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Review by analogue March 19, 2013 (12 of 17 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
I own many sacd's and gold cd's mastered by Steve Hoffman but this is the first sacd that I am disappointed with.
Its always difficult to review a classic album from the past when so many listeners have their own opinions of what constitutes good sound for that particular title. My review is not of the music which is excellent. Yes was a great band with terrific chemistry and fantastic musicianship.
If I would choose a single word to describe my experience with the sound of this sacd it would be unremarkable. Its not that it sounds bad...........it doesn't..it just doesn't grab one the way one would hope for.
I found it to lack air and transparency for my tastes. It does have decent sound stage but not much in the way of three dimensional imaging even though vocals stay out front. Although there is not much in the way of compression.......even turning it up offers very little in the way of overall improvement. If you think about the talent this band has..........how orchestral they can be.............and how great lets say the keyboards can sound or any other instrument for that matter.........I just expected and hoped for far more than this disc allows. Things never get dramatic....things just don't really gel. I remain unmoved by this sacd.
There are good things like thew acoustic guitar starting track 2...........some of the vocals but instruments don't blossom as much as I'd hoped for.
Some reviewers mentioned that it might be the tape source used..I cant say. I hate to compare this disc to lets say..the Dvd Audio of Fragile. They are different releases, different mastering.... I know. What I wished for was that this follow up disc could have grabbed me the way that Fragile did. And this is coming from Dsd SNOB AFTER ALL.
This is the only sacd mastered by Mr. Hoffman that I don't like.
Just my two sense is all.
If you read the reviews here some Yes fans do love this disc.
Can only recommend this to Yes purists who want to take a chance.
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Review by Gregg Bass March 8, 2013 (8 of 10 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
I had high expectations for this one but became a bit concerned when I read that this release would be a stereo remaster, not a full remix. And it shows.
There is more detail present here than in previous releases but the whole album sounds a bit tinny to my ears with too much emphasis on the upper mid and high frequencies. As if the engineers wanted to make sure that the vocals and keyboards shined a bit brighter, which they do. But, too much so and at the expense of the bass and percussion. Whether this is due to the condition of the original source material or because of an older mix is hard to say without more information which you will not find in the very sparse liner notes.
That said, it is probably the best version available right now until someone like Steven Wilson comes along and gives this masterpiece the treatment it deserves.
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Review by Anekdoten April 5, 2013 (7 of 9 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
| I HAVE TO AGREE WITH THE PREVIOUS REVIEW..I have listened to the SACD and my Original Vinyl pressing and felt quite unsettled when listening to this SACD compared to the vinyl which was superior in every way. The SACD gave me the feeling that someone who has taken the album to pieces polished it here and there and then didn't put it back in the correct order if that makes sense? I wanted to enjoy the experience on SACD but could not . I will stick with the vinyl original until somebody can get it right if that's possible?
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