Dolby Surround CD's - What's Your Latest?

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Most of these will have appeared over the years in the various Listening to in Surround type threads. As great as these are, it's sometimes tricky to remember where certain discs are mentioned. I thought I'd bump this thread up and share a few of my favourite Surround Encoded CDs

I've owned a Yamaha receiver with Dolby Pro Logic II decoder for a little over two years now and I've put together a nice little set of Surround Encoded CDs.

Henry Mancini was definitely up there with Tomita as one for whom RCA released many Dolby Surround encoded CDs.

I have six of his eight Dolby Surround encoded CDs (that I can count), some of them compilations for various albums, others albums proper.

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As Time Goes By and other Classic Movie Love Songs (RCA Victor 09026-60974-2) 1992

This is a laid back yet classy affair with top arrangements and playing thoughout. The tracks are songs featured in movies and written between 1931 and 1991 but with none of them sounding out of place.

Cinema Italiano: Music of Ennio Morricone & Nino Rota (RCA Victor 60706-2-TC) 1991

Mancini's interpretations of some of his favourite movie music composers' greatest works offer a wide array of styles. The Morricone cuts are all sublime. The showstoppers though, are Nino Rota's three selections from The Godfather which conclude the disc. I often find myself playing these in a loop.

Top Hat Mancini: Music from the films of Astaire & Rogers (RCA Victor 09026-60795-2) 1992

Much of the Great American Song Book was written for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals which were released by RKO in the 1930's. Mancini not only pays a heartfelt tribute to these songs but a bonus medley of songs from Astaire movies sans Rogers shows how important a figure Astaire was for Pop Music in the 20th Century. The disc starts with a medley that features a tap dancer and the Dolby encoding allows us to hear the taps going from speaker to speaker covering all four corners. The effect actually works in the context of the music without feeling gimmicky. A treat for lovers of these fine songs.

The Godfather & Other Movie Themes (RCA Victor 09026-61478-2) 1993

This is a compilation of a few albums recorded in the 70's. My favourite tracks on this one are the Symphonic Suite from The White Dawn, The Disaster Movie Suite (Earthquake, The Towering Inferno and Jaws) and The French Collection (The Windmills of Your Mind, A Man and A Woman, Love Story and The Summer of '42).

Moon River (RCA Victor 09026-61513-2) 1993 and Mancini In Hollywood (Mr. Lucky and other Film & TV Greats) (RCA Victor 09026-61517-2) 1993

These two discs also feature some fine music but please take note that some of the tracks were recorded in the late 50's/early 60's on three-track tape, which limits the Surround experience a little, but the music is still timeless and quite enjoyable.
Nice collection of Mancini! I have Top Hat and Cinema Italiano. I hope to find the others and thanks for posting them as I was not aware of them. I agree with you about Cinema Italiano. The arrangements and recordings are fantastic! One of my favorite CDs.
 
Nice collection of Mancini! I have Top Hat and Cinema Italiano. I hope to find the others and thanks for posting them as I was not aware of them. I agree with you about Cinema Italiano. The arrangements and recordings are fantastic! One of my favorite CDs.

I was fortunate to find these at decent prices in a brief amount of time.

Here are the other two I did not have, which were mentioned earlier in this thread.

Mancini In Surround - Mostly Monsters, Murders & Mysteries (RCA Victor 60471-2-RC) 1990

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The Pink Panther And Other Hits (RCA Victor BG2-55938) 1992

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The Essential JOHN CARPENTER Film Music Collection [Silva Classics/Dolby Surround/HDCD encoded] 18 astonishing tracks, superbly recorded, performed!

https://www.discogs.com/release/227...ssential-John-Carpenter-Film-Music-Collection
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1Escape From New York: Main Title (Mix 1)
2Halloween: Theme (Mix 1)
3Halloween: Haunted House
4Starman: End Titles
5Big Trouble In Little China: Pork Chop Express
6The Fog
7Assault On Precinct 13: Main Title
8Assault On Precinct 13: Julie's Theme
9Christine: Bad To The Bone
10Halloween II: Main Theme
11The Thing
12Dark Star
13They Live
14Prince Of Darkness
15Escape From New York: Main Title (Mix 2)
16Halloween: Theme (Mix 2)
17Village Of The Damned
18Starman: End Titles (Symphonic Version)
 
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Just received this in time for my birthday from Italy...

I had been looking for this one for quite some time. Sellers kept sending me the Dolby Surround encoded CD.

For those who've enjoyed the 2 excellent Telarc SACDs from Pieces of a Dream, this will float your boat. Superb active mix and gorgeous sound all around.

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John Mauceri & the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra – Star Wars: The Sound Of Hollywood


I've received a disc today that has without any effort become my favourite encoded CD. Not only is the fidelity jaw dropping with a spacious (pardon the pun) soundstage and powerful yet precise sub frequencies, but the Surround experience is unbelievably lifelike. I paid $10 for my copy (shipped) and I could have paid three times that amount this disc is so good. The kicker is that the arrangements and performances are simply sublime. You get beautiful music by many of the usual suspects like John Williams, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone and Max Steiner, but also some pleasant surprises.

The John Williams and John Barry tracks will blow you away by how great they sound. The Star Wars medley is as good as the original Williams version.

If you've never bothered buying an encoded CD, this is the disc you should try. I'm playing mine in DLPII and I absolutely love it.

The encoding is called AMSI (Ambient Surround Imaging) and is used for a budget reissue series by Phillips, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon called Eloquence. If you like Classical music, you're in for a treat as they have a nice catalog of encoded titles.

The final track is Jerry Goldsmith's Main Title for The Omen complete with a ominous sounding choir. All you need is a black cloak and your right index finger flexing a little as you say in a child like muffled voice: Redrum, Redrum...

Go buy this disc NOW!

The Sound of Hollywood 01.jpg

The Sound of Hollywood 02.jpg

The Sound of Hollywood 03.jpg


redrum, redrum...
 
Are the "encoding" equations for the AMSI system available (an earlier QQ thread says DPL2 music works well for decoding)?


(IMHO, too bad the "industry" can't settle on just 1 matrix encoding method)


Kirk Bayne
 
I have managed to snag two of these releases so far.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Orgelwerke-CD/156771013?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=2078$12 with free schipping from WallyWorld

https://www.amazon.com/Fur-Elise-Ro...words=fur+elise&qid=1657848502&s=music&sr=1-2this is offered at $13.46

There are also previously quad recorded, old titles being rereleased on Pentatone on their "RQR" series. I expect this is ancient news for many QQ members but I mention it for the newer types (such as myself)

https://www.discogs.com/label/1010818-Pentatone-RQR
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/series/3149/browseClaims in stock and $15 for new!

https://www.prestomusic.com/A website that needs to be explored if you are interested in classical music.
 
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John Mauceri & the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra – Star Wars: The Sound Of Hollywood


I've received a disc today that has without any effort become my favourite encoded CD. Not only is the fidelity jaw dropping with a spacious (pardon the pun) soundstage and powerful yet precise sub frequencies, but the Surround experience is unbelievably lifelike. I paid $10 for my copy (shipped) and I could have paid three times that amount this disc is so good. The kicker is that the arrangements and performances are simply sublime. You get beautiful music by many of the usual suspects like John Williams, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone and Max Steiner, but also some pleasant surprises.

The John Williams and John Barry tracks will blow you away by how great they sound. The Star Wars medley is as good as the original Williams version.

If you've never bothered buying an encoded CD, this is the disc you should try. I'm playing mine in DLPII and I absolutely love it.

The encoding is called AMSI (Ambient Surround Imaging) and is used for a budget reissue series by Phillips, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon called Eloquence. If you like Classical music, you're in for a treat as they have a nice catalog of encoded titles.

The final track is Jerry Goldsmith's Main Title for The Omen complete with a ominous sounding choir. All you need is a black cloak and your right index finger flexing a little as you say in a child like muffled voice: Redrum, Redrum...

Go buy this disc NOW!





redrum, redrum...
Based on your glowing review, I ordered this. Using the link you provided, it was actually $3 less than you paid. Looking forward to hearing this- Thanks!
 
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/rca-q8-ad-from-1970.3174/
Interesting, in 1970, RCA was for discrete quad only, in 1990, matrix surround (I have the Mancini in Surround CD, the 1st DS encoded CD - RCA Home Video Album and several others from RCA).


Might be old news:
https://www.discogs.com/lists/Dolby-Surround-matrix-encoded-multi-channel/540091

Kirk Bayne
At that time, Dolby Surround was the STANDARD. There was ONE format for surround sound and that was it.

I wish it were still the case. There should be only one standard, not the hodgepodge we have today.
 
I've seen ,some years back , many of those Eloquence CD'S in the Record Store's Discount bin .

This one I picked up about a year ago . And it was mixed in with the regular priced Classical CD'S.

FWIW , Notice the ambi ,explained on the inside CD area. And the price is still low at seven beans.


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I also ordered it. At a bit higher price than the $3 less that you paid, ProgRules. But still under $10. Thanks for the heads up on this one😀
Based on your glowing review, I ordered this. Using the link you provided, it was actually $3 less than you paid. Looking forward to hearing this- Thanks!
 
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