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Review by DACooper April 3, 2004 (11 of 12 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
I couldn't disagree with the other reviewer more strongly!!
This was the first album I bought when I was 8 years old, and started me on a 30 year journey of music exploration. Amazingly, this album has stayed with me all these years, through worn-out vinyl to target double-CD to remastered CD to MFSL Cd and now, finally, to hybrid SACD. I say finally, because without a doubt this is the definitive version of this classic. To my ears, this is a benchmark multichannel SACD to which all others should be compared.
I'll skip right over the CD and SACD stereo layers and move right to a review of the 5.1 mix. This is an extraordinary mix. EJ's vocal is anchored in the center channel, with some bleed into the FL and FR, and unlike a lot of the early 5.1 mixes I've heard, his voice isn't overwelmed by the other speakers, but instead stands at the front of the mix just as it should. Davey Johnstone's legendary guitar sound is given a lot of space through the fronts and surrounds, Nigel Olsson's drums are more distinct and real than previous releases and the late, great Dee Murray gives the LFE channel a work out with his fluid bass lines. Add to that the ambient crowd noise on Bennie & the Jets and the until now indecipherable Jamaican dialogue on Jamaican Jerk-Off, and all-in-all you have a magnificent example of what 5.1 SACD can bring to the table.
I use this disc to show off my 5.1 system, especially for folks who are familiar with the album, and I have yet to find anyone who isn't impressed with the sound of the SACD. Buy it!!!
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Review by dmonds March 7, 2014 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
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Ok, so I'm relatively new to SACDs and whilst my system could be considered middle of the road, it still sounds awesome in my lounge room compared to many friends higher end systems. I went ahead and ordered this SACD despite some of the negative reviews here and have to say I suffered a bit of trepidation waiting for it to arrive. In the meantime, I pulled out my older vinyl and CD and gave them a thorough listen to.
I've just sat down and listened carefully to Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding (one of my all time favourite rock tracks) in MC on the SACD.
I think I can understand why some people may have had issues with the treble...on my system during FFAF, the lead guitar comes from the right rear surround speaker and does sound a little harsh. On my system these rear speakers are substantially smaller than my front speakers and do not have the same sensitivity, power, tonal or dynamic range...if they did there would be absolutely no issues. I'd also imagine you'd need to ensure your front to rear balance is absolutely spot on or the separation would be off...which would make a huge difference. So, for me, it comes down to the positioning in the mix as well as shortcomings on my system. Also, I noticed that the bass is much stronger during FFAF and that the positioning of the lead guitar moves to the front during Love Lies Bleeding.
This is the first review I've submitted here as I was keen to compare my experience with others for what I think everyone agrees is an awesome album performance wise. I've perhaps been overly critical with it wheres I'd usually sit down and have a general listen with a glass of red in hand and as I'm sure with everyone here, you know right away if you like it or you don't and that's what matters...I still think this disc is very good overall sonically...hope this helps...cheers
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Review by sportbigred November 5, 2006 (6 of 9 found this review helpful)
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| I just listened to "Funeral for a Friend"/"Love Lies Bleeding" in 5.1 Surround/SACD 30th Anniversay Delux edition. What a disappointment! There are many reasons for this and I will give evidence for this. First, there is distortion on Nigel Olsson's snare drum which is too loud and very dry in the mix. I do not know if the distortion was on the original multi-track tape or if it occured during the surround re-mix. 2nd, the drums in the mix overpower the music. Third, on "Love lies Bleeding", Elton John's vocal is dry and unexciting and is also too loud which makes the band and the background vocals sound small in comparison. 4th, on "Love lies Bleeding" Davey Johnstone's guitar anthem/melody is missing along with the fast guitar arpeggios which he played so fluently. I blame this entirely on re-mix director Greg Penny who obviously never heard the original stereo 2 ch. version or did but did'nt care about the surround re-mix. 5th, original mix engineer David Hentschel's lush ARP string synthesizers are missing which makes "Funeral for a Friend" sound empty, weak and steril. Once again, this is Greg Penny's poor judgement and lack of insight. 6th, the dynamics of "Funeral for a Friend" sound weak and lifeless. All in all this is a typical example of "How not to mix in Surround". Greg Penny's profession should have been a market butcher rather than a re-mix engineer. This lackluster re-mix hackjob is up there with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" which is actually worse and on my all time list of the worst of the worst re-mixes in 5.1. surround. For a high resolution format, the listener should hear all the advantages of SACD and want to buy into this format rather than have a nightmare experience with it. I will give this re-mix a complete "Thumbs Down"!
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