HiRez Poll Davis, Miles - BITCHES BREW [SACD-JAPAN]

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Rate the SACD of Miles Davis - BITCHES BREW


  • Total voters
    103
I say "10" because this release is as close to perfect as one could hope for. The 7" square case provides a better view of the artwork and makes for easier-to-read interior liner notes. The reproduction of the original Japanese notes and artwork is an added bonus. You really don't even need the polyvinyl slip covers as the the SACDs are mounted on cardboard squares that provide protection for the play sides of the discs when they are dropped back into the sleeves.

I first heard the US LP on its initial 1970 release. I enjoyed outre, experimental music and thought this was an interesting album, although was not enamored enough of jazz fusion to give it more than a few listens (the later Live Evil was more up my alley because of its funk fusion leanings). I've come to appreciate this album more over the years, and the new Japan surround issue is stunningly good; it may be the most creatively discrete Quadraphonic mix ever created.

I finally picked up a copy from ImportCDs during their recent sale for a pretty good price, and the more I spin these discs the more seductively addictive the sound becomes. To my ears, the Quad simply stomps all over the various Stereo reissues.

Teo Macero was to the later Miles Davis output as George Martin was to the Beatles. For those interested, here's an entertaining, short video to Macero discussing his work on Bitches Brew (he does an accurate and amusing imitation of Davis, too):

Producer Teo Macero on His Work With Miles Davis

To sum up, an indispensable Quad release of a historically important album that has been a tremendous influence on jazz, pop, rock, electro, and more over the past half century.
 
There is tons of active panning, drums are positioned on a diagonal (FR and RL), John McLaughlin's guitar in in RR

So this got me confused a bit. I checked my setup against the Boulez conducts Bartok Vocalion SACD, which is excellent for determining which channel should be which, as it has all the information about which instruments are located in which channel, and it seems I have everything connected correctly - however, when playing Bitches Brew the two drum sets are on the right, front and rear, and McLaughlin's guitar in the left rear channel. Can anyone confirm which assignment is correct? Swapping channels in stereo is harmless to a certain degree, but in quad it might alter the experience significantly.

EDIT: As we established with sjcorne in this thread http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/for...w-do-you-check-your-channel-assignment.27184/ my SACD player has a weird glitch that swaps rear channels on 5.0 authored SACDs when the center channel on the player is turned off. This is is the reason for the inconsistency I was hearing.
 
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So this got me confused a bit. I checked my setup against the Boulez conducts Bartok Vocalion SACD, which is excellent for determining which channel should be which, as it has all the information about which instruments are located in which channel, and it seems I have everything connected correctly - however, when playing Bitches Brew the two drum sets are on the right, front and rear, and McLaughlin's guitar in the left rear channel. Can anyone confirm which assignment is correct? Swapping channels in stereo is harmless to a certain degree, but in quad it might alter the experience significantly.
It's just as @sjcorne wrote. I also go in to the Bitches Brew mix in the video above.
 
It's just as @sjcorne wrote. I also go in to the Bitches Brew mix in the video above.

Attached is the information from the Bartok SACD - the cover says it all, but it is also spelled out very explicitly in the booklet.
Now, I verified - and I believe I was quite meticulous - the placement of all instruments and they are in the correct channels when I put on the Bartok SACD.
Then on the Miles Davis the drums are right front, right rear and the guitar is left rear.

Just to double check, I also played some SQ and QS test tone files and everything was where it should be.

I believe the Bartok SACD gives a fairly objective and precise method of verifying the channel assignments, since the mix is very discrete and it is easy to pick out single instruments.
Does anyone here have a different method for verifying this (other than paying attention when you hook things up)?


IMG_0384.jpgbartok1.jpg
 
Well, this poll thread has already gone a little off-topic, so I won't feel too sheepish about posting this here.

Miles began recording what would become BB fifty years ago, on August 19, 1969, and NPR's Jazz Night in America just aired an hour-long radio documentary about it: "Electric Miles: Behind the 'Brew,'" featuring an interview with Betty Davis and excerpts from a performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center led by Marcus Miller.
 
Well, this poll thread has already gone a little off-topic, so I won't feel too sheepish about posting this here.

Miles began recording what would become BB fifty years ago, on August 19, 1969, and NPR's Jazz Night in America just aired an hour-long radio documentary about it: "Electric Miles: Behind the 'Brew,'" featuring an interview with Betty Davis and excerpts from a performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center led by Marcus Miller.
WOW--great call! Thanks SO much for the LINK! Highly recommended!
 
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What a beautiful package and fun disc to listen to! I haven’t decided whether it’s a 9 or 10.

Technical question which I am not sure belong here, but here goes: when I rip this I’m having problem playing the quad, it passes to stereo. When I compare Audio Fidelity rips, they have six tracks albeit two are silent, this have five tracks and one silent - could it be that my AVR doesn’t ”get” that?
 
It's possible. Quite annoyingly, when I 'upgraded' from one Denon AVR to a more recent Denon model, I lost the ability to play 4.0 files (though not 5.0 files). Adding silent channels to 4.0 files with Music Media Helper fixed it.

Have you tried any other 5.0 sources? A couple of tracks on the old Brain Salad Surgery DVDA are 5.0 ('Benny the Bouncer' is one)
 
It's possible. Quite annoyingly, when I 'upgraded' from one Denon AVR to a more recent Denon model, I lost the ability to play 4.0 files (though not 5.0 files). Adding silent channels to 4.0 files with Music Media Helper fixed it.

Have you tried any other 5.0 sources? A couple of tracks on the old Brain Salad Surgery DVDA are 5.0 ('Benny the Bouncer' is one)
Thanks for the tips, will try them. I don’t have Brain Salad Surgery but I got some other discs in 5.0 that, when I think about it, only have been played in a disc player, haven’t actually played them as ripped files - will look into this.
 
Thanks for the tips, will try them. I don’t have Brain Salad Surgery but I got some other discs in 5.0 that, when I think about it, only have been played in a disc player, haven’t actually played them as ripped files - will look into this.

All of the Audio Fidelity 4.0 SACDs are actually 5.0 as well.
 
All of the Audio Fidelity 4.0 SACDs are actually 5.0 as well.
Ah you are right - appear most my ripped quad discs have five channels, and some are sole four channels (Chicago box) and none of these have this problem. This is even more weird.
 
I finally got around to playing this and as expected excellent sound and surround. I love the packaging of these discs although it contributes to the relatively high price. I wonder if this is the end of these releases from Sony Japan I haven't seen anything new in quite some time, I'm very thankful for the recent DV releases even if the packaging is not so flashy as this.
 
Getting in late but 10, I gave about 75 canadian rupees for this thing despite not being a huge fan of Miles and that was a good choice, this album is great and the quad mix is, well everyone else has said how good it is and how lovely the packaging is. More than being one of the best quads, this is one of the best surround multichannel albums period, I use it alongside Dark Side of the Moon in quad and the Quadrophenia Bluray when I wanna show people the Magic of Multichannel™
 
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