Picked up the standalone 50th anniversary Blu-ray mostly for the concert, and I think that is the honest way to approach this disc. The Los Angeles Sports Arena show from April 26, 1975 runs 16 songs, restored and remastered by Steven Wilson at 96kHz/24-bit, and it opens with Raving and Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy before those turned into Sheep and Dogs. It is a fan-made audience tape at heart and it still sounds better than it has any right to.
The part worth arguing about is the new Atmos mix. If you already own the 2011 Immersion box you are not getting a new 5.1, since Guthrie's mix and the 1976 quad appear to carry straight over, same with the promo videos. So Atmos is the upgrade you are paying for, and it is the smoothest, most even mix I have heard on one of these reissues. Everything stays legible from anywhere in the room. That reads like a compliment until you sit in the sweet spot and notice nothing is being steered at you anymore. The 1976 quad, for all its age, still commits to putting things in specific corners.
I keep running into this on catalog Atmos remixes. The heights get used as a wash rather than for placement, presumably so it survives a soundbar. At 26.98 the disc is still easy to recommend for the live set and the six unreleased alternates alone.
Has anyone here genuinely preferred a modern Atmos remix to the old quad on a classic album, or is that just me being stubborn?
The part worth arguing about is the new Atmos mix. If you already own the 2011 Immersion box you are not getting a new 5.1, since Guthrie's mix and the 1976 quad appear to carry straight over, same with the promo videos. So Atmos is the upgrade you are paying for, and it is the smoothest, most even mix I have heard on one of these reissues. Everything stays legible from anywhere in the room. That reads like a compliment until you sit in the sweet spot and notice nothing is being steered at you anymore. The 1976 quad, for all its age, still commits to putting things in specific corners.
I keep running into this on catalog Atmos remixes. The heights get used as a wash rather than for placement, presumably so it survives a soundbar. At 26.98 the disc is still easy to recommend for the live set and the six unreleased alternates alone.
Has anyone here genuinely preferred a modern Atmos remix to the old quad on a classic album, or is that just me being stubborn?
