-Bop Deluxe sets as they were released, I would say the surround mixes have generally been getting better with each release (although Futurama was a bit of a step back). This is the best of them in terms of discrete surround elements and how active the mix is (there are several sequences of things swirling around the room which I don't remember from previous Be-Bop mixes). It's a little louder than some of the other mixes as well, but it sounds great and has a lot of punch; there are no bass issues here (I felt that "Sunburst Finish" was lacking in that department). You also get 19 songs mixed in surround, and these aren't just alternate mixes or demos; they're all unique, and actually some of the bonus songs are among my favorites musically. This album seems to be quite a departure from the other Be-Bop albums in terms of the musical style, being a bit more "New Wave" with lots of synthesizers, but when you hear those lead guitar licks there's no mistaking that killer sound. For me, "Axe Victim" is more appealing musically, but I found plenty to enjoy here and I'm actually kind of sad that we've come to the end of the Be-Bop studio re-releases... I've really enjoyed discovering this band and these releases have allowed me to add some fantastic surround tracks to my playlist. I'm giving this one a 9. Get it if you can!
 
Yeah great good luck then it comes damaged and it takes you 3 weeks to get a refund/replacement. importCDs blows goats.
My experience with ImportCDs has been excellent. The only time I received a damaged purchase (Steven Wilson’s The Future Bites BDA), it was immediately replaced without question or delay. Obviously you’ve had a different experience; just not sure why it differs so much from mine.
 
Having purchased every one of the Be-Bop Deluxe sets as they were released, I would say the surround mixes have generally been getting better with each release (although Futurama was a bit of a step back). This is the best of them in terms of discrete surround elements and how active the mix is (there are several sequences of things swirling around the room which I don't remember from previous Be-Bop mixes). It's a little louder than some of the other mixes as well, but it sounds great and has a lot of punch; there are no bass issues here (I felt that "Sunburst Finish" was lacking in that department). You also get 19 songs mixed in surround, and these aren't just alternate mixes or demos; they're all unique, and actually some of the bonus songs are among my favorites musically. This album seems to be quite a departure from the other Be-Bop albums in terms of the musical style, being a bit more "New Wave" with lots of synthesizers, but when you hear those lead guitar licks there's no mistaking that killer sound. For me, "Axe Victim" is more appealing musically, but I found plenty to enjoy here and I'm actually kind of sad that we've come to the end of the Be-Bop studio re-releases... I've really enjoyed discovering this band and these releases have allowed me to add some fantastic surround tracks to my playlist. I'm giving this one a 9. Get it if you can!
Excellent summary, Sean. I agree with pretty much everything you say here and am very glad I purchased all 5 of the Be-Bop Deluxes deluxe reissues.

My rankings from a surround mix standpoint:
1. Drastic Plastic
2. Axe Victim
3. Modern Music
4. Sunburst Finish
5. Futurama

My rankings from a music content standpoint:
1. Axe Victim
2. Futurama
3. Sunburst Finish
4. Modern Music
5. Drastic Plastic
 
Ok, gave Drastic Plastic in 5.1 two thorough listens and, before I get into the details, color me impressed. I essentially stopped listening to Be-Bop post Live In The Air Age!, so I never actually heard Drastic Plastic until now. It totally eradicated my expectations of a non-guitar centered electronic outing. This is an excellent New Wave ilked album that mostly rocks nicely while featuring excellent ballads when it doesn't. Bill Nelson's guitar work is, as usual, superlative throughout.

I decided to jot notes during my 2nd listen to better justify my final score. I judged each song's surround mix, with a '10' being a perfect score. Of the original album's 11 cuts, 4 scored a '10'; 5 scored a '9', and 2 scored an '8'. I have to say that one of the highlights of the entire album is how great Simon Fox's drums sound. They have a fantastic level of presence and heft which really adds fantastic propulsion to the album.

The '10's: Electrical Language, New Precision, Panic In The World, Superenigmatix
The '9's: New Mysteries, Love In Flames, Dangerous Stranger, Visions Of Endless Hopes, Islands Of The Dead
The '8's: Surreal Estate, Possession

I really loved the very active rear speaker engagement and especially the swirling synths in Electrical Language. New Precision again features very active surrounds with synths and effects ever present. Bill's guitar solo is fantastic! Panic In The World isolates a chugging rhythm guitar in the left rear with some awesome panning synths moving between the two rear speakers. Superenigmatix features a great intro in surround and very nice acoustic guitar and piano accents in the rears for the remainder of the song.

New Mysteries features some very good atmospheric surround action. Love In Flames captures the very cool & cheesy Elvis Costello-ish keys in the rears and some awesome front-to-rear drum rolls. Dangerous Stranger has rhythm guitar and some very nice vocal accents in the rears. Visions OF Endless Hopes features a very beautiful and open sound throughout its brief run with mandolin and synth swells in the rears. Islands Of The Dead allows the rears to create a massive and spacious sound that fantastically compliments the front soundstage/mains.

I won't go into individual song details, but the Singles & EP tracks fare even better in surround IMHO: 5 of the 8 merit a '10' mix-wise. Oddly, I noticed that these tracks were about 2-3dB lower in volume than the main album tracks.

Although fidelity was excellent overall, especially since we're dealing with a lossy format, I did feel that the mastering was slightly compressed yielding a level of fatigue at my usual -85dB volume listening level, but this is generally a full and rich sounding release the belies its age.

Final Score
Content: 10 x .3 = 3
Mix: 9 x .3 = 2.7
Fidelity: 9 x .3 = 2.7
Package/Extras: 10 x .1 = 1
TOTAL = 9.4; which rounds down to a 9, but this is a very deserving and high level 9

Thanks for another great Be-bop mix, @Stephen W Tayler! I was very critical of your work on Futurama but your efforts on the other 4 albums have been great-to-fantastic and I really appreciate that such a fantastic band is receiving this treatment!
Changed my vote to a 10. My favorite mix of 2021 so far.
 
Mr S.W. Tayler pulled out all the stops in his mesmerising mix.

The band play as if they know more than they are letting on.

John Peel (God bless him) got me into Be Bop from their beginning, as he would regularly introduce new bands on his radio show.

Young Bill Nelson knew the sound he was trying to achieve and how to adapt it to changing musical tastes over the subsequent years.

I hope there is more to come from Mr Tayler, where he is able to show off his studio prowess.

I know the Van Der Graff box set is due soon.

A not so drastic 10
 
A Solid 10 from me. This was the last BBD album in my list, it took some trepidation to purchase it since I don't listen to surround mixes like I used to.

First of all, Drastic Plastic was my least liked album, I missed the delicious guitar solos/chops from the past outing and wanted more adventurous music. This mix presents it in a way that totally makes me wonder if more instruments were actually added to the music by Mr. Tayler. Amazing, separation, with synth lines, percussion, vocals that were completely oblivious in the stereo mix come alive. For the first time, I did not skip a single track while listening to the album.

This surround mix is more than just effects, it brings a new life, it articulates, it teases, it mesmerizes the listener to hear composition beyond it's paltry stereo representation to something magical.
 
I vote 10 for the best 5.1 mix of all of the Be Bop Deluxes for Drastic Plastic. All of the extra tracks 5.1 mixes are also really well done and add so much to this box set. I really like all of the Be Bop Deluxe surround mixes but Drastic Plastic 5.1 mix is the most discrete of all of them. Great job Stephen W. Tayler.
 
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