There are some unfortunate fadeouts on the live disc , the one at the end of "Closer to the Heart" in particular.
Chad
This mastering sounds great. The live shit sounds good too....sort of an Exit Stage Right
There's a bit of whining on the Hoffman forum about the excessive fades but the band's performance gets raves. I suppose I'll have to give it a shot.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
My set dropped yesterday, and I spent an enjoyable evening working my way through it.
I've put together a blog review of the two discs, offering some thoughts on the remastering, and the contents of the live disc when pairing it with the St Louis set:
https://momentstransition.wordpress....-edition-2020/
Finally got the 2 cd set yesterday. Really enjoying hearing the original album which sounds better than the last remaster but also the live stuff which is great fun. I loved hearing the huge London cheer that went up when Geddy introduced Hemispheres - it still gives me goosebumps.
I have the 24/96 download from HDtracks. Here are my impressions.
1. Studio Tracks: After doing an A/B comparison with the Sector 2 version, I can't say one sounds better than the other. The new remaster is noticeably quieter--I had to turn up the volume to do the comparison.
2. Live Tracks: The first track has pretty rough sound quality, but things get better from there. It's nice hearing a different approach than on Exit Stage Left on the many tracks that overlap. It's also nice hearing a live version of the "Hemispheres" suite, even if it's truncated. (Why the f*** was this not on the Hemispheres 40 Anniversary Edition?!)
As a longtime fan of classic Rush, I found it worth getting.
Speaking of downloads - I bought the AFTK vinyl set and it came with a little card with a download code for digital versions of all the tracks. This new PeW set did not. I went to the web site and entered my order number and zip code to see "my downloads", and all that was there were the three "instant gratification" tracks they had pre-released. I dropped them an e-mail a couple of nights ago and haven't heard back. Hoping I don't have to manually rip these tracks from vinyl.
I finally got this for my birthday - the fade-outs on the live disc are mildly annoying but the music kicks ass most righteously!
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
The fade outs... Did Terry Brown learn nothing from Exit... Stage Left? But seriously, why? Even the tracks from the same show, that were played in the same order as they ended up on the live disc have fades in between. Still, great stuff. I do prefer the St. Louis version of By-Tor over any other I've heard. The one on here is fine, but I miss the awesome whammy bar abuse on St. Louis.
Perhaps the fade-outs are reasoned to be better for the digital age where people listen to tracks, or shuffle, rather than play all the way through. Thus, avoiding harsh cut-in/offs of audience noise.
I get that. It just kills the "live album" vibe. I'm still in the vinyl age.
No fade-outs on that one. Do you mean the overall audio quality?
Yup. I honestly wonder how involved the band is in these anniversary releases?
I believe I read that Ged or Alex have much involvement at all in these projects.
I took my Kiel Auditorium show and mixed in the tracks that show up only on the box for a playlist on my PC. Still missing a couple tracks but it's as close as I can get to the full show.
Here's what the actual set list looked like on that tour:
2112
Freewill
By-Tor And The Snow Dog
Xanadu
The Spirit Of Radio
Natural Science
A Passage To Bangkok
The Trees
Cygnus X-1: Book I: The Voyage
Cygnus X-1: Book II: Hemispheres
Closer To The Heart
Beneath, Between And Behind
Jacob’s Ladder
Working Man
Finding My Way
Anthem
Bastille Day
In The Mood
Drum Solo
Encore: La Villa Strangiato
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Moving. Pictures. Box. Set. Must. Have. Now.
"Why is it when these great Prog guys get together, they always want to make a Journey album?"
- fiberman, 7/5/2015
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