PTree in action, Crimson in surround!

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

More Gabriel, more surround

For those of you who enjoyed my piece on Peter Gabriel (and other folks at the AES Convention) in the January 2008 issue (Random Play, page 16), the quotes had to be severely trimmed for the print edition. (What else is new?)

Want more? Here ya go!

First up: Gabriel.

On surround in general: "I like 5.1. From back in the old quad era to today, the idea of being able to immerse people in sound is still an attractive thing for me. In stereo, it really does feel that, sometimes, you haven't quite got the space in which to place everything — especially if you're working on a texture-rich piece. Suddenly, in 5.1, you've got this much wider, bigger space."

Beck's "Odelay" in surround. NOT!

Yes, my friends, the Surround-Sound NOTwatch continues!

Next up: Beck's 1996 album, Odelay. Seems that Geffen is releasing a Deluxe Edition on January 29. CD+DVD-A? No. CD+DVD-V? Sorry. SACD? Nope. DualDisc? Ha! MVI? That's only from Warner, brother.

The answer is: 2 regular ol' CDs. To be sure, there will be 3 bonus tracks on the first disc and a whopping 16 extras on the second disc — with more than a dozen of these recordings making their U.S. debut. But nothing in surround. This despite the fact that Beck has been a genuine fan of multichannel mixes in the past, releasing Sea Change on both DVD-A and SACD and Guero in a Deluxe Edition that did include surround, on DVD-A. Yet another missed opportunity . . .

The Surround-Sound NOTwatch so far:

Beck: Odelay
Michael Jackson: Thriller (see my post below)
Pink Floyd: Oh by the Way (complete boxed set)
U2: The Joshua Tree
Radiohead: Radiohead (boxed set of Capitol albums)
     (for info on those three, see my post below)

Keep the Faith, Multichannel-Music Mavens! —Ken Richardson

"Thriller" in surround. NOT!

Here we don't go again: According to a report on Billboard.com, Epic/Legacy will release a 25th-anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller on February 12. (Actually, last year was the 25th birthday of this 1982 album, although it did make its mark in 1983. But I digress . . .)

It will include a remix of "Billie Jean" by Kanye West, remixes of "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" by will.i.am, and a remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " by will.i.am and Akon.

It will not include a surround-sound remix of the entire album by anyone! I've said it once (see my post below on Pink Floyd, U2, and Radiohead), and I'll say it again: missed opportunity!

Not only that — this is actually the second missed opportunity for Thriller. The album appeared on SACD way back in 1999, but that was a stereo-only, non-hybrid disc.

Other goodies on the 25th edition: the "Billie Jean" demo, the rare tracks "Carousel" and "Someone in the Dark," the unreleased track "For All Time," and a bonus DVD with the "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Thriller" videos plus the Motown 25 TV performance of "Billie Jean." But no multichannel goodie? That's just bad.

And the surround-sound NOTwatch continues . . . —Ken Richardson

Weekend Update: Fagen, Gilmour, Zep, Radiohead

Can't find some prominent music releases on MVI, Blu-ray, HD DVD, and CD that we previewed recently? The dates, they keep a-changin':

Floyd, U2, Radiohead in surround. NOT!

It's getting tougher and tougher these days to cheerlead the cause of music in surround sound. No, we at S&V aren't giving up. But, coming so soon after hearing that we're getting the best of Led Zeppelin on stereo CD (again) as opposed to any of the studio albums in 5.1, we can only give a huge sigh at some recent announcements from titans of three different music generations.

Surround & Visionaries

Porcupine Tree mastermind Steven Wilson (holding down the middle position and leaning on the center channel in the accompanying photo) dropped by the S&V offices yesterday for a 2-hour surround-sound listening session with yours truly (at right) and entertainment editor Ken Richardson (at left). Wilson sat in our sound room's sweet spot while I perched in a chair to his left and PTree manager extraordinaire Andy Leff sat to his right. Richardson kept to his feet and acted as the 5.1 mix-master of ceremonies, swapping out a number of benchmark surround mixes for Wilson to listen to and comment upon for a story that will appear in the not-so-distant future. Wilson, one of the most accomplished surround-sound creators/mixers/producers on the scene today, is a charter anointee in a new Visionaries series we'll be introducing in S&V in 2008.

Apple Announcement #1: The Beatles!

No, not that Apple. And no, not that technological species of Beatles.

In a week when it was rumored that Apple Inc. would herald the long-awaited availability of the Beatles on iTunes, Apple Corps Ltd. instead divulged that the band's second film, Help!, will be reissued on DVD, in a two-disc set.

This is great news for Beatlemaniacs, considering that the 1965 movie has been unavailable on DVD since its 2000 reissue. (It first appeared on the format in 1997.)

This is also great news for us multichannel-music-maniacs, as the DVD will include "a newly created 5.1 soundtrack." Little by little, we're getting the entire Beatles catalog in surround! (Now, please, Apple Corps: Let's have every album on CD+DVD-Audio.)

Apple's full press release appears below. —Ken Richardson

Genesis Update: Hey, They're Late!

As a postscript to my Genesis scoop below: Rhino has just announced that Genesis: 1983-1998, the second boxed set of the band's complete studio recordings in surround sound, has been bumped from October 23 to sometime in November. Meanwhile, an expanded, two-CD "tour edition" of Turn It On Again: The Hits will be released on September 11, to coincide with . . . the tour! The North American leg begins in Toronto on September 7. For complete dates (tickets still available!), click here. —Ken Richardson

Porcupine Tree: DVD-A, EP, Vinyl, Tour

As you may recall, I landed a super-advance copy of Fear of a Blank Planet on DVD-Audio for an exclusive review in the May issue.

Herewith, today's press release.
—Ken Richardson

Porcupine Tree Marks Fall 2007 with Biggest-Ever U.S. Tour and New EP, Nil Recurring, featuring Robert Fripp

Special Audiophile and Collector's Versions of
Fear of a Blank Planet to be Released on DVD-A and Vinyl

8/16/07: This fall, Porcupine Tree will continue a momentous year of activity with its biggest-ever U.S. tour, a new EP, Nil Recurring, and the re-release of its groundbreaking album Fear of a Blank Planet on DVD-A and vinyl. Fear has quickly become the best-selling and best-reviewed album of the band's career, and they have already sold out one major U.S. tour in 2007.