Rick Wakeman - journey May 2016

[Bob Romano]

To be honest, when this whole thing came about, I actually did a couple passes of 2 different CD-4's and one of the Q8. While my CD-4 sounded pretty good, this sounds GREAT. I would have loved it to be one of my passes but, to me, this sounds the best it ever has and I have had MANY copies. it's really clean and crisp sounding. There are no "nasties" of any kind that are present.

 

[4-earredwonder]

To be honest, when this whole thing came about, I actually did a couple passes of 2 different CD-4's and one of the Q8. While my CD-4 sounded pretty good, this sounds GREAT. I would have loved it to be one of my passes but, to me, this sounds the best it ever has and I have had MANY copies. it's really clean and crisp sounding. There are no "nasties" of any kind that are present.

Bob, as I've always maintained, I much preferred the CD~4 'needledrop' of King Arthur over the SQ Vinyl needledrop of Six Wives but in hindsight neither can REALLY approach some of the newer Audio Fidelity QUAD SACD remasters from the original analogue master tapes.

I've petitioned AF to release a number of older QUAD titles on SACD but their reply was that some of them were in unusable (damaged) condition [although they wouldn't specify which ones].

Since A&M Records notoriously was reckless with their QUAD master tapes, I suppose a CD~4 needledrop is preferable to nothing especially since a lot of us do not have access to CD~4 demodulators (I DO have an older one but haven't used it since the 70's)........and truthfully, these Wakeman needledrop MLP DVD~As are cannily priced to reflect that 'shortcoming' (for wont of a better word).

We may never know the origin of the JOURNEY source material (tape/vinyl?) but that you very highly recommend it having heard Journey on both Q8 and CD~4 Vinyl, I hope it sells well (I've already pre~ordered it) so that it spurs on other releasing companies to make more of these CD~4 vinyl releases available in the MLP DVD~A format.

 

[rtbluray]

My copy of the "Journey…" box set has just shipped from amazon.co.uk, and here are the back cover images for both the box and the 2-disc edition:

 

[colsky]

I found a newer description:

Super Deluxe 4-Disc Edition:
The three Compact Discs in this Lavish Box feature different recordings of the work and one DVD-Audio Disc featuring Bonus Quad & Hi Resolution Mixes of it. The discs all come in Gate-Fold Card Sleeves with the on-body labels sporting the A&M label design used on the original LP. The box also contains Two Booklets: A 24-Page Album Booklet with High-Gloss Cover, and a 28-Page Booklet that looks as if it's a replica of a 1975 Japanese Tour Programme.

CD 1 - 'Live from the Royal Festival Hall - London 1974' is the 'live' recordings used for the original album production all Remastered and sounding fantastic! The 'Pearl & Dean Unfinished Symphony' is a piano, keyboards and orchestra piece injected with some typically Wakeman instrumental humour and sounds like it was recorded around the same time - possibly an encore - but no date is given.
CD 2 - 'Live in Boston' is what we would describe as a decent quality bootleg recording of a full cast performance of the work recorded in 1974, and for this CD it is a straight single-track reproduction.
CD 3 - 'Live in Buenos Aries' was recorded in Argentina in 1993 and is a fully instrumental band only performance, with no narration or vocal parts included. The recording quality is professional and excellent by 'live' standards, and for this CD it is a straight single-track reproduction.
DVD-A - This contains Quad and Hi-Resolution Mixes of the original main recording used for CD 1 of the Box Set.

Deluxe 2-Disc Edition:
This CD+DVD-Audio set comes in a Four-Panel Digi-Pak with a 20-Page Booklet and contains the Original Re-mastered version of: 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Live from the Royal Festival Hall - London 1974' on the CD - the 'live' recordings used for the original album production, all Remastered and sounding fantastic!
The 'Pearl & Dean Unfinished Symphony' Bonus Track is a piano, keyboards and orchestra piece injected with some typically Wakeman instrumental humour and sounds like it was recorded around the same time - possibly an encore - but no date is given. The DVD-Audio Disc contains Quad and Hi-Resolution Mixes of the original main recording used for the CD version above.

 

[DuncanS]

I'm hoping my all singing all dancing Super Deluxe copy arrives by the weekend

 

[DuncanS]

I'm hoping my all singing all dancing Super Deluxe copy arrives by the weekend

It arrived this afternoon :banana: I've just had a listen and happy to say its definitely a DVD-A with LPCM Quad & Stereo mixes. I've never heard the Quad mix before and it makes good use of all channels, synths move, mainly orchestral parts in the rear, band and narration in the front.

I listened to the Quad first then the Mobile Fidelity stereo version on the DVD-A, and both sound very similar, what you'd expect from 42 year old tapes - so I don't think the Quad is a vinyl transfer from CD-4, if it is its brilliantly done from what would have to be virgin vinyl.

Anyway I'm impressed and pleased - though having a replica Japanese tour programme, in Japanese is very Floydian, but no free cape!

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

It arrived this afternoon :banana: I've just had a listen and happy to say its definitely a DVD-A with LPCM Quad & Stereo mixes. I've never heard the Quad mix before and it makes good use of all channels, synths move, mainly orchestral parts in the rear, band and narration in the front.

I listened to the Quad first then the Mobile Fidelity stereo version on the DVD-A, and both sound very similar, what you'd expect from 42 year old tapes - so I don't think the Quad is a vinyl transfer from CD-4, if it is its brilliantly done from what would have to be virgin vinyl.

Anyway I'm impressed and pleased - though having a replica Japanese tour programme, in Japanese is very Floydian, but no free cape!

Thank you for the review Duncan,

My super deluxe is being shipped. I can't wait to hear the 4.0 version. No way the various orchestra instruments would be mixed discrete so having it in the back and the band up front is fine with me.

As far as a box set, I think they got it right. A reasonable price and lots of goodies that are worthwhile, like the original programme. The box looks very nice as well.

Its a wonderful surprise to get this and the prior two in quad. I sure hope Universal continue with No Earthly Connection, White Rock & Criminal Record.

 

[user 1679]

The super-deluxe looks like a buy for me - I'm just going to shop around a bit and see if I spot a deal I can't say no to. Like the album a lot...worth having extra recordings of it for me.

 

[rtbluray]

I sure hope Universal continue with No Earthly Connection, White Rock & Criminal Record.

I doubt they will invest the time or money to create new surround mixes for those, but maybe they will at least do a decent job remastering the original stereo mixes for those and throw in some bonus tracks to make it worthwhile purchases for the Wakeman fans.
All I can say is that if this is all we get as far as surround goes for Wakeman, that's fine with me.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Can somebody give a recap of any RW in surround worth picking up? I heard some were LP transfers or something? This one seems legit?

 

[marpow]

I just ordered "Journey to the Centre of the Earth Live" with an orchestra form Amazon UK, for some God awful reason. But I will say this, I listened to the 16bit stereo via my Tidal account and I super liked the narrative. When it arrives I will make sure I am centered and listen really well via surround.

 

[marpow]

Can somebody give a recap of any RW in surround worth picking up? I heard some were LP transfers or something? This one seems legit?

EDbag, I have to be honest, for me, Rick Wakeman in surround and I have two with a third on the way, is a novelty, listen once and store away. whatever floats your boat.

 

[edisonbaggins]

EDbag, I have to be honest, for me, Rick Wakeman in surround and I have two with a third on the way, is a novelty, listen once and store away. whatever floats your boat.

Hmmm, that's fair. I like the Hanky 8th album and his excepts at Yes shows, but I'm not gaga for the dude.
Still, if its a quality surround release I'll generally give things a go, ya know?

 

[fluid]

His best album, but the delux version contains live meterial, has this live stuff been relesed before.

 

[Drabs]

Excuse my ignorance but what actually is the Mobility Fidelity version which is on the DVD-A. I know MFSL produced LP and CD versions of the album, so is this taken from them or from tapes? Why isn't the stereo version on the DVD-A not just a hi-res of the remastered CD tracks. Nowhere in the packaging does it explain what this is as far as I can tell.

 

[DuncanS]

I'd wondered much the same, scant info about the sources of the material in the set, so I'm assuming its the digitised re-mastered/re-eq'd copy that Mobile Fidelity did to do their re-issue.

Excuse my ignorance but what actually is the Mobility Fidelity version which is on the DVD-A. I know MFSL produced LP and CD versions of the album, so is this taken from them or from tapes? Why isn't the stereo version on the DVD-A not just a hi-res of the remastered CD tracks. Nowhere in the packaging does it explain what this is as far as I can tell.

 

[privateuniverse]

I'd wondered much the same, scant info about the sources of the material in the set, so I'm assuming its the digitised re-mastered/re-eq'd copy that Mobile Fidelity did to do their re-issue.

I don't know if this is the case for Journey, but there were several MFSL titles that contained some alternate versions of tracks. "Eyesight to the Blind" on The Who's Tommy had an alternate vocal take. Songs From the Big Chair had a slightly longer version of "Head Over Heels." "The Weapon" on Rush's Signals had a short section where the vocal was missing. U2's War had slightly longer versions of two songs. Maybe there were some differences on MFSL's version of Journey?

 

[4-earredwonder]

I just ordered "Journey to the Centre of the Earth Live" with an orchestra form Amazon UK, for some God awful reason. But I will say this, I listened to the 16bit stereo via my Tidal account and I super liked the narrative. When it arrives I will make sure I am centered and listen really well via surround.

Ditto, Mark but I wish they wouldn't be so evasive concerning the source material for the QUAD DVD~A. As with all prog rock, it's an acquired taste but I did appreciate what was accomplished with Wakeman's King Arthur DVD~A remaster [much more discrete than the SQ remaster of Six Wives......obviously, the SQ Surround Master wasn't available at the time].

No, Markie, it surely ain't heavy metal but it has a place in the partheon of 70's rock. Wakeman was a keyboard genius and it may not be YES......but it's surely a legit souvenir OF ITS TIME!

 

[quicksrt]

It arrived this afternoon :banana: I've just had a listen and happy to say its definitely a DVD-A with LPCM Quad & Stereo mixes. I've never heard the Quad mix before and it makes good use of all channels, synths move, mainly orchestral parts in the rear, band and narration in the front.

I listened to the Quad first then the Mobile Fidelity stereo version on the DVD-A, and both sound very similar, what you'd expect from 42 year old tapes - so I don't think the Quad is a vinyl transfer from CD-4, if it is its brilliantly done from what would have to be virgin vinyl.

Anyway I'm impressed and pleased - though having a replica Japanese tour programme, in Japanese is very Floydian, but no free cape!

What do the liner notes say about tape sources and mastering?

 

[DuncanS]

Absolutely nothing unfortunately, apart from mastering at Abbey Road.

What do the liner notes say about tape sources and mastering?