Excellent video. Informative and pretty much spot on with your suggestions.

Great video and review! I hope they release actual Blu-Ray discs instead of just streaming. I'd purchase them in a heart beat.

Facinating. Love the constructive feedback.

Went to see the Metallica atmos release at the movie theater. I initially thought maybe the theaters surround processing was setup wrong. I was totally pissed! What a Joke! Whole album was a cash grab! Disappointed!

Thank you so much for the recommendation. I just purchased the Blu-ray. I’m a big PFM fan. About to put in a 5.1.2 Atmos system and can’t wait to hear it.

Equipé depuis 1970 d'un système quadriphonique , MARANTZ 4400 , TEAC A2340SX, platine vinyle TECHNICS SL1200GR, démodulateur CD4 PANASONIC avec cellule ECP 450C II ( jauge de contrainte et diamant shibata), décodeur SQ AUDIONICS OF OREGON SPACE AND IMAGE COMPOSER , 4 enceintes ELIPSON 3 VOIES et des centaine de vinyles QUADRADISC , SQ, QS..... J'arrive encore à trouver des QUADRADISC au JAPON & aux ETATS UNIS !!!!! Toujours autant passionné par ce procédé de reproduction sonore ! Salutations de FRANCE !!

I so appreciate the support, Mike. Thank you for shining a light on my love letter to the Psychedelic Era of music.

Hi - new subscriber here, watching this in July 2024. This was a really interesting chat! It would be great if you could have a regular or intermittent conversation with Paul looking back on the SDE releases since your last interview, how they came about, etc. Keep up the great work :-)

Thanks for letting us know that the blu-ray DVD-A is using the same master as the Ken Caillat master from the original DVD-A release

Thanks for that, Mike. I haven't heard "Summer Breeze" in 30 years so it doesn't suffer from any burnout effect for me. I remember checking that LP out from the public library. I find these releases a lot more interesting than the Rhino HiFi LP remasters. (I don't think Atlantic ever re-released Roxy Music's *Avalon* 5.1 remix, did they?)

I have to say, I find the 5.1 mix to be lackluster as I did with the Gimme Some Truth box. The title track, I kept wondering if it was even in surround, had to turn up the rears to 8, they are normally on 5 but, then, it still felt like it wasn't "active" or "discreet". Some of the bonus material sounded like a better mix. Am I the only one ? I'm still enjoying it but, the extra wad of cash wasn't worth the games.

We have the Seals and Crofts Quadio. It is definitely among our very favorites now. So well done!!! This entire record is just awesome. Well done MIke👌 ~ Mike More 'strong ROCK' titles please~

Yup i hate that skank! For taking music from their Tuesday nightly meetup club. Love Patrick Leonard, Bill Bottrell and Tim Pierce though. And don't forget the 3rd Matinee album. Thanks for your great evenhanded video.

Great job with your reviews! Im very happy to hear your enthusiasm for the Donny Hathaway masterpiece! I consider it one of the finest records released in the 70s. The mix was beautiful to say the least, highly recommended. If you’re interested in more soulful/rock blended stuff I highly recommend Dutton Vocalions recent Isley Brothers 3 album (2 disc) Isley Brothers release (“3+3” , “Living it Up”, “Go For Your Guns”)!!

Great job Mike! Enjoyed your rankings and reviews. Your enthusiasm for a title surely increases its sales and will, no doubt, help the Quadio series continue. August is just around the corner for Quadio Batch 5. Can't wait! If Bette Midler's Divine Miss M is included, I may need to check my pacemaker! Seriously, Rhino should sponser your channel and send you new releases to audition and review. BTW, do you know if Rhino will continue their Atmos series and if so, how often?

This is timely, because I finally had time to get to my pile of surround discs. I listened to Roberta two nights ago and Donny last night. Totally agree with your thoughts. That bass drum on Killing Me? WTF were they thinking? And it was a hard album to crank because her voice got very strident. Cool version of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” though. But Donny’s disc warmed my heart. Without consulting the liner notes (which are microscopic anyways), I thought “This sounds like Arif’s production, sounds like it was (mostly) recorded at Atlantic, and that sure sounds like Willie Weeks on bass.” Check, check and check. And lo and behold, it’s Tom Dowd’s quadio mix. No wonder. Looking forward to Seals and Crofts. The Hot Tuna I bought just to have the whole bundle, expectations are low on that anyway. Thanks for all you do and another great review.

I personally felt that these 4 latest albums weren't as good as the previous issues.

I'm loving this series. The Seals & Crofts Quad mix was great on the CD-4 (decoding not withstanding), so I was excited to get this BR version. To my understanding, the Hot Tuna was only ever released on Quad-8, so it's kinda unique and rare. Can't wait for the next batch, although I may be waiting a while for the Quad Seals & Crofts 'Diamond Girl' which is my fav !

The Deep Purple 50 anniversary version of Machine Head. Has a a Quadio Bluray-audio disc.

that roberta flack cover is pretty cool 😂

Appreciate your review with rankings and descriptions. I’ve got the Roberta Flack & thanks to this video will definitely check out the Seals & Croft Quadio. I’ll most generously share this with my Aussie Surround Sound Enthusiasts FB group. Cheers Mike 🎶🎸🎹👍😎

👍

I check for new "Life In Surround" uploads every time I open my computer. I've been living my Life in Surround since the 70's and it's great therapy for me and hopefully for you ! Thanks for helping to Keep America Safe! As long as there is GREAT SEPARATION I am perfectly satisfied with my collection including a SACD COPY OF TOYS! ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR CHANNEL !!!!!

Mike's never steered me wrong with a recommendation on this channel. Ordered.

Dear Mike, Thank you for the video and the opportunity to learn about the work and future plans of Mr. Stephen W. Tayler. May I ask you to convey to Mr. Tayler my criticisms of his mixing style? Thus, I want to draw Mr. Tayler's attention to those aspects in his mixes that I consider poorly developed, or frankly weak. The fact is that I have an accurate and specific system for evaluating multi-channel mixes. Here they are in order: 1 - Balance. Balance means that the front panorama sounds at the same volume as the rear one. That is, both panoramas are equivalent in volume. If the balance is reached, then the mix will be 80% successful. 2 - Static. Excellent static means that all 4 or 5 channels are evenly filled with discretely sounding instruments. 4 - Dynamics. Good dynamics means that there are moving sound effects in every tracks: flying synthesizers, guitars, drums, voices etc. The more such effects there are, the more interesting the mix. The final score for the 5.1 mix varies from 1 point to 10 points, where 2 points equals stereo sound. 1 - worse than stereo; 2 - Stereo; 3 - a slight echo in the rear; 4 - a little more echo and some instruments in the rear; 5 - even more discrete instruments in the rear; .... 10 - maximum instrument environment and volume-balanced sound. Based on this rating system, I still haven't heard Mr. Tayler's remixes that have reached 10 points. Here is my rating of his works: Van Der Graaf Generator "Godbluff" = 6 Van Der Graaf Generator "H To He, Who Am The Only One" = 8 Van Der Graaf Generator "Pawn Hearts" = 8 Van Der Graaf Generator "Still Life" = 7 Be Bop Deluxe "Futurama" = 6 Be Bop Deluxe "Sunburst Finish" = 6 Dear Mike, as far as you can see, these rates are very far from ideal (10 points), and the main problems in Mr. Tayler's mixes are three points: 1 - A disbalance. The volume of the front channels is not equal to the volume of the rear’s. 2 - Static. There are always fewer instruments (more echoes of them) in the rear panorama than in the front one. All instruments in the rear panorama sound quieter, lower than in the front one. 3 - Very often the rhythm section (drums and bass) is located in the central channel, or in the virtual center. This section (drums and bass) is loud and too bright. Thus, they do not give a chance to those instruments that are in the back channels, since they are not audible. This is a big problem in Mr. Tayler's mixes! We often hear just echoes from the rear channels. It would be great if Mr. Tayler improves the sound the way it was done in the 1970’s quadraphonics. That is, then all 4 channels sounded like equals among equals. Thus, immersion in surround balance was achieved. If you ask me which mixes I gave 9-10 points to, then here they are: Rick Derringer "All American Boy" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Rick Derringer "Spring Fever" SACD 4.0 = 8 (Dutton Vocalion) Hugo Montenegro "Hugo In Wonder-Land" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Poco "Cantamos" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Poco "Seven" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Hugo Montenegro "Others By Brothers" & "Scenes & Themes" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Loggins & Messina "Full Sail" SACD 4.0 = 10 Argent "In Deep" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Deodato "Deodato 2" SACD 4.0 = 10 (Dutton Vocalion) Donald Byrd "Black Byrd" SACD 4.0 = 9 (Dutton Vocalion) Unfortunately, Mr. Tayler's mixes mentioned above sound like a slightly improved stereo. Alas, but it is so. Therefore, I ask you, Mike, to ask Mr. Tayler to improve the work in the further mixes that he has to do. As you all understand, the excellent result of his work will benefit us all. Thanks, Mike.

Is there a way to get the monster sound isolated? Made by Geddy Lee playing his bass through a phase shifter and distortion.

This video came like a shining light. I had purchased the two blu-rays on Amazon and expected a March delivery. Unfortunately, it looked like they couldn't get their hands on the product to send--so I canceled my order. I then checked the SDE shop and saw "Sold Out". I figured I missed the boat, and then this with links to purchase. Done! Thank You!

As always, Stephen is a great interview! You can really feel his passion for the music.

please, your son is lovely but what is the added value of having him in this video? If we all involved our of our kids with our output and input on these type of channels it would really become a kindergarden show. Its not what we signed in for…

I love his singles but have never took a deep dive into experiencing his full albums!

What's happened to Quadraphonicquad? Any ideas Mike

Wow, what a fascinating interview! It's great hearing so many details about the whole creative process. Loved Ronan's participation and his enthusiasm for the albums. Thank you Mike and Mr. Taylor. Very much looking to experiencing these albums.

In happy with my DVD-Audio copy. I have a lot of both formats and only two Blu-ray audio discs. All of the formats are awesome. I’m glad I don’t have to contend with tons of cables like I did in the 90s and early 2000s. I had my players (DVD-Audio and SA-CD) connected via DB-25 cables to my Onkyo DS-989 and switched through a printer switcher box. I still have my Outlaw ICBM but no longer utilise it. HDMI makes these connections so much easier.

Tayler 😁

How cool is this 😎 So nice to see your son enjoying the music and engaging with Stephen.

I’m really looking forward to watching this tomorrow; …thanks in advance for doing this!

Picked up this ATMOS BluRay from Mark and enjoyed it so much that I bought one for a surround fanatic friend. Looking forward to your in depth review.

Not sure what the problem is. I got my Quad AM-FM receiver/decoder and Quad record player (Quad pick-up) back in early 1976. Both work fine now. Have all the Chicago albums in Discrete Quad, some of the Ten Years After albums as well, few others. Never experienced any problems, they made them much better back then than the digi-crap of today.

I made the mistake of ordering the set and assumed that it would naturally have the Atmos album. Yet another reason that I'm so cynical towards the business end of the entire music industry. I've repeatedly been 'got' by them.

So I took your advice on Apple Music Dolby Atmos mixes. I can’t believe I’m admitting this but the first Atmos Apple Music mix I heard was “I want to dance with Somebody” by……….(oh my word) Whitney Houston. I came across it by accident because my wife loves her music. We just bought our first home and I was sitting on the couch watching your videos when all of a sudden my wife selected Whitney Houston and it started playing on the home theater I just had professionally installed. I don’t want to admit it………you have no CLUE how I don’t want to admit it…….but it sounds really really good. I just sat there mesmerized by the discrete sound. “Billie Jean” was next………I am really impressed by it. Even freakin A-ha for Pete’s sake sounds phenomenal! Then I couldn’t take that bubblegum 🐂 💩 anymore and selected “Closure/Continuation” and my mind was fully blown. No it’s not audiophile sound quality but to my ears it sounds really really good! Personally I still like my DVD-Audio or Blu-Ray audio discs but for a streaming service?………………………………… in Atmos?……..Apple and the record companies have done an amazing job by giving lovers of surround sound an easily accessible surround format that we don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for like I’ve done for the past several years trying to find OOP surround sound recordings of artists that I like. The hundreds of dollars I’ve spent on OOP DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1 music is insane but it’s been worth it because I have the actual disc. DVD-AUDIO is still my favorite format but Apple has put forth a worthy product. I haven’t listened to “The Camera Eye” yet because we were having severe thunderstorms at the time and the electricity went out. Anyway, always great content on your channel. I enjoy it immensely 👍

Nothing finer than firing up a pink floyd album on SACD with a good cup of joe and a doobie first thing in the morning! As much as i like listening to the animals sacd im still partial to wish you were here or dark side of the moon.

Thanks for another great review. Looking forward to listening. Congratulations Mark.

Holidays in Eden remix is stunningly good! It shows that Genesis is not the only band to create a prog/ pop masterpiece- Mariilion took it to a new level.

I’m just getting started. I have a classic 5 speaker setup with 2 subs. For Court and Spark, I strongly prefer the quad mix to the Atmos mix in my folded down system. Not even close.

Is the visuals while listening to the tracks on the 2024 atmos mix the same or different than the previous bluray release?

Thanks so much, Mike. All our QQ homies are ordering, based on your recommendation.

I played in a Pink Floyd tribute for fourteen years and we did many shows in live 4.1 quad surround . That's a pile of equipment but it can be done . I've been living life in surround since the first quad 8 tracks back in the 70's . I really appreciate your channel , many thanks !

Mike would you happen to know if Mark has a UK or European distributor as I would really like to purchase this album?

Thanks for the notice...and welcome back! =) PURCHASED!