What are you listening to RIGHT NOW?

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

All I can say is that this is the only way to hear this album.   It is better in every way.   A creative mix which serves the experimental nature of the work well, and unlike the CD there is actual dynamic range in each of the six channels.   The fidelity is astonishingly better than the CD.   If you like this album at all, you MUST hear this version.

[OldiesButGoodies]

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

This one may be the biggest surprise of my surround journey thus far.   I certainly don't think of Skynyrd and audiophile as being in the same wheelhouse, but this is quite an excellent listen.   The mix isn't flashy like some, but it does everything it's supposed to.   It gives all of the instruments more room to breathe.   Of particular note was the fine percussion work in "Gimme Three Steps" which I never really noticed before under the Rossington Collins guitar assault which that song is.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

The music wavered between it's modern hip hop influences and old school jazz.   The sampled drums sure gave the sub a workout.   Recommended for people who don't really like hip hop but like that kind of bass that rattles quarter panels all over Wilkinsburg.

[Jim Pittsburgh]

Dan Bubien   "grinding these gears"     Local Pittsburgh artist. Plays regularly at Nola. Great voice, very good musician and a very good recording.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I was surprised to see a new copy of this at HPB.   $16 after the 20% Labor Day sale.   It's an album I've been meaning to get for a couple of years.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I can take Seal in small doses.   To me he is kind of like Lenny Kravitz with all of the funk stripped out.     He has that polite British thing to way too high of a degree for my tastes.   That said, I did enjoy listening to his hits tonight, and the disc is real ear candy if you like him.   Whether it's the densely layered keyboards of "Crazy" or the densely layered vocals of "Kiss from a Rose", this stuff was made to  be mixed in surround.   It is a good mix, demo quality stuff.   Plus there are ten of his videos as bonus material if you're into looking at a beautiful black man for 45 minutes (you know who you are).

[Jim Pittsburgh]

Jessie Colin Young    On the Road   

Have not listened to this one for a long time.... a surprisingly very, very good live recording.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

A major disappointment.   First off, the lead vocals are mixed equally in all speakers.   I hate that.   It kind of ruined the Rumours DVD-A for me as well.   I guess they give this treatment to try to give the vocal a big sound stage, but I like to be able to place the singer in the mix just like you can with the instruments (BTW, the mix otherwise is nice).   I've never been to a movie where they mixed the lead actor's voice into all of the channels, I don't know why audio guys think this is a good idea.   Even worse, the disc is authored in such a way that the player loses the codec in between each song, and there is no silence at the track fronts, so each song gets the first half second or so clipped off as the gear sets up for the proper parameters.   Very amateurish.   This disc is only available as part of a $60 box set, and if I had shelled out that kind of money for this I would be livid.



Fabulous.   I could nitpick about a db or two here or there, but there is really no need, it would be minutia.   These mixes are excellent and the bonus material is really enjoyable, not filler at all.   Highly recommended.

[scorpio333]

Went through The Black Crowes Southern Harmony and now onto Chris Stapleton's From A Room. The new cart, pre, and speakers are all breaking in nicely. Time to sit back and quit tinkering...til the next feeding.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

By far the best of the FM surround mixes.   Tusk was markedly better than Rumours, and this is markedly better than Tusk.   I don't know if they hired new people or if the ones who have been doing this all along have just become more adept at mixing for surround, but I wish they would go back and give their greatest album it's greatest mix.   While we're at it, let's have the self titled album in surround as well.

[Jim Pittsburgh]

" Time to sit back and quit tinkering...til the next feeding." ..... the feedings will end well before you ever stop tinkering lol

[scorpio333]

Tonight I've gone through Brothers and Sisters, Sticky Fingers, St Paul and the Broken Bones (awesome LP), and. Ow onto Warren Haynes Live At Bonnaroo, great solo acoustic show.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

The 5.1 mix on the Blu Ray is really nice (as expected), but I still have a hard time hearing this album as anything other WYWH point two.   I wish I could find merit in the music on it's own.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Not "right now" but earlier tonight I was listening to Counting Crows and Matchbox 20 at Starlake.   I'm a big Crows fan, but they were just okay.   Adam Duritz seems to have given up on the top half of his range.   He reworked many spots to go lower instead of higher.   The band seemed to be lacking energy.   Not nearly as good as the records.   20, OTOH, I never had much of an opinion on.   Okay songs, they don't make me reach for the tuner dial, but they never inspired me to buy anything either.   They put on a fabulous show.   Rob Thomas is engaging and energetic.   They sounded better live than I remember the records.