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XTC in 5.1

6K views 64 replies 15 participants last post by  Milt99 
#1 ·
Not to take anything away from Yes, but I thought this fabulous band deserved its own thread and shouldn't be co-sharing a thread. (And XTC was always, for me, the better band when it came to songs and albums, and, Yes, even sometimes musicianship.
)


My copy of Nonsuch (Blu ray) arrived today from Amazon UK. Yippee!!!


I only spent about forty-five minutes sampling the tremendous amount of material on the release.


-- 5.1 mixes are wonderful! They really open up the album. "Smartest Monkeys" and "Wrapped in Grey" were two tracks that really stood out...of the few I listened to.


-- Instrumental Mixes are nice. (For when I get that karaoke itch.)


-- Nice that the original stereo mix of the album is included. (But it pales to the new 2013 mix.)


-- It's super easy to flip back and forth between the DTS, LPCM, Instrumental, and stereo mixes as the songs continue to play. (For those looking to do some heavy duty comparisons.)


-- Super cool studio footage of the band recording parts of Nonsuch. (Forty-eight minutes of by-gone times.)


-- Fantastic liner notes by those involved in making the album...the what went down in the studio. (Including some nice recollections about Gus Dudgeon, the producer who passed away after the album was released.)


-- The work tapes of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding of their songs for the album.


-- The added song of Didn't Hurt A Bit by Colin Moulding. (A new XTC tune? Are XTC reuniting? Sadly, no...
)


xxx -- No lyric sheet !
I can't remember if my original CD from 1992 had one since I sold it off long ago when I acquired the Japanese version back in 2001 which included one--two actually. I like lyrics sheets...oh, well... It's a minor quibble of a fantastic release.)
 
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#5 ·
Having fully listened to the album, I guess I should go back and edit my original post to state that all of the songs have benefited from the 5.1 treatment and it's hard to pick out which ones are the stand-outs---sound-wise. The back surrounds have been wonderfully integrated into the mix.


I wonder which XTC will be worked on next. If they continue in reverse order (starting with Nonsuch), then Oranges & Lemons would be next. (And they'd still be far away from what I think are their better albums--Black Sea, English Settlement, Skylarking, Drums & Wires, and Mummer. They could really go crazy with a 5.1 mix on Psonic Psunspot...and I hope they do!)
 
#6 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Franchot  /t/1498806/xtc-in-5-1#post_23936530


Having fully listened to the album, I guess I should go back and edit my original post to state that all of the songs have benefited from the 5.1 treatment and it's hard to pick out which ones are the stand-outs---sound-wise. The back surrounds have been wonderfully integrated into the mix.


I wonder which XTC will be worked on next. If they continue in reverse order (starting with Nonsuch), then Oranges & Lemons would be next. (And they'd still be far away from what I think are their better albums--Black Sea, English Settlement, Skylarking, Drums & Wires, and Mummer. They could really go crazy with a 5.1 mix on Psonic Psunspot...and I hope they do!)


Supposedly SW has been working on Drums & Wires. If that's so, it's a first day buy for me.
 
#7 ·
Franchot,

Have you listened to the 2 channel remaster\remix or watched any of the video content?

BTW, ti-trodes is correct, Drums & Wires is "scheduled" for next spring.


FWIW, I've order a lot of films and music from Amazon UK but with Nonsuch and CTE, the "preparing for dispatch" status dragged on for days....
 
#8 ·
Yes, I watched all of the video content. The studio footage of the band working on Nonsuch was shot by Gus Dudgeon with him making a video recording of the proceedings. Interesting to me as a fan, but maybe not to the more casual viewer as the band rehearses some songs and works out certain sections repeatedly on the song "Then She Appeared" to get just the right drum beat, guitar parts. There's also a promo with the band for Canadian TV.


The other videos are music videos of two songs. Were the "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" video released today in these (IMHO) more politically-correct times, it might raise some eyebrows with its images.


And, yes, I sampled the new two-channel remix. It sounds better than the original stereo mix which now sounds rather flat and lifeless. But to me, now that I've experienced the 5.1 mix, any of the two-channel mixes sound "thin."


If you're still hunting around for a copy, Amazon third party sellers have it in stock. I've seen the price fluctuate up and down around the $20 mark. Cheaper for the DVD-A.
 
#12 ·
I'd love to see The Dukes of Stratosphere, Chips from the Chocolate Fireball in hi Rez! Great sounding as is, multi channel would be icing on the cake.
 
#13 ·
i Just received my copy last night. i gave it a quick spin and it sounds great in 5.1.


i did notice it had 2 different 5.1 options pcm and dts. i toggled between the two and didn't really notice the difference. Without getting too technical can anyone explain the difference?


Also noticed that there's no lyric sheet, did they just forget to make them and add them to the booklet?


ta
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the replies about the different 5.1 formats, both sound excellent to me.


(I still have the lyrics from the original cd)


I hear drums and wires is up next which will be interesting to hear. I do think their production and songwriting got better (senses working) over time
 
#17 ·
Ordered on Amazon US, thx guys.
 
#26 ·
Received my copy of the Blu ray version of Drums And Wires on Saturday.

Steven Wilson again does not disappoint in working his magic on an XTC album. Really wonderful stuff.

Lots and and lots of tracks of the band rehearsing the songs for the album and eleven additional songs that didn't make it onto the original album. The additional eleven songs are also done up in 5.1 surround mixes.

I was spoiled with the previous Nonsuch and its forty-eight minutes of video of the band rehearsing the album. The only video on this Blu ray are two music videos of two songs. (I wish this release had included some remastered concert footage of the band it action. I know there's videos out there of the band performing live as I have a DVD of one of their concerts.)

A good amount of liner notes from three of the four band members, but Terry Chambers (the drummer) is absent. I don't know why. He freely talked about XTC and some songs on Drums and Wires back in 2002:

http://chalkhills.org/articles/TBTerry20020705.html

...so any bad vibes between him and the band appeared to be over.

Again, NO lyric sheet. C'mon now. I complained enough the last time around that somebody must have read my comments and wanted to make me happy this time around.

So, what's next? English Settlement (I hope) or Black Sea (I hope).
 
#28 ·
I just got my copy. It sounds very very good. But the mix is "modern style". It's quite different from the original mix (which is included).

It's actually a significant difference. Back in the 80s, XTC kind of sat between the raw energy of punk and the complex rhythms of progressive with great pop hooks like a cherry on the top. One thing that gave the music a hard punk edge was the sound... in particular the vocals and guitars... they were sharp and cut through the mix like a knife. I think it was an EQ thing in the upper midrange. It wasn't natural, it was a deliberate boost in the upper mids.

In the new mix, the vocals are softer sounding, with an enhanced lower midrange that almost swallows up the upper mids. And the guitar is often mixed much lower in the mix with a smoother EQ, particularly those little rhythmic accents that cut through on the beat. The way it is mixed is more like the way current alternative music is mixed.

The drums are crystal clear. One of the best jobs of recording and mixing drums I've ever heard and the sound is dense and complex with the guitars blended and dovetailed in and out with a lot of craftsmanship. There are no rough edges. BIG FAT bass. The vocals sound very natural sounding with a bit of a high end rolloff to make them feel warmer.

The overall sound of the mix is thicker and smoother, not as sparse and jagged and punky as the original. That is probably just a matter of how tastes in balancing change over time. But the sound is great, and unlike the Rolling Stones and the Beatles where I am married to the original sound of the mix and any attempt to change it ruins it for me, with XTC I can see how a little updating of the mixing style can make it fresher and more contemporary sounding.

Yes, I got my Andy Partridge postcard. Nice of him to do that.
 
#32 ·
Maybe you should try Amazon.UK next time. If you preorder from them, the price (including shipping) is roughly the same and sometimes cheaper than DD. And it will arrive within a week after dispatch.

Is DD, at least, letting you keep "Venus & Mars" due to their screw-up?
 
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