This was my first SACD purchase back in 07' and I thankfully only paid $8 for it in the used bins of a local store. I'm sure most of you will frown upon my opinions of this disc, but to MY ears, this is a great example of a horrible surround mix. For one thing, Herbie's 1st solo in "Chameleon" is way too buried (it's supposed to be loud, funky and obnoxious!) and the channels are awash in some type of slapback echo/reverb which takes the magic out of listening to percussion over a funky groove. I'd have to listen to the center channel again, but this appears to be a quad mix falsely labeled as a 5.1, correct?
Now, to be fair, I had only ever heard this album in stereo, beginning with the 92' Columbia Masters series CD followed by the 97' remaster which utilized SBM (Super Bit Mapping) technology and sounds fantastic IMO. I wore these CD's out and even composed guitar parts for it and performed the song many times on stage so I'm VERY familiar with the music as well as Herbie's other 70's titles. As much as I hoped for the mix to be a true 5.1 and sound the way I imagined it in my head, this was a huge letdown. I now keep this SACD for it's resale potential and the stereo option. As for the poll, I give this one a 5.
Dan