Lennon Legend DTS Track Breakdown

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JonUrban

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Imagine: Starts with Piano solo in center. Johns vocal in center, echoed in fronts. Rear only piano and full orchestra. No vocals ever in the rears. Nice Mix.

Instant Karma: John again solid in the center, reverbed in the fronts and rears. Handclaps in the rears. It's cool to hear JLs vocal if you isolate the center channel, as there is no reverb, and you can clearly hear his vocal track - Something I never heard before so clear!

Mother: Opening bells in the four corners, not in the center. This tune is mostly stereo centric, with the fronts doing almost everything but the reverbs. This is probably a nice choice for this song.

Jealous Guy: John is back in the center channel. Rears have no vocal, but again the orchestration. It really stands out here, instead of being lost in a stereo mix.

Power to the People: The intro to this one is cool. All 5 main channels have the chorus of voices singing the 4 "Power to the Peoples", then the center goes to music only, the fronts get heavy and the rears with a solid reverb.

Cold Turkey: John again in the center, clear as a bell and no reverb, which is sent to the fronts. Lotsa bass on this one.

Love: John is only in the fronts here, with the center used as a filler with the track and only a slight hint of the vocal. The rears are mostly ambience.

Mind Games: The many layers of sound on this tune are spread out across the fronts and the center, with not too much individual definition. The rears are reverb with organ and tambourine.

Whatever Gets You Through the Night: The vocals by ELton and John are spread across the front soundstage, with the center having them a bit clearer as there is only an acoustic guitar with them, along with a reduced volume underlying track. The two artists vocal tracks are not separated, so you can't just hear Elton or John by themselves. The rears have no vocals, but Eltons piano can be heard very clearly - and there is no mistake that it is Elton. What a treat to hear this piano part, burried all those years! The organ is also in the rears with Elton's piano. This mix BLOWS AWAY the '70s quad mix!

#9 Dream: Johns strumming acoustic and his soft vocal are found in the center, along with the maracas. The main vocals are naturally in the fronts. THere is only the hint of the vocal track in the rear, which highlights the orchestration. Cool effect is Yoko saying "John" back and forth between the rear speakers. (You know the part where John sings "Something called out my name", and Yoko whispers "John".) Again, this mix renders the Q8 a trader.

Stand By MeI always loved this song done by John, and the 5.1 mix is great. Lots of isolated guitars, in the center, and the left and right front. Piano in the rears open up the recording. John's vocal is mostly in the center, as is the great guitar solo in the middle. The ending is cool, too.

Just Like Starting Over The first "modern" track. It shows, as the multitracks are obviously in better shape. The center has a "track" vocal that comes in heavier on the chorus and the refrain. The bas guitar is here. The rears have no vocals, but carry background singers that also appear in the fronts.

Woman: Johns vocal is in the stereo fronts, the center is only the track. The rears are mostly bass, drums, and guitar with no vocals, backgound or lead!

Beautiful Boy The main surround effect on this tune is the altered vocal "echo" of the chorus, which blares from the rears when it comes up. The center track has Johns vocal clear again, and listening to it solo, you can hear things that you cannot make out in the stereo mix, like John saying "Sean, Sean..." as well as a harmony part that I never picked up.

Watching the Wheels This great tune gets a kind of sudues treatment. The only thing interesting is that in the center channel, you can hear some of John talking and singing along that you never heard in the released mix. OVerall though, it plays as a "full" sound.

Nobody Told Me: This tune came out after Johns assasination, so there is not too much to expect here. This mix does not offer much in the sense of surround. The piano is fairly clear in the rears, however.

Borrowed Time: This one has a better surround mix than "Nobody", as there are a few accent guitar parts that move around a bit. The center is without vocal, but spotlights the base.

Working Class Hero: Here is one tune where you don't want a super surround mix (Heck, it's only John and a Guitar). That's what you get, a stereo recording with a but of ambience. Good Job, it sounds great.

Happy Christmas: "Happy Christams Kyoko", "Happy Christmas Julian" come from the two rear speakers! The rest of the track is pretty standard, the vocals from the Harlem Community Choir are mostly in the front, as is the main vocal form J&Y. The fade is gone, however, as the tune ends abruptly.

Give Peace a Chance: This was recorded in a hotel room, so there is not too much to be expected from a surround sound perspective. However, if you listen to the center channel, you can hear what appears to be another Lennon vocal, or maybe it is another person at the event. It is hard to tell.

Overall, this is well worth the $15 or so that it cost. The above observations were made by ripping the DTS track to Sound Forge (via Vegas) and then listening to and watching the decoded DTS tracks.
 
Now you've done it.....

Now I HAVE to go to Best Buy and pick this up....

Great rundown Jon.
 
Bob Romano said:
Now you've done it.....

Now I HAVE to go to Best Buy and pick this up....

Great rundown Jon.

Tower on-line has a good price on this for the time being.

http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=2911103

I think they've got some sort of free shipping offer going on also.

NOTE: It was 14.99, but now they have raised the price. The shipping deal may still be on though. I got my order in on time, before the increase.
 
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This is the kind of release that makes the weekend special. I am so looking forward to spending time with this disc. Thank you!
 
Excellent play-by-play, Jon! Thanks a lot... just what I need... another reason to go spend more money. :D
 
D'oh!! I was going to buy this anyway, but now I have to get it RIGHT NOW!!!

Great review, Jon!
 
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