DVD/DTS Poll Lukather, Steve - Candyman [DTS CD]

[Bob Romano]

Please post your comments, thoughts and observations about this title...

 

[sonny]

No Lukather fan's around eh?

Not for everyone. The material used to be called fusion. Think Return to Forever
Lite. Rock, Blues, Jazz. Deserves a listen because this guy not only rocked
Toto but appears on zillions of albums as a session musician.

The Surround mix, eh....

 

[rusinurbe]

I have this as I remember it did not 'float my boat' overly.

The recording sounded excellent as do most DTS albums and the surround mix was pretty good the music less so.

As i have said beofre never had a Bad sounding DTS disc nor a bad mix but this one just misses more than it hits for me.

7

 

[dr. simple]

I've also got this one and only listened to it once or twice. I love Lukather as a guitarist, and Toto is one of my favorite bands, but I just didn't find this disc compelling. I thought the mix could've used a little more bass. The surrounds aren't agressive, but the percussion and synths back there help fill up the room. It's a Scheiner mix, BTW.

Paul

 

[timbre4]

Interesting, I just acquired a copy I'll give it a try.

 

[YmSeb]

A real good Scheiner mix, and this solo album is actually more interesting (to me) than most Toto albums from the 90-00's area.

 

[kvsawilson]

I hadn't listened to this one in quite a while and, after seeing the recent comments here, decided to pull it back out. I enjoyed it a lot more than I remembered. Very nice Elliot Scheiner mix with some good, but fairly generic, songs. Musically, it sort of reminds me of Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom album. All in all, an enjoyable disc for me.

K

 

[Dixie4]

I've had this disc for years, but never been able to play it, because i didn't have a compatible player ( just listening now, it's enjoyable & quite interesting to compare to the redbook cd & with SACD 5.1 discs. )
I'm a huge Toto & Steve Lukather fan. I don't think this is his best album musically, but it's still very enjoyable, and i'm certainly getting a new perspective on this album, listening to the DTS 5.1
It's like listening to a more detailed redbook, but not quite getting the full surround of a multi channel SACD. Very interesting, i'll have to see if i can find more DTS titles ( i have the Genesis discs, but have concentrated more on the SACD playback on those, will have to give them another spin )

 

[LizardKing]

Not a huge fan of guitar oriented albums - and not one I'll play a lot, but with an Elliot mix you can't go wrong....

 

[neil wilkes]

I don't mind this one too much, although I have to confess I agree with the comments above about it not being one I will revisit too often.
That aside, it's a pleasant enough title and one that works really well for what we term "authoring music" - something where I need music playing, but not something that will distract me too much, put me off or divert my attention too far - simply an album I can play in the background.
Gets a 7 from me as sonically it is very nice indeed, but the surround mix is perhaps not up to Elliot's usual standards.

 

[neil wilkes]

It's like listening to a more detailed redbook, but not quite getting the full surround of a multi channel SACD. Very interesting, i'll have to see if i can find more DTS titles ( i have the Genesis discs, but have concentrated more on the SACD playback on those, will have to give them another spin )

That'll be because it is straight Core Audio, probably from a 16-bit master.
The Genesis titles actually sound better off the DTS9624 discs by a long, long way - as do the Depeche Mode ones.
Much, much higher dynamic range too on the DTS streams in comparison

 

[fredblue]

Not one of Scheiner's shining surround mixing moments imho (and you guys know how much I love his work!).. sonically rather average.. a pretty dull album too.. a generous "6"

 

[amokZamboni]

Not one of Scheiner's shining surround mixing moments imho (and you guys know how much I love his work!).. sonically rather average.. a pretty dull album too.. a generous "6"

Dug this out of my "when I was going nuts buying DVD-A/SACD discs" period, but this fell through the cracks since Steve wasn't close to being a favourite artist of mine.

Thanks to this site I've grown to appreciate most discs more and most times what I have read and ratings helped validate my impressions of them.

For me, surround quality comes in several flavours, from IMHO best to worse:

9-10: Discrete separation and thoughtful (and sometimes playful use of the rears) on a per song basis.
I think Steven Wilson's remixes are best at this, again focusing on the proper mix for each song.
7-8: Discrete placement of instruments not wildly creative, but still on a per song basis.
5-6: Discrete placement of instruments but on a virtually every song basis.*In essence, an overall surround philosophy that does not vary very much.

I feel Candyman falls in this category with, on most occasions, keys, and non-drum kit percussion always appearing in the rears.​

3-4: Cannot perceive any discrete placement. Just an ambient sound spread to all speakers
2: "Quad Stereo" - front left-right in read left-right. In other words, why bother?
1: Totally butchered non-discrete upmixes, drenched in reverb.

Some brilliant mixes that have emerged in recent years that were not available when Candyman. For its time, I think that if you like the music, this multi-channel mix was a fine listen. However, when compared to current peers, I believe it is somewhat middle-of-the-road.