HiRez Poll Tomita - Firebird [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Tomita - PLANETS

  • 8:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Poor Surround, Poor Presentation, Poor Performance

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    28

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Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2019 Dutton-Vocalion SACD release of the 1976 RCA Quadraphonic release of Isao Tomita's "Firebird" album, presented here in high resolution 4 channel surround and HiRez stereo as well.

41410

41411
 
I sat and listened to this once again last night and really got into it. It’s only about the 3rd time I’ve listened to this but the last few times it seemed good but dated. However this time I decided to let it be part of an unspecified time and it sounded great to just let it be itself. It’s a very enjoyable SACD and the surround mix is nicely involving. It sort of gets into a groove after the first track that lasts for the rest of the album and includes the extra track at the end. I like it lots.
 
Sometimes the smallest of things affect the trajectory of your life......

Music was virtually non existent in my family life when I was young in the 60s.
Mainly it was ABC ( like BBC) news and cricket from the radio in the kitchen.
Sometimes, on a Saturday night, my father would light his pipe and put on the only record he had,which was the Dutch Swing College Band (yes, he was Dutch)
My mother had a few '78s and a couple of children's records ( I remember one was Scuffy the Tugboat and the now NPC Little Black Sambo !)
I had a very sheltered childhood, my adoptive parents were in their mid 40s when I came along at 2 weeks old, so the house was very quiet and all life revolved around school during the week and then Sunday School on the weekends.
Then, in 1967, my father walked in the house after work one day carrying a new record.
It was Walter Carlos' SWITCHED ON BACH.
As he put it on the record player, I grabbed the cover...there was a silly man wearing funny clothes ( I had no idea who Bach was).
But it was what was behind him that intrigued my 10 yo self.
IMG_0281.JPG

A series of black boxes with a hundred knobs and a keyboard in front...I had no idea what it was.
I asked my father and he replied that it was a Moog Synthesizer ... " It's an exciting new musical instrument "he proclaimed. I looked at the record cover while listening to the strange sounding music that erupted from the speakers.
It was at that very moment that a cataclysmic change occurred that would change the trajectory of my life forever !
There were never any records purchased after that ...so I spent hours and hours listening to the Moog record.
I was not really enamoured with the music so much, but it was the unknown Moog machine that excited me.
The record player eventually died, so once again the house was quiet.
In 1970, my grandmother died and left me a huge wooden short wave radio ....from my house in Hobart, Tasmania ( google it !) I could find stations as far away as Indonesia !
But it was a radio station in Sydney that turned me on to PROG Rock which would become the mainstay of my musical life..and the sound of the Mellotron that would become my second love.
Fast forward a few years and I had my own record player on which I played my Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al at really loud volumes ( and still do to this day lol )
I also loved the so called " Krautrock " after hearing Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze which became my second tranch of my musical world.
This is where I found Tomita and his Moog Synthesizer !
IMG_0282.JPG

My father ended up getting a Theatre Organ and late at night I used to go into his music room, and with the headphones on, play all the spooky black keys against the rhythmn of the included drum machine.
This became the start of my involvement with my creation of electronic music.
At the age of 20, I started playing Synthesizer in bands and would do that for the next 40 years.
I went through many synths in that time, including owning a Mellotron M400, but in 2002 I got the synth of my childhood dreams...the Moog Synthesizer.
IMG_2320.JPG

Fast forward to today....
I own both the Firebird and the Planets quad by Tomita .
I've chosen the Firebird Suite as it only uses the Moog Synthesizer whereas with the Planets, there are many more synthesisers involved.
I, more than most, can appreciate the incredible amount of work required to make all of these sounds that Tomita uses to construct this album.
In creating just one sound, there are hundreds of knobs and patching wires that need to be used, so this work represents untold hours and an encyclopaedic knowledge of not only sound, but the hundreds of parameters needed to construct that sound. Then all those individual sounds are played via the keyboard and then he overdubs, records, and then quad mixes his own mixes. This is a labour that would involve thousands of hours of work to achieve.
This is why Tomita was a master of his instrument.
I voted 9
PS....I still have that original Switched on Bach in my record collection !
( Now I have the Synthesizer...if only I had a modicum of talent !! )
 
Last edited:
Like you, @NYMo, I have “Switched on Bach.” I heard it at a coworkers house (we would often go there at lunch to listen to records). I thought it was amazing, and I bought the quad release, because that was the only way I could up his stereo setup. That started the rabbit hole I’m still in.

Tomita brings a different take on classical music. He was far less respectful of the original score, but nonetheless fascinating and often wonderful. I have quad LPs of Firebird and Planets as well, so we certainly share musical tastes.

But you own one of those monster Moogs! Freakin’ amazing. I hope you can get some joy out of at least tinkering with it. Also like you, I am in awe of people who can make music come out of anything more complicated to operate than a record player. I had a piano that I sometimes played with. That’s different than playing the piano.
🫤
 
Sometimes the smallest of things affect the trajectory of your life......

Music was virtually non existent in my family life when I was young in the 60s.
Mainly it was ABC ( like BBC) news and cricket from the radio in the kitchen.
Sometimes, on a Saturday night, my father would light his pipe and put on the only record he had,which was the Dutch Swing College Band (yes, he was Dutch)
My mother had a few '78s and a couple of children's records ( I remember one was Scuffy the Tugboat and the now NPC Little Black Sambo !)
I had a very sheltered childhood, my adoptive parents were in their mid 40s when I came along at 2 weeks old, so the house was very quiet and all life revolved around school during the week and then Sunday School on the weekends.
Then, in 1967, my father walked in the house after work one day carrying a new record.
It was Walter Carlos' SWITCHED ON BACH.
As he put it on the record player, I grabbed the cover...there was a silly man wearing funny clothes ( I had no idea who Bach was).
But it was what was behind him that intrigued my 10 yo self.
View attachment 84671

A series of black boxes with a hundred knobs and a keyboard in front...I had no idea what it was.
I asked my father and he replied that it was a Moog Synthesizer ... " It's an exciting new musical instrument "he proclaimed. I looked at the record cover while listening to the strange sounding music that erupted from the speakers.
It was at that very moment that a cataclysmic change occurred that would change the trajectory of my life forever !
There were never any records purchased after that ...so I spent hours and hours listening to the Moog record.
I was not really enamoured with the music so much, but it was the unknown Moog machine that excited me.
The record player eventually died, so once again the house was quiet.
In 1970, my grandmother died and left me a huge wooden short wave radio ....from my house in Hobart, Tasmania ( google it !) I could find stations as far away as Indonesia !
But it was a radio station in Sydney that turned me on to PROG Rock which would become the mainstay of my musical life..and the sound of the Mellotron that would become my second love.
Fast forward a few years and I had my own record player on which I played my Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al at really loud volumes ( and still do to this day lol )
I also loved the so called " Krautrock " after hearing Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze which became my second tranch of my musical world.
This is where I found Tomita and his Moog Synthesizer !
View attachment 84672

My father ended up getting a Theatre Organ and late at night I used to go into his music room, and with the headphones on, play all the spooky black keys against the rhythmn of the included drum machine.
This became the start of my involvement with my creation of electronic music.
At the age of 20, I started playing Synthesizer in bands and would do that for the next 40 years.
I went through many synths in that time, including owning a Mellotron M400, but in 2002 I got the synth of my childhood dreams...the Moog Synthesizer.
View attachment 84673

Fast forward to today....
I own both the Firebird and the Planets quad by Tomita .
I've chosen the Firebird Suite as it only uses the Moog Synthesizer whereas with the Planets, there are many more synthesisers involved.
I, more than most, can appreciate the incredible amount of work required to make all of these sounds that Tomita uses to construct this album.
In creating just one sound, there are hundreds of knobs and patching wires that need to be used, so this work represents untold hours and an encyclopaedic knowledge of not only sound, but the hundreds of parameters needed to construct that sound. Then all those individual sounds are played via the keyboard and then he overdubs, records, and then quad mixes his own mixes. This is a labour that would involve thousands of hours of work to achieve.
This is why Tomita was a master of his instrument.
I voted 9
PS....I still have that original Switched on Bach in my record collection !
( Now I have the Synthesizer...if only I had a modicum of talent !! )

What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.
 
Sometimes the smallest of things affect the trajectory of your life......

Music was virtually non existent in my family life when I was young in the 60s.
Mainly it was ABC ( like BBC) news and cricket from the radio in the kitchen.
Sometimes, on a Saturday night, my father would light his pipe and put on the only record he had,which was the Dutch Swing College Band (yes, he was Dutch)
My mother had a few '78s and a couple of children's records ( I remember one was Scuffy the Tugboat and the now NPC Little Black Sambo !)
I had a very sheltered childhood, my adoptive parents were in their mid 40s when I came along at 2 weeks old, so the house was very quiet and all life revolved around school during the week and then Sunday School on the weekends.
Then, in 1967, my father walked in the house after work one day carrying a new record.
It was Walter Carlos' SWITCHED ON BACH.
As he put it on the record player, I grabbed the cover...there was a silly man wearing funny clothes ( I had no idea who Bach was).
But it was what was behind him that intrigued my 10 yo self.
View attachment 84671

A series of black boxes with a hundred knobs and a keyboard in front...I had no idea what it was.
I asked my father and he replied that it was a Moog Synthesizer ... " It's an exciting new musical instrument "he proclaimed. I looked at the record cover while listening to the strange sounding music that erupted from the speakers.
It was at that very moment that a cataclysmic change occurred that would change the trajectory of my life forever !
There were never any records purchased after that ...so I spent hours and hours listening to the Moog record.
I was not really enamoured with the music so much, but it was the unknown Moog machine that excited me.
The record player eventually died, so once again the house was quiet.
In 1970, my grandmother died and left me a huge wooden short wave radio ....from my house in Hobart, Tasmania ( google it !) I could find stations as far away as Indonesia !
But it was a radio station in Sydney that turned me on to PROG Rock which would become the mainstay of my musical life..and the sound of the Mellotron that would become my second love.
Fast forward a few years and I had my own record player on which I played my Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al at really loud volumes ( and still do to this day lol )
I also loved the so called " Krautrock " after hearing Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze which became my second tranch of my musical world.
This is where I found Tomita and his Moog Synthesizer !
View attachment 84672

My father ended up getting a Theatre Organ and late at night I used to go into his music room, and with the headphones on, play all the spooky black keys against the rhythmn of the included drum machine.
This became the start of my involvement with my creation of electronic music.
At the age of 20, I started playing Synthesizer in bands and would do that for the next 40 years.
I went through many synths in that time, including owning a Mellotron M400, but in 2002 I got the synth of my childhood dreams...the Moog Synthesizer.
View attachment 84673

Fast forward to today....
I own both the Firebird and the Planets quad by Tomita .
I've chosen the Firebird Suite as it only uses the Moog Synthesizer whereas with the Planets, there are many more synthesisers involved.
I, more than most, can appreciate the incredible amount of work required to make all of these sounds that Tomita uses to construct this album.
In creating just one sound, there are hundreds of knobs and patching wires that need to be used, so this work represents untold hours and an encyclopaedic knowledge of not only sound, but the hundreds of parameters needed to construct that sound. Then all those individual sounds are played via the keyboard and then he overdubs, records, and then quad mixes his own mixes. This is a labour that would involve thousands of hours of work to achieve.
This is why Tomita was a master of his instrument.
I voted 9
PS....I still have that original Switched on Bach in my record collection !
( Now I have the Synthesizer...if only I had a modicum of talent !! )
Re: short wave radio. My parents had one too. I remember my step grandfather from Poland visiting us in 1976 (he lived in Launceston) and finding a broadcast in Russian (he was fluent in Russian) and he was excited by that.
 
Sometimes the smallest of things affect the trajectory of your life......

Music was virtually non existent in my family life when I was young in the 60s.
Mainly it was ABC ( like BBC) news and cricket from the radio in the kitchen.
Sometimes, on a Saturday night, my father would light his pipe and put on the only record he had,which was the Dutch Swing College Band (yes, he was Dutch)
My mother had a few '78s and a couple of children's records ( I remember one was Scuffy the Tugboat and the now NPC Little Black Sambo !)
I had a very sheltered childhood, my adoptive parents were in their mid 40s when I came along at 2 weeks old, so the house was very quiet and all life revolved around school during the week and then Sunday School on the weekends.
Then, in 1967, my father walked in the house after work one day carrying a new record.
It was Walter Carlos' SWITCHED ON BACH.
As he put it on the record player, I grabbed the cover...there was a silly man wearing funny clothes ( I had no idea who Bach was).
But it was what was behind him that intrigued my 10 yo self.
View attachment 84671

A series of black boxes with a hundred knobs and a keyboard in front...I had no idea what it was.
I asked my father and he replied that it was a Moog Synthesizer ... " It's an exciting new musical instrument "he proclaimed. I looked at the record cover while listening to the strange sounding music that erupted from the speakers.
It was at that very moment that a cataclysmic change occurred that would change the trajectory of my life forever !
There were never any records purchased after that ...so I spent hours and hours listening to the Moog record.
I was not really enamoured with the music so much, but it was the unknown Moog machine that excited me.
The record player eventually died, so once again the house was quiet.
In 1970, my grandmother died and left me a huge wooden short wave radio ....from my house in Hobart, Tasmania ( google it !) I could find stations as far away as Indonesia !
But it was a radio station in Sydney that turned me on to PROG Rock which would become the mainstay of my musical life..and the sound of the Mellotron that would become my second love.
Fast forward a few years and I had my own record player on which I played my Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al at really loud volumes ( and still do to this day lol )
I also loved the so called " Krautrock " after hearing Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze which became my second tranch of my musical world.
This is where I found Tomita and his Moog Synthesizer !
View attachment 84672

My father ended up getting a Theatre Organ and late at night I used to go into his music room, and with the headphones on, play all the spooky black keys against the rhythmn of the included drum machine.
This became the start of my involvement with my creation of electronic music.
At the age of 20, I started playing Synthesizer in bands and would do that for the next 40 years.
I went through many synths in that time, including owning a Mellotron M400, but in 2002 I got the synth of my childhood dreams...the Moog Synthesizer.
View attachment 84673

Fast forward to today....
I own both the Firebird and the Planets quad by Tomita .
I've chosen the Firebird Suite as it only uses the Moog Synthesizer whereas with the Planets, there are many more synthesisers involved.
I, more than most, can appreciate the incredible amount of work required to make all of these sounds that Tomita uses to construct this album.
In creating just one sound, there are hundreds of knobs and patching wires that need to be used, so this work represents untold hours and an encyclopaedic knowledge of not only sound, but the hundreds of parameters needed to construct that sound. Then all those individual sounds are played via the keyboard and then he overdubs, records, and then quad mixes his own mixes. This is a labour that would involve thousands of hours of work to achieve.
This is why Tomita was a master of his instrument.
I voted 9
PS....I still have that original Switched on Bach in my record collection !
( Now I have the Synthesizer...if only I had a modicum of talent !! )

I hadn't intended on buying Tomita's Firebird, but after reading your post I am going to include it in my next batch of DV quads.

(Oh, and I didn't have to Google Hobart, Tasmania. I've been there.)
 
Like you, @NYMo, I have “Switched on Bach.” I heard it at a coworkers house (we would often go there at lunch to listen to records). I thought it was amazing, and I bought the quad release, because that was the only way I could up his stereo setup. That started the rabbit hole I’m still in.

Tomita brings a different take on classical music. He was far less respectful of the original score, but nonetheless fascinating and often wonderful. I have quad LPs of Firebird and Planets as well, so we certainly share musical tastes.

But you own one of those monster Moogs! Freakin’ amazing. I hope you can get some joy out of at least tinkering with it. Also like you, I am in awe of people who can make music come out of anything more complicated to operate than a record player. I had a piano that I sometimes played with. That’s different than playing the piano.
🫤
You might also want to look for a box set called "The Out Sound from Way In", from Perrey-Kingsley. It consists of two albums Gershon Kingsley and Jean-Jacques Perrey did together, "The In Sound from Way Out", and "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations", and two solo albums from J.J. Perrey, "The Amazing New Pop Sound of J.J. Perrey" (which was also released on quad tape), and "Moog Indigo".
 
This album changed my life and I never was able to get the quad version of it..till now. Outstanding! Dutton-Vocalion should do all Tomita's albums! Especially the earlier ones that were so screwed up on the CD's with incorrect Dolby encoding. Their Ravel Daphnis Chloe/Bolero one is cool too!
Same here. It was my first CD in the 80's, I had it on vinyl, and it all kickstarted my journey in modern music era. As I said with other great multichannel mix, this is absolutely great, ultra detailed, you can almost touch the sound texture of the Moog sounds used, and I'm very sensitive to that. Sound must have texture, which I find many recent pop music lacking totally and being bland. It is a 10 for me. And a must have for those into these... Now, let us fight for a multichannel mix of Wendy Carlos albums.
 
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