Copied and pasted most of this from the discussion thread. Should have waited a day or 2 for the poll I guess!
I give it an 8. The "Q-sound" stereo mix is about perfect.
I used to think it was just bs but you can hear it clearly now!
Spoiler: The 5.1 remix is shocking crude in a number of ways. The sound stage being quite a bit smaller than the stereo mix for one.
The mastering/authoring errors with the 2 songs repeated (one of them being the first track on the disc) gets another demerit.
The Q-sound mix revealed saves this release and not much else matters!
My copy came in a larger than normal 3 fold cardboard case and inside an 'inner sleeve'. Maybe the simple cardboard sleeve mentioned earlier was the 1st batch only? There was also a CD copy stuck into the middle of the case. Not sure what that was included for - might make a good coaster.
Put the disc in and it's named BDROM. Yep.
Now it looks like some of the tracks are intended for menus perhaps? I just haven't been motivated to buy some expensive paid app just for the experience of seeing a blurry disc menu "properly". I rip A/V to mkv files and audio only to flac files for my library. Skipping the 3 just under 30 sec tracks which leaves 5. So…
Track 1
Kinda triply ambient instrumental version of The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range.
Questionable way to open the disc to me. Not bad or anything… But, um… it literally repeats twice. Yep.
Track 2
The 5.1 remix of the album.
Yeah… More of a "stereo mix presented in the surround format" kind of thing. Not a bad thing. But not really a surround mix that dives into the music. That would be fine and this would simply be a cool alternate mix…
if it wasn't mixed so awkwardly! I mean… the vocal so hot that the low end of just Rogers voice is louder than the rock band kick drum?! You can't turn this mix up and rock the music element. It's mixed as very background to Roger's voice. Sounds messed up. The lead vox are mixed to the front L,R too. Center is only used for ambience. So, no turning down your C speaker for a quick "post mastering" fix. The fx are hotter too. I'm not so sure that being able to hear the tape hiss gating on and off on the narrator voc in the 1st track is such a good thing. (Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with lead vox in the front L,R. Can be more appropriate at times. The issue here is they are simply far too loud in the mix. But it does add to the 'stereo presented in a surround format' aesthetic here and reminds me of those "upmixes" the kids post to some of those internet sites.)
I honestly only made it to the beginning of Perfect Sense pt1 and shut it off.
Jumping to track 5
The original stereo mix.
OK! Just holy shit was that 1992 CD squashed as all hell! This… makes this album make a WHOLE lot more sense with this theatrical dynamic range that is not even remotely possible to present on a 16 bit CD format. Roger was just too far ahead of the consumer technology with the original release and you can finally hear it now.
You can honestly perceive surround with this Q mix! You couldn't hear any trace on the original CD. I thought it was just some bs. Must have been obliterated by the 16 bit treatment. You sit right in the sweet spot and it comes into focus like those magic eye things for 3D.
This is very cool and honestly puts the pathetic attempt at a surround mix to shame!
I used to think I only liked maybe 3 songs on this album (I mean Pink Floyd-like level of like) but now I'd only list 3 or 4 as filler-ish.
Really liking this a lot! This is the meat (and pudding) of this release.
The 2001 clip stands out a little for being pasted over the top if this elaborate mix. Not quite in the image the same way but not too bad. That was the only flaw to me. (I like the part. Just commenting on the production work in adding it. Is that Roger still backwards swearing about not being able to use it though?)
Track 3
It's A Miracle (instrumental). Another ambient thing. Once you've heard it once…
…yes, that's right they did it again! The song twice in a row in the track. Just wow…
Oh, these ambient mixes have video too BTW. Similar low key visually ambient thing there too.
Track 4
Another ambient thing. What song is this one? Not sure. It's 20 minutes long! Skipped to the middle to see if they screwed up again. Doesn't look like it.
Hmmm… I can space out to early Floyd for pretty long periods but nothing's grabbing me here. All good. Can't complain about filling the disc with bonus stuff.
This release is a really stunning upgrade on what turns out to have been a very demolished original release from the dark ages that were the 1990's - before 24 bit digital releases, after audiophile vinyl.
The 5.1 mix is merely an extra here for me, which sucks. It's far from the worst mix I've heard. It has a high level of fidelity. But it's pretty embarrassing next to this stereo mix! It's smaller sounding than the stereo mix by quite a lot and you can't turn it up.
Would have been really classy to include the original stereo mix sans additions too IMHO. (Especially if they're filling space with 20 min ambient tracks!)
And what's up with the new cover?
Did the monkey sue for copyright violation or something?