Surroundablog

The Doors Perception Box set

Is everybody in...the show is about to begin...I just received my Doors' box set over the weekend. Several months of work went into this set, so I was filled with anticipation as I unwrapped it. Upon opening the box, the glued inserts promptly popped out and the set collapsed. I didn't pay it very much mind though cause its the music I came for...

I carefully pried the debut album out....they must've used a shoe horn to squeeze all 6 digi-packs into that too tight enclosure. Nevertheless...think music....think 5.1-ified "The End".....all right....load up the dvd. select the "High Resolution Surround" option and crank it up.

No vocals....NO VOCALS....NO WAIT...maybe if I readjust my channel settings.....still nothing. Fuck me. All right....readjust the settings back to the usual Wheeler house of surround. Next: alter the DVD player output from "DVD-Audio" to "DVD-Video". Back to "top menu" and up pops "DTS" and "Dolby Digital" Surround options. Now we're cooking with gas...select DTS and crank it up again. BLAM.....VOCALS...LOVELY SOOTHING MORRISON INFLECTED POETIC GIBBERISH....but where's my rears......NO #^*$%&(#$&o)(#*z*z#z REAR CHANNELS. Ok Wheeler calm down.....Dolby Digital isn't horrible...wipe the cold sweat off your brow and try this again...NO REARITUDE ON DD EITHER....ah crap...

Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream

Editor's note: Here's a submission from a usual suspect of Surroundablog who is a fan of more varied styles than just Weird Al. Incidentally; my copy should be arriving any day now...

Thanks for keeping up with the latest (and greatest!) that surround sound music offers via your blog. You rock, and you've helped me find some titles I'm sure I'd have missed otherwise.

As you've been a friend of Porcupine Tree in the past, I just thought I'd mention that today I received via mail the latest PT 5.1 DVD-Audio disc, Stupid Dream. As far as I know, it's only available via the band's website as a bonus disc to the CD (no DualDisc- yay!), as I think they're going to release just the two channel CD to stores. Note that the 5.1 mix is DVD-Audio and also DTS, although I've not heard the DTS mix yet. I understand that there are some technical problems with the first pressing relating to the DTS mixes and the bonus tracks, so check the news on the website for further information.

Stupid Dream was released around 1999 and was followed by their first proper set of US tour dates so it's not new music, but the 5.1 mix is new (dated September 2005.) The original disc has been out of print for some time and going for prime dollars on eBay. Unlike In Absentia and Deadwing, Elliot Scheiner was not involved with the multi-channel mix, although Darcy Proper did the 5.1 mastering. The 5.1 mix was done by Steven Wilson himself. All the artwork has been completely redesigned as none of the original is present. There are also two surround-only bonus tracks, Ambulance Chasing (previously available on the B-side to Piano Lessons) and the long version of Even Less (from Recordings, a long out of print disc of rare tracks.)

Amon Tobin discusses Splinter Cell DVD-Audio

Editor's Note: This is not your son's "Pokemon" plinka plinka f$%%#$* plinka midi soundtrack. On a lark, I picked up Amon Tobin's "Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory" DVD-Audio disc this week. I wish the Megadeth, Iron Maiden and Santana DVD-A's worked half as well as this one does. It does come with a wee problem...no menu(!)..but the Hi Rez 5.1 thoroughly stripped the fur off our cats.

Interviewed by Hamish Mackintosh
Thursday May 19, 2005
The Guardian

Did you enjoy writing music for a computer game? It was about doing something interactive, which I've never really done before. The music has to change all the time so it was a different approach - technically limiting but challenging. There's more room for manoeuvre than in the old 8-bit days of computer games, but then you tend to make things even more complicated.

Were you familiar with Splinter Cell? I wasn't a massive games fan. I play a few games quite a lot. I was into video games as I kid. It's changed a lot, though, as games aren't so much directed towards kids. Games are moving closer to being interactive movies. There's a degree of realism now. When you look at Splinter Cell, it's as if you're watching a movie and controlling the main character.

Elvis Presley - 30 #1 Hits - DVD-A...hunka hunka burnin' hits

It all began in 1954 on a July day in a small recording studio in Memphis Tennessee. On that day, a young hillbilly walked into Sam Phillips' Sun Records and set in motion a cultural revolution. That song was "That's Alright"...the artist was Elvis Presley...and the phenomena known as Rock and Roll had its King... "As a mass phenomenon that changed American culture, Elvis Presley is a legitimate starting point for the beginning of rock 'n' roll," says Rolling Stone's deputy managing editor Joe Levy. "That's where the music became a phenomenon, and the phenomenon grew into a culture that would change the culture and the rest of the world." With that said, Surroundablog.com is proud to offer up a review on one of Elvis Presley's most cherished releases.

The Band - "The Last Waltz" DVD-A...Scorcese can't dance

In 1978, Martin Scorcese's ground breaking documentary on the Band was released. It showed not only the end of a band...but the end of a cultural phenomena. Last year, the film was reworked with bonus footage and was released with an accompanying remastered DVD-A version of the original soundtrack. So with that in mind, let's revisit the shape they were in... Everyone knows the story...The Band started as a backing group to Ronnie Hawkins. In the mid-60's, they were stolen by Bob Dylan becoming his sidemen and then branched off as the Canadian Squires. No longer happy to be the background; they chose to reinvent themselves as a main stage attraction. They simply became known as The Band...and became the backing band of an entire generation...

The Band - "Music from Big Pink" DVD-A...

As 1967 faded into '68, Rock music was no longer restricted to A-sides and B-sides. Instead, musicians embraced the idea of LP expressionism. Some 6 months before, The Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band", Brian Wilson had "Pet Sounds", Cream had "Disraeli Gears" and Jimi Hendrix asked "Are you Experienced". It was like psychedelic sunday everyday with rainbows all over your stars...

And yet, from nowhere and everywhere a new sensibility based on all stylings was beginning to simmer like gumbo on a hot plate. It was counter-revolutionary to the revolution. It was the time of The Band...and the music world would be taken aback by their "Music from Big Pink".. Before I get ahead of things, you'll need to know that The Band grew out of an association with Ronnie Hawkins. They quickly caught the attention of Bob Dylan and wound up touring with him in England. They were soundly booed every night. Aye, when it came to Dylan's electric to acoustic conversion, you could say that the English weren't exactly "ready teddys".

Metallica DVD-A and a "Black" day for the cats...

This article could be sub-titled "The day I introduced my cats to SENSURROUND"......! For those of you who weren't a mid 70's disaster film fan, the "sensurround" effect was introduced in the film "Earthquake"..a "B" movie gem that put to screen the terror of a massive slip along California's San Andreas fault. While L.A. was in the throws of an earthquake...the cameraman shook the frame...and the audience not so much heard as "FELT" the destruction. The phenomena resulted in "Earthquake" winning an Oscar for "Best Sound". What we didn't know then was that we had just experienced the full-on sub-woofer effect.

Fast forward 30 years to yesterday afternoon. In searching my library of dvds to review I decided to grab Metallica's "Black" album. It seemed like a timely pick as the band prepares to release their documentary "Some Kind of Monster" on July the 9th.

As an aside, it was also an attempt to get my stinking cats to stop using the grills of my reference series Klipsch speakers for scratching posts......#$%*#&*%#(*($#%*$#$&$$@#$#@....!