Rick Wakeman - journey May 2016

[DennisMoore Jr.]

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

There was such a disgruntled fuss over the 4.0 sources for Arthur & Henry8, I 'm not surprised we are getting silence now. Our usual expert source has been conspicuously silent. Just my $.02. BTW... I am still really enjoying Neil Wilke's enhanced needle drop 4.0 of Arthur.

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?

You enjoyed YES - Homeworld so I think you have some "progressive bones" in you. As for which Wakeman you'd like I think it depends on how much you enjoy keyboards, many people can't handle keys being the focus. If you can....

Henry VIII is pure keyboard heaven and the 4.0 mix is definitely listenable

King Arthur is an absolute masterpiece of vocals, songs, orchestra and of course lots of keyboards. 4.0 mix is much more than listenable.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth was only released live and is also a masterpiece. It was mixed quad, back in the day, so the 4.0 release should be quite tasty.

For 2.0

Criminal Record is a must

No Earthly Connection is hit or miss with people, but I love it. It is the last of Rick's classic sounding full band releases.

 

[privateuniverse]

Criminal Record is a must

Indeed! "Birdman of Alcatraz" is my favorite solo Wakeman piece. Absolutely essential.

I would also add that his recent Bowie tribute is gorgeous. The single which contains covers of "Life on Mars?" and "Space Oddity" is available at importcds.com for only $5.99. For the UK folks it's only £3.00 at Amazon UK. All proceeds from the sale of the single go to cancer related charities.

 

[DuncanS]

I agree, they are great cover versions, and having just been to a friends funeral today who died of cancer, please purchase :upthumb

Indeed! "Birdman of Alcatraz" is my favorite solo Wakeman piece. Absolutely essential.

I would also add that his recent Bowie tribute is gorgeous. The single which contains covers of "Life on Mars?" and "Space Oddity" is available at importcds.com for only $5.99. For the UK folks it's only £3.00 at Amazon UK. All proceeds from the sale of the single go to cancer related charities.

 

[fluid]

I agree, they are great cover versions, and having just been to a friends funeral today who died of cancer, please purchase :upthumb

Judas Iscariot has to be one of his best so much power in that.

 

[ingresman]

Had this on in the car this morning (just the stereo) and I'd forgotten how much I love this record. See where I get to with the 4.0 mix over the weekend.
Interesting thing is it's been create as three tracks, side 1, side 2 and the bonus stuff. it confused gracenote into thinking it was an ELP album!. I'l check out the times and see what that was if I get a chance.

 

[ssully]

FWIW the view of an experienced listener on another quad forum, from his listening to the Journey to the Center 4.0, is that "...we are given the quad mix in what sounds like a copy of the master, with no, or very very little eq-ing and no, yes that’s right no compression."

 

[user 1679]

Deep Discount has the box for $46.79us with free shipping...also get a 3% "ebate" so at around $45 it seemed a good enough deal for me to pull the trigger. Got a shipped notice this afternoon so it ought to be here waiting for me when I get back after a 10 day road trip starting tomorrow.

 

[rtbluray]

My set arrived today, and it's a very nice set at that!
I'm playing the Quad mix on the DVD-A right now, and so far, fidelity is between "Six Wives" and "Arthur" with the quality at times leaning slightly more towards "Six Wives". So far, so good. This has to be one of the proggiest albums ever released!

 

[quicksrt]

My set arrived today, and it's a very nice set at that!
I'm playing the Quad mix on the DVD-A right now, and so far, fidelity is between "Six Wives" and "Arthur" with the quality at times leaning slightly more towards "Six Wives". So far, so good. This has to be one of the proggiest albums ever released!

But if I've not heard those other two surround releases then what does the above mean? Can you state what the quality is like for the 4.0 quad master? Is it for sure not a needle drop? Is it slightly hissy like perhaps a production copy used for 8-track carts, LP production master or true master mix 1/4 inch tape? What is your guess?

 

[rtbluray]

But if I've not heard those other two surround releases then what does the above mean? Can you state what the quality is like for the 4.0 quad master? Is it for sure not a needle drop? Is it slightly hissy like perhaps a production copy used for 8-track carts, LP production master or true master mix 1/4 inch tape? What is your guess?

I'll go into more detail when I have the time.

 

[rtbluray]

But if I've not heard those other two surround releases then what does the above mean? Can you state what the quality is like for the 4.0 quad master? Is it for sure not a needle drop? Is it slightly hissy like perhaps a production copy used for 8-track carts, LP production master or true master mix 1/4 inch tape? What is your guess?

Alright, I'm back like I said I would be.
My guess is that what's on the DVDA is a cleaned-up transfer from a released copy. Whether that's SQ or CD-4, I don't know. There's no obvious issues with the transfer when playing at normal listening level (unlike the small number distortions/dropouts on the "King Arthur" DVDA transfer) but fidelity is definitely lacking in comparison to the stellar AF Quad releases which were mastered from the original tapes. There's a little bit of hiss occasionally, but nothing that distracting at all. It is also a live recording, so fidelity is not going to be as good anyway as if it were a studio recording from around the same time.
In terms of fidelity, I still think the "Six Wives" DVDA is the best, followed by "Journey", then "King Arthur".
Hope that helps!

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

OMG....they used my fostex conversion, this is awesome. It would have been nice if a credit or thanks were included, but I'm quite honored.

 

[ssully]

Alright, I'm back like I said I would be.

In terms of fidelity, I still think the "Six Wives" DVDA is the best, followed by "Journey", then "King Arthur".
Hope that helps!

Once you've/heard seen ArmyofQuad's comparison video, you may change your mind. The CD-4 (and the Q8) make the Six Wives DVD-A sound quite...compromised (certainly much less discrete), by comparison.

 

[4-earredwonder]

OMG....they used my fostex conversion, this is awesome. It would have been nice if a credit or thanks were included, but I'm quite honored.

Congratulations, so maybe you can definitely shed some light on what you utilized for the source: CD~4, SQ???????

Bummer that you received NO credit.....or royalties.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Once you've/heard seen ArmyofQuad's comparison video, you may change your mind. The CD-4 (and the Q8) make the Six Wives DVD-A sound quite...compromised (certainly much less discrete), by comparison.

I quite agree, ssully, that King Arthur (at least on MY system) sounds superior to Six Wives. MUCH more discrete and played at a robust volume....it really shines.

As I stated in another post, perhaps if the SQ Surround Master had been available for the SQ conversion of SIX Wives, the outcome would've been different. AFAIK, it wasn't.

 

[dr8track]

Congratulations, so maybe you can definitely shed some light on what you utilized for the source: CD~4, SQ???????

Bummer that you received NO credit.....or royalties.

If AOQ used the Fostex he had it would be from a Q8 source.

 

[4-earredwonder]

If AOQ used the Fostex he had it would be from a Q8 source.

:yikes Q8? Was it at least dolby b encoded?

Addenda: According to the Surround Discography.....it was NOT!

 

[dr8track]

:yikes Q8? Was it at least dolby b encoded?

Addenda: According to the Surround Discography.....it was NOT!

I'm fairly certain the answer would be, no, the Q8 tape itself had no Dolby noise reduction. My recollection is that was only on some of the later issue Columbia carts.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

Yeah, the tape doesn't have Dolby noise reduction. But, the A&M Q8s do have a good fidelity to them, I'm quite happy with how this came out. This might inspire me to unpack the fostex and cue some tapes up again.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Yeah, the tape doesn't have Dolby noise reduction. But, the A&M Q8s do have a good fidelity to them, I'm quite happy with how this came out. This might inspire me to unpack the fostex and cue some tapes up again.

AOQ, how does the Joe Cocker (first album) Q8 tape sound? Would sure like to have some Joe on QUAD SACD. Also, Joe's "With A Little Help From My Friends." Both classics!