I got to listen to the new surround mix of The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band tonight. I really see this mix as a missed opportunity, which is quite disappointing given the wonderful job I thought they did on the "Love" surround mix. In particular, LSD and Mr Kite were very underwhelming. Given the work that Giles had already done cutting apart the Lucy track for the new stereo mix (which I like very much), I totally expected a psychedelic treatment where the notes were floating around the room randomly like colored dots in front of your eyes when the Mescaline kicks in (or so I've heard). In the same way, when Henry the Horse starts dancing, I felt it would have been entirely appropriate to center the organ but have the effects spinning around you in a dizzying manner, the way the organ on a carousel would remain stationary as you ride, but all of the sounds from outside would be spinning as the ride twirls. "Day in the Life" was nice, but pedestrian. A treatment completely not befitting that song. Only two songs actually benefited from the surround mix in my estimation. The separation given the small ensemble in "When I'm Sixty-Four" gave an interesting freshness to that tune (not one of my favorites on the album) and "Penny Lane" was literally the only mix that had me hearing things I hadn't before. Again, the fact that the whole album didn't do this is a wasted opportunity.
The LFE channel is an awful mess. For starters, it is entirely too loud. I had to turn the sub down twice just to get it to "play nicely" with the other channels. Once that was accomplished, it was horribly "flubby" and indistinct. Plus, it seemed to only carry far too much of Paul's bass fundamental but I heard little to none of the kick drum fundamental. It's really all but inexcusable IMHO.
In a way, this is probably appropriate for a 50th Anniversary release. For fifty years I've heard about how the mono was the go to mix and the stereo was an afterthought. With this release it seems that the stereo is finally the go to mix and the surround was treated as an afterthought.
