Also, Rhino needs to put out some Graham Central Station quadio!..
HiRez Poll Sly and the Family Stone - GREATEST HITS [SACD]
- Thread starter JonUrban
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An interesting title to evaluate, as it is one of the early quad mixes. It would be unfair to place its mix to the same standard as one would expect from a modern release because of that.
That being said, it is often ridiculous and audacious in the best way. Sometimes the drum kit is in the back, sometimes it is between the front two channels, and sometimes it's in one of the two front channels. Sometimes the two vocal leads play with each other in separate channels. When the mix succeeds, it's an excellent party mix, filling out the corners of the surround sound space, without any side feeling as though it's getting preferential treatment.
Where the mix falters is when it doesn't take advantage of that aggressive mixing style. "Everyday People" suffers from sounding like disparate elements were just kinda shoved in the back because of the recording limitations. ("Hot Fun in the Summertime" suffers from that as well to an extent.) "Dance to the Music" and" M'Lady" feel awkward because there's very little unique audio in the front right channel, and the mix sounds skewed away from that side of the room as a result. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)" is perhaps the weirdest sounding of the bunch, as it sounds like the lead vocals are coming out of three of the four channels.
Overall, a great (if imperfect) blueprint for surround sound music to come.
As for the rest of the disc, it also includes the mono single mixes of all the songs, which I feel is the best way to listen. The stereo mixes on Greatest Hits sound awkward, unbalanced, and feel like an afterthought in the same vein as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band's original stereo mix. To boot, "Hot Fun in the Summertime", "Everybody is a Star" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" were released on Greatest Hits in this awful-sounding "re-channeled" mono mix, not given proper stereo mixes for the album until its 2007 release.
Because of all this I listed, I feel the mono release stands as the most cohesive and thoughtful presentation of Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits. As for this release, I think the surround sound mix is worth a 7, but a bump up to 8 as a whole is necessary for these mono mixes.
That being said, it is often ridiculous and audacious in the best way. Sometimes the drum kit is in the back, sometimes it is between the front two channels, and sometimes it's in one of the two front channels. Sometimes the two vocal leads play with each other in separate channels. When the mix succeeds, it's an excellent party mix, filling out the corners of the surround sound space, without any side feeling as though it's getting preferential treatment.
Where the mix falters is when it doesn't take advantage of that aggressive mixing style. "Everyday People" suffers from sounding like disparate elements were just kinda shoved in the back because of the recording limitations. ("Hot Fun in the Summertime" suffers from that as well to an extent.) "Dance to the Music" and" M'Lady" feel awkward because there's very little unique audio in the front right channel, and the mix sounds skewed away from that side of the room as a result. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)" is perhaps the weirdest sounding of the bunch, as it sounds like the lead vocals are coming out of three of the four channels.
Overall, a great (if imperfect) blueprint for surround sound music to come.
As for the rest of the disc, it also includes the mono single mixes of all the songs, which I feel is the best way to listen. The stereo mixes on Greatest Hits sound awkward, unbalanced, and feel like an afterthought in the same vein as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band's original stereo mix. To boot, "Hot Fun in the Summertime", "Everybody is a Star" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" were released on Greatest Hits in this awful-sounding "re-channeled" mono mix, not given proper stereo mixes for the album until its 2007 release.
Because of all this I listed, I feel the mono release stands as the most cohesive and thoughtful presentation of Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits. As for this release, I think the surround sound mix is worth a 7, but a bump up to 8 as a whole is necessary for these mono mixes.
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