Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Brain Salad Surgery"

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quadjoe

Senior Member
Joined
May 12, 2002
Messages
262
Location
Panama City, Florida
Hi All!

I just bought ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" , and the sound is amazing! There are a couple of gimmicky quad effects, but it doesn't detract from the music. The song "Still, You Turn Me On" is especially impressive the sound is so clear and open, and the surround is so well done, you feel as if you are in the studio with the band. Also, they included a remix of "Lucky Man" which originally appeard on the groups first album.
 
This is the second disc dvd-a I bought and that was some time ago. It is Very Good sounding . I'd like to see more E.L.P. come out ! Tarkus, The Live Welcome Back My Friends to The Show That Never Ends, to name just 2!
Rob
 
Tarkus would be spectacular. All the studio albums were engineered well enough to make the high-res DVD-A transition.

ELP live material sometimes sounds like chimpanzees did the honors! Welcome Back...(much as I enjoy it) should have been spectacular, but falls down with a flat mix and even bum notes here and there.

At the San Diego concert (Feb 21, 1974) as part of that tour, I met Bill Hough the designer of the band's quad touring sound system. (when the synths were panned around that arena!)He informed me that a "Scully/Metrotec recorder was backstage recording every show". Given that, there were a lot of performances to choose from, Welcome Back should be much better than it is.

For comparison: Get a copy of ELP - King Biscuit Hour CD and listen to some of the EXACT same performances *not* buried in extra reverb. (actually they were using some of the first primative delay lines) There's hope IF someone had the money and time to make a real document of that amazing tour.

The band peaked and has never equalled what they had done here. Other than moments with the orchestra in 1977, it's over and done. (OK - I like Emerson Lake & Powell too; that was a great show in 1986)

timbre4
 
Man, you've got me going now...

Did you ever wonder why ELP - Welcome Back... had the Quadradisc logo on the cover, yet was only ever issued on Q8 tape?

In 1975, I met the engineer at the JVC Cutting Center in the RCA building in Los Angeles. When I asked him about ELP, he shook his head, chuckled and pointed to a tape closet. "Those tapes are so poorly engineered, that I could not cut a stable CD-4 pressing from them". End of story...

OTOH, Daryl said that Ian Anderson personally brought the Jethro Tull master tapes he wanted to use and participated in the entire test cutting process!

timbre4
 
Yeah I saw these guys on the "Welcome Back My Friends" Tour. They were great. Especially Emerson. I too have been playing them in various formats forever. I was in College when this came out and I can tell you there were many "medicated" parties where this disc was played. I think my next choice for an ELP release would be Trilogy as it is my second favourite of theirs. However, PLEASE JUST GIVE ME SOME MORE!!!!
 
And my favourite DVD-A disc at this point I think is Harvest. This is another one where speaker placement is important or Neils Voice will sound too much from the rears. The quality of this is also incredible. My fovourite track is "A Man Needs A Maid". The orchestra and gongs are so clear.
 
The only thing that I'm not dazzled about on this disc, ELP- "Brain Salad Surgery", is the bonus video material. I appreciate that an attempt was made to find & include it, but it is of such poor quality to include it on a DVD-Audio disc really makes no sense.

Conversely, the video content on Neil Young's "Harvest" is killer! Even mastered for 5.1, this is what every release should strive for.
 
Yeah, watching Neil Young sitting on that hill overlooking the barn and "Words" echoing through the hills! Like being there. I can even taste that crappy American beer he is drinking!:rollin:
 
This disc sound totally amazing.
I was bowled over by this great sounding disc.
Hope the 1st ELP comes out soon along with a few of their other titles.
 
I didn't like Harvest at all. I thought the mix was horrible, and found the bass to be boomy and sloppy sounding. Good thing it was free. My first DVD-A that will collect dust.

Sorry it's in the ELP topic....I did a search for Harvest and it led me here.
 
Tarkus and Trilogy both have excellent Mobile Fidelity CDs made of them, while Brain Salad Surgery needed some sort of remastering, and this DVD-A is far better sonically than any previous B.S.S.

However, the <strong>first album</strong> is stronly in need of a top quality version, it has great historical value (one of the first uses of synthesizer, one of the first supergroups, one of the first prog rock albums), is musically equal to all the other ELP albums, and has great "effects" that would sound great in surround (cf the AP DSotM).
 
I am afraid I bought BSS because of the reviews from many people, and all i have done is play it once and file under pompus load of Tosh. The mix maybe good but the music is exactly what punk was created for.:evil:
 
I can understand your frustration.....I keep hearing about these "exciting" new bands like The Hives, The Strokes and the White Stripes.....but all I hear is untalented, tone deaf garage bands with zero production values and no songwriting skills........
So I do feel for you!
:rollin:
 
Well, there is always the Sex Pistols DVD-A from Silverline/Sanctuary. If that's your idea of a good application for DVD-A, more power to ya. I like the music and I certainly appreciate the punk ethic, but punk rock on DVD-A is a bit like feeding your cat caviar. It's an interesting diversion, but an ultimate waste. The music of ELP is much better suited for DVD-A. If I want to listen to the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Voidoids (or whatever) I'll stick to vinyl.
 
I would like to include Heavy Rock/Metal along with Punk in the category of, "Waste of Hi-Rez". Just listen to the Metallica disc and compare it to the mix and sonics of BSS and you will see what I mean.
 
Touche'!

Well, not quite...

The Metallica album is a brilliant recording that represents the technical pinnacle of production and engineering.

The Sex Pistols album is a brilliant recording that represents the very depths of production and engineering.

Hi-rez is ultimately revealing and best supports the technically brilliant recordings. Technical brilliance cuts across all genres (yes, even punk rock, I was being more cute than accurate when I stereotyped it has having bad production values).

Anyway, you don't consider BSS hard rock? Yowza! :eek:
 
I would clasify BSS as Art Rock. LOUD Art Rock, but Art Rock nonetheless. Okay, I am going to go home one more time and try the Metallica disc. If it sounds bad once again I will try to pinpoint exactly what is putting me off it. By the way, I know that this is the wrong thread for it but how about those other PG discs? I bought #3 and Security (#4). Are any of the others up to the sonics of those 2?
 
I dunno, Guy....I'd love to hear Rob Zombie or Marylin Manson in 5.1 !!!!

But not before I get to hear REVOLVER!!!!
:D
 
Yeah, things get weird when you start to categorize and sub-categorize music... I guess I would call BSS progressive rock more than anything else, but it certainly falls under hard rock as well.

I haven't had the chance to listen to those other PG SACD's yet. I'm in the middle of revamping my audio system and it is totally dismantled at the moment. I'm waiting on a new audio rack... it should have been her by now, dangit!

 
Yeah, watching Neil Young sitting on that hill overlooking the barn and "Words" echoing through the hills! Like being there. I can even taste that crappy American beer he is drinking!:rollin:

You are forgetting that the video was filmed in 1971-1972.

Back then, Coors was a relatively small brewery that used all natural ingredients. People used to truck it from states that sold it to other states that did not have it, and then sell it for a substantial markup.

It still wasn't Pilsner Urquell, but it was substantially better than any current major US brewery...
 
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