Steven Wilson XTC - The Big Express (Steven Wilson Surround mixes coming in September!)

[~dave~~wave~]

Enjoying the deep Colin Moulding bass reproduction in DTS HD 7.1 playback of the Atmos.

As with the Dukes of Stratosphear set, the slipcase for this one is reversible with a bit of primary school cardboard deconstruction crafting skill, and an old cheap label printer.
For some reason this tickles me pink.

Outside slipcase:

Inside slipcase:

The finished Inside Out slipcase versions:

Andy Partridge is a cheeky monkey for putting the better art on the inside.

Of course he did name his label Ape House.

 

[Scott65]

The densely-layered 1984 XTC album has a more eventful surround mix than the 1971 Who album recorded mostly on 8-track, who would have guessed

And its a lot cheaper too!

 

[Scott65]

Mine's in Melbourne, due to arrive in Hobart Tuesday to Thursday this week. Hopefully Tuesday.

 

[shakti]

Wonder if the one person who voted a 7 will dare to stand up and say why? Perhaps the album itself is not to his/her liking, and that's fair enough. The mix though, can not objectively be deemed a 7. No way.

 

[perzon57]

Wonder if the one person who voted a 7 will dare to stand up and say why? Perhaps the album itself is not to his/her liking, and that's fair enough. The mix though, can not objectively be deemed a 7. No way.

The vote is not just for the mix, but for the music and package too. Everything can't be 10 all the time. I voted 9 as the music don't fully satisfy my taste.

 

[IMachine]

Wonder if the one person who voted a 7 will dare to stand up and say why? Perhaps the album itself is not to his/her liking, and that's fair enough. The mix though, can not objectively be deemed a 7. No way.

He wrote here. Just scroll up

 

[shakti]

Yes, I know it’s an overall grading, which was sort of what I meant. No way the mix alone is a 7, that has to be a 9 or 10, but the music is not everyone’s cup of tea.

 

[Dynamic Editor]

The mix though, can not objectively be deemed a 7. No way.

Not a fan of this "objective" argument here. If someone thinks it ought to be a 7, they ought to vote a 7. In any art form, even releases that a consensus believe are masterpieces ought to be criticized. That helps drive art forward.

 

[Muppet69]

Finally ordered from a reseller via Amazon.ca for $36 inc shipping using a gift card to buy it too. Unfortunately won’t get it until sometime in November.

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

And its a lot cheaper too!

And, comparing original album to album, is a lot better.

 

[key_wiz]

Wonder if the one person who voted a 7 will dare to stand up and say why? Perhaps the album itself is not to his/her liking, and that's fair enough. The mix though, can not objectively be deemed a 7. No way.

People are entitled to their opinions and not every album can be a 9 or a 10. And a 7 is hardly a pan.

But what I personally don’t like is when people give really low scores without comment. I prefer EVERY score come with a comment, but especially if you’re going to give a low “outlier” score? Back it up with some reasoning.

 

[popshop]

Is everyone getting vocals in left and right on the 5.1 mix? Wonder if this is the first album SW has had lead vocals bleeding outside of center.

 

[sjcorne]

Is everyone getting vocals in left and right on the 5.1 mix? Wonder if this is the first album SW has had lead vocals bleeding outside of center.

Lead vocals (and other centered elements like guitar solos) are spread pretty evenly across all three front speakers throughout The Harmony Codex as well.

 

[shakti]

People are entitled to their opinions and not every album can be a 9 or a 10. And a 7 is hardly a pan.

But what I personally don’t like is when people give really low scores without comment. I prefer EVERY score come with a comment, but especially if you’re going to give a low “outlier” score? Back it up with some reasoning.

Again, this is what I mean. 7 isn't really a very low or particularly outlier score, but at least give it some reasoning. I voted an initial 6 for the Who's Next 5.1. and there was, understandably, some questions raised. But I had given an explanation why. I mean, just a number is not very interesting in itself, particularly if it strays from the mean or median scores.

 

[key_wiz]

funny how to most folks this is their least fave, for me it is one of their top 2 albums...so many earworms in here: donkey, seagull, train, world...
also curious that when i first heard it, i had gotten the cd with the 3 extra songs IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ALBUM, so , to me this original version is weird and thankfully SW mixed them...they should have done an alternate playlist with the later cd version, maybe i will rip it and remedy the situation...
one hell of an album...definite 11 !!!

I had this on LP originally so I didn’t like it when they did the “put the bonus tracks between Side A and Side B” thing on the original CD issues. I guess it was a way of elevating these tracks to more of a “they’d have been on the album if we had the space” status but always seemed wrong to me.

but yep…can always burn a copy and change the order! Or “playlist” them as you like on iTunes or your MP3 player!

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

I just got my copy and playing the 5.1 DTSMA mix. Really enjoying it until I got to track 6, "An Everyday Story In A Small Town". Both rear speakers have several pops in them (like a record would pop). Several occur in the intro and more throughout the song. At first I thought I was blowing a left rear speaker and then check the right rear and it was doing the same thing in the same places in the song. It's not happening in the fronts or center speakers. Checked the disc - Looks clean. My next fear was my OPPO 203 was having a problem, so switched the disc to my OPPO 93 but the pops were still there. (Glad to know the players aren't failing.)
Then I switched to the Atmos mix to see if the problem was also there (I only have a 7.3 system but know it down mixes Atmos to 5.1), but the mix is different from the DTSMA mix in the rear channels and the pops are not there.

Anyone else hearing this or do I have a defective copy?

 

[jefe1]

I just got my copy yesterday. I have so may other discs to play I hope I can get to it this weekend if only to check for this possible defect.

 

[bookofsaturdays]

I just got my copy and playing the 5.1 DTSMA mix. Really enjoying it until I got to track 6, "An Everyday Story In A Small Town". Both rear speakers have several pops in them (like a record would pop). Several occur in the intro and more throughout the song. At first I thought I was blowing a left rear speaker and then check the right rear and it was doing the same thing in the same places in the song. It's not happening in the fronts or center speakers. Checked the disc - Looks clean. My next fear was my OPPO 203 was having a problem, so switched the disc to my OPPO 93 but the pops were still there. (Glad to know the players aren't failing.)
Then I switched to the Atmos mix to see if the problem was also there (I only have a 7.3 system but know it down mixes Atmos to 5.1), but the mix is different from the DTSMA mix in the rear channels and the pops are not there.

Anyone else hearing this or do I have a defective copy?

Just checked, not hearing the pops you are describing. Maybe you could upload a quick video for us to hear?

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

A video? No. I'm trying to figure out a way to just capture the rear channels and will post a sample of that.

 

[Scott65]

Mine's arrived and I am enjoying it right now.