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Discussion: Billy Joel: Piano Man

Posts: 17
Page: 1 2 next

Post by Discspinner April 1, 2011 (1 of 17)
MOFI has released Piano Man though at the time of this post sacd.net hasn't updated its status. Have listened to it once and my initial impression is that the bass is a little conservative but overall very good sound. I will hopefully write more a bit later.

Post by Allen April 2, 2011 (2 of 17)
Is it MC or not?

Post by Tetlee April 2, 2011 (3 of 17)
Allen said:

Is it MC or not?

It's stereo only sadly.

Post by kegumo April 10, 2011 (4 of 17)
Agree with you comments re MOFI. mixes. I think a lot of it comes down to the quality of original recording and the actual condition of the master tape.
A lot of early albums by artists were done on fairly low budget's. Also I know cases where master tapes have simply worn out or detioriated.

MOFI probably finds it easier to get the rights to earlier/lower profile albums like the Piano Man.it would be interesting to hear The Stranger on SACD or the second Band Album. Why you want to release an album by a average new wave band like the Pretenders mystifies me, when they are many Clash, Jam or Stranglers albums that could sound great on SACD.

I also think MOFI need to be a bit more pragmatic about reproducing the "exact" sound.E.G. I don't have a problem with the tape hiss being removed.

Post by Cornan May 1, 2011 (5 of 17)
Really too bad bad MoFi has decided to issue no more surround recordings, even though they're still releasing SACDs.

I just looked and Piano Man was originally released in quadraphonic form, so there would be a minimum amount of remixing.

Unfortunately, the 5.1 release of "The Stranger" on SACD has Joel's voice virtually isolated in the center channel, making it very car-unfriendly (for the tiny minority of us who have actually wired up a smallish center channel speaker such as the Clarion SRK5).

In that regard, I've just ordered a Sony MEX-DV2200 direct from Sony - I hope it's still available from Sony as onlinestereo.com said it was unavailable. I don't expect my MEX-DV2000 to last forever and these may be the only 1-DIN SACD / surround players ever made.

Maybe we can collectively convince MoFi to reconsider their decision to only re-issue 38-year-old albums in a 54-year-old format (i.e. stereo).

As I like to say, "SACD" is the medium, "stereo", "quadraphonic" and "5.1" are the formats, and I focus more on format.

Post by rammiepie May 1, 2011 (6 of 17)
It seems like a lot of new Rock releases are finding new legs in 5.1 in the DVD~A format. Must be because of all the Universal Player sales and it might also be less expensive as opposed to having SACDs pressed overseas.

I'm sure MoFi has been deluged with calls demanding multi~channel SACD reissues but they steadfastly refuse to oblige......

Talk about being behind the times!

Post by Nagraboy May 1, 2011 (7 of 17)
rammiepie said:

It seems like a lot of new Rock releases are finding new legs in 5.1 in the DVD~A format. Must be because of all the Universal Player sales and it might also be less expensive as opposed to having SACDs pressed overseas.

I'm sure MoFi has been deluged with calls demanding multi~channel SACD reissues but they steadfastly refuse to oblige......

Talk about being behind the times!

Maybe they don't want to invest the money in a multichannel version of their custom production chain. Plus a surround layer would probably be a lot of extra work for which they couldn't charge a lot more for.

Personally, this is the first version of the album I've ever heard or owned and musicaly, it's an absolute knock-out from start to finish.

It's a really great programme of songs that gives that genuine 'album' experience, seemingly lost forever in these download days. When it ends after Captain Jack (oh my! what a song!) the feeling of musical resonance is a rare joy.

I never found the bass undercooked and I think my Harbeths would have let me know if there were any issues. I thought it sounded lovely, warm and clear.

Post by rammiepie May 1, 2011 (8 of 17)
But, and I wasn't aware of it, a multichannel, read Quad (4.0) Master tape does exist of Piano Man to preclude any need to re~ master it from hours of analogue multitracks.

MoFi has done SACD 4.0 remasters before (from the Vox catalogue) with stunning results .

As a stereo layer to satisfy the purists would also be contained on the SACD along with a RBCD layer, everyone would be happy.

Sometimes, dense multi~track rock albums benefit greatly from the 4.0 or 5.1 treatment as one can hear elements buried in the mix. The DVD~A 5.1 of the Beatles' album LOVE as done by the Martins (father and son) revealed levels of detail not readily apparent in the existing mono/stereo remasters.

I have the MoFi "Piano Man" and it does sound really good, but..........

Post by Nagraboy May 2, 2011 (9 of 17)
rammiepie said:

Sometimes, dense multi~track rock albums benefit greatly from the 4.0 or 5.1 treatment as one can hear elements buried in the mix. The DVD~A 5.1 of the Beatles' album LOVE as done by the Martins (father and son) revealed levels of detail not readily apparent in the existing mono/stereo remasters.

I agree, the surround treatment does make individual instruments easier to pick-out. When I had my 4.0 setup, even Steely Dan-Gaucho on SACD benefited.

At the risk of unleashing purist venom, I actually found Dolby Pro-Logic surround improved my experience of many RBCDs too. eg. Lou Reed-New York.

If you have this CD, try it in Pro-Logic Music mode on your surround gear. It didn't put instruments behind me, just seemed to open things up somehow into the room.

Post by rammiepie May 2, 2011 (10 of 17)
Nagraboy said:

I agree, the surround treatment does make individual instruments easier to pick-out. When I had my 4.0 setup, even Steely Dan-Gaucho on SACD benefited.

At the risk of unleashing purist venom, I actually found Dolby Pro-Logic surround improved my experience of many RBCDs too. eg. Lou Reed-New York.

If you have this CD, try it in Pro-Logic Music mode on your surround gear. It didn't put instruments behind me, just seemed to open things up somehow into the room.

I do listen to most of my RBCDs in either Trifield mode or Dolby Pro Logic II through the Meridian but honestly, it's not as effective as true 5.1.

I also play my Stereo SACDs/DVD~As (of which I have quite a number) in these modes, as well.

Nagraboy, will you ever go back to 5.1 surround (or in my case 4.1 on my main system)? IMO, those blu~rays with their dynamic surround tracks are pretty amazing.

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