I just got word from Porcupine Tree's manager, Andy Leff, that the band has the following release dates scheduled for 2008:
March: acoustic album
May: Lightbulb Sun (shown above left) in surround
September: live album
November: Steven Wilson's "sprawling" first solo album
Busy, busy, busy! The customary proviso: Whereas those dates are pretty solid, they're not locked-in 100%.
Meanwhile, as if that weren't news enough, Leff also tells me that he's now handling King Crimson and "working on getting the entire catalog reissued in 5.1," hopefully with mixes done by . . . Steven Wilson! Currently, Leff and Wilson are "waiting on Robert Fripp [who guested on PT's Fear of a Blank Planet and Nil Recurring] to hear Steven's work on some of the older KC stuff before he gives us the green light to proceed."
Just imagine the likes of Larks' Tongues in Aspic (above right), Red, and Discipline in surround. Oh, baby. —Ken Richardson
Great! Keep us informed!
Posted by: mm | January 26, 2008 at 09:02 AM
This is HUGE news
This is one of the BEST possible outcomes ever! Longtime KC fan...
Steve knows what he is doing, so now if Robert will just love it and...
Posted by: Tim McDonnell | January 27, 2008 at 01:41 AM
About time we surround faithful get some good news! I'd been patiently waiting for a more-or-less official announcement regarding "Lightbulb Sun", but I had no idea about King Crimson. I don't have any KC stuff yet, but if SW does the surround mixes, then I'll probably be picking up some of their music once it's released. Hopefully...
--Kazaam
Posted by: Kazaam | January 27, 2008 at 11:05 AM
It would be great to hear Fripp's Soundscapes in 5.1 (or hell, 7.1 if you're going to do it....)
Posted by: GB | January 28, 2008 at 10:51 AM
HUGE news indeed! Not only is the KC catalog one of the richest in progressive rock, but it truly cries out for surround sound. The effects of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1," the power of "Red," the majesty of "Starless," the infinite guitar details of the entire Discipline album: The mind boggles! As soon as I hear anything further, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, we eagerly await PT's Lightbulb Sun, likely to be yet another treat from the Court of the Wilson Mix. --Ken Richardson
Posted by: sandv blog | January 28, 2008 at 01:30 PM
I am so fed up with the worlds preoccupation with surround. When was anyone ( other then the band members ) sitting in the middle of the band when they played. It is, afterall, just a ploy to make money and not about delivering quality. Well thats the world now, more and not better.
Posted by: Dean | January 31, 2008 at 03:30 PM
"I am so fed up with the worlds preoccupation with surround."
Good grief! IF the world was proccupied with surround we'd have no problem getting releases and it would all be commonplace. It is not by any means.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Gracious, stay away from it at all costs! What if you were to hear something clearly in a classic recording that you'd never heard before? I just tremble at the thought of this upsetting you so much.
The band in a 360 circle is no more an illusion than squeezing them into 2 boxes against the front wall. All studio records are an illusion to some extent; space and location is added *after* the fact.
I'll bet you don't like live albums either, even though these recordings are so much more factual. This "truth" is what you're trying to foist on us.
"It is, afterall, just a ploy to make money and not about delivering quality."
Your ignorance of labels and surround is as astounding as your willingness to put it in print. If there was any money to be made the labels would be all over it, which they are NOT.
You've never heard 24/96 5.1 playback so your quality swipe is without merit. This is a labor of love for those who understand it.
Crawl back to the comfort and safety of your hundreds of thousands of 2 channel stereo recordings and quit raining on our parade.
Do your homework before attacking new ideas.
Posted by: Tim McDonnell | February 02, 2008 at 11:41 AM
"You've never heard 24/96 5.1 playback so your quality swipe is without merit. This is a labor of love for those who understand it."
No I have heard a "quality" 24/96 5.1 of a classical piece and the perspectives were all wrong. I also checked this with my classical choir girlfriend who pointed out that 'parts' of it sounded like they would from the choir perspective. I do hear a quality 24/192 stereo playback of a "live" classical concert that I attended, and I was not sitting on the stage. I'll let you think about where I should have been when listening to the music.
Posted by: Dean Buckfield | February 06, 2008 at 06:41 AM
By the way, for all you detail junkies. How much 'detail' do you think you hear at a live classical concert. The details you do hear are far harder to reproduce at home then the creak in someone's chair in the second row of the first violins.
Posted by: Dean Buckfield | February 06, 2008 at 06:47 AM
Ken Richardson here, folks:
Just finished another round of "Shipping Madness" for another print issue (April, in mailboxes circa March 1, on stands shortly thereafter). So I haven't had time to chime in on this thread. But now, a few things:
"I am so fed up with the world's preoccupation with surround."
Well, Dean, as Tim pointed out, "the world" is hardly preoccupied with surround. Far from it. And for us surround-faithful, that's exactly the problem.
Possibly you meant that you're fed up with the Sound & Vision world's preoccupation with surround. Well, sorry, but that's like going to a library and saying, "There are too many books in here." Or going to a zoo and saying, "What's with all the animals?"
We here at S&V -- and by "we" I mean not only the editors but the majority of our readers, too -- are indeed passionate about surround. When it's done right, nothing else compares.
"When was anyone (other than the band members) sitting in the middle of the band when they played?"
Well, again, Dean, as Tim also pointed out, surround isn't any less artificial than jamming an entire band into two speakers. Let me add that not every surround mix places you directly in the middle of the band; in fact, few do. Most use the surround channels to reinforce instruments that still remain in the front. The idea is to open up the SOUND, not necessarily to move band members in a circle around your listening chair.
"It is, after all, just a ploy to make money and not about delivering quality."
I'll skip the money part. But "not about delivering quality"? This, Dean, is your most egregious misconception. Surround mixes on DVD-Audio, SACD, or whatever, when done right, are ALL ABOUT delivering quality: better resolution, better spatial distribution, and in the end, a better sense of MUSIC.
Please remember, through all of this, my recurring, operative phrase: WHEN DONE RIGHT. I'm sorry, Dean, that you heard a bad surround mix of a classical recording. Bad mixes are indeed out there, in classical, rock, jazz, you name it. That's one of the reasons why S&V is continuing to review these titles, to help our readers find out which mixes are good and which ones aren't. And in our reviews, that's why we always identify the surround mixer by name, because he or she actually becomes an extra "artist" on the album, and his or her artistry/craft/skill (or lack thereof) in doing the mix should be noted.
As for not being able to hear detail in surround mixes: Think again. Our classical critic, Robert Ripps, regularly enthuses over the details he hears on classical SACDs. As for rock, let me give just one personal example: Eagles. Hotel California. Title track. The opening acoustic guitars. Heard 'em millions of times before, but I never heard each individual part clearly until I played the mix by Elliot Scheiner and Bill Szymczyk on DVD-Audio.
Nuff said! -- Ken Richardson
Posted by: sandv blog | February 13, 2008 at 03:24 PM
I've been a huge PT fan for sometime and appreciate your ongoing coverage of them and their work in bringing more surround sound mixes to the masses. Keep it up.
AP
Posted by: Andrew | February 24, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Thanks Ken! I missed this very nice endorsing comment until just now. I'm blaring GENESIS - Trick Of The Tail on 5.1 SACD to celebrate right now.
So far in 2008, Steve Wilson has already delivered DVD-A issues of Lightbulb Sun, Bass Communion - Pacific Codex and No-Man's stunning new Schoolyard Ghosts. Fingers are crossed for the Crim surround mixes to come true! 40th Anniversary has a nice ring to it...
It's also nice to remember that the 3rd and greatest Genesis box set is going to appear before the end of this year.
Neil Young goes Blu Ray; may this usher in the next surround format?
Posted by: Timbre4 | May 11, 2008 at 10:56 PM
September update: work is in progress!
http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?artist=&show=&member=3&entry=11921
Posted by: mm | October 02, 2008 at 12:14 PM
those who blast surround, have not heard the call, or heard good, really good 5.1. The single most valuable addition to music was not a cd. It is the output of high resolution music (lossless) that made it worth the extra involvment that is required to decode lossless, Like it or not sooner or later you will probably have a version of MLP as tech. marches on.
Posted by: lee vitalone | June 20, 2009 at 04:06 PM