Customer Reviews

Brain Salad Surgery

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is basically the ultimate version of Brain Salad Surgery, and while I probably wouldn't suggest this as a first-time purchase for any newbie to the works of ELP, it's nice for the dedicated fan. Here, you have the album in 3 forms--the original, remastered, on CD #1, which is the same remaster, as other reviewers have noted, as the one initially made for the now-defunct Victory Music label in 1993, the first time the ELP catalogue was properly remastered away from the first CD run with Atlantic (and I have memories of the CD version of The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer--a mix so low you had to crank the volume to 11 just to hear anything, which made "Still...You Turn Me On" sound as if the mics were placed near the back of a medium-large auditorium and the band recorded in that position).

On CD #2, you have the outtakes--the first attempt at "When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind, I'll Be Your Valentine" (which didn't see official release until Works, Vol. 2, in late 1977) and the completely unreleased-until-now title cut, "Brain Salad Surgery," which has elements of all the tracks that did appear on the album (save perhaps "Benny the Bouncer"). In addition, first mixes of "Toccata" and "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression," and new stereo mixes of all the tracks, plus an excerpt from the New Musical Express interview flexidisc of the time. Worthy additions all, for the completist fan.

And CD #3? A hybrid SACD of the album; this is the 5.1 Surround Sound mix used on Rhino's DVD-A release of 1999 (Rhino R9-75980), but it is improved notably. My problem with DVD-As has been that, often, the mix is such that certain tracks seem to have been lowered inexplicably (a problem I noted especially with the DVD-As included in the Genesis remasters and in the DVD-A of Richard Thompson's Rumor and Sigh album--hey, EMI, could we have a hybrid SACD of that one, please?). This problem, thankfully, does not exist with the hybrid SACD, and this remix sounds better.

So if Deluxe Editions of this type are what you're looking for in your favourite classic rock albums, Brain Salad Surgery will be a worthy investment for you. (As of this writing, we're still waiting for a similar version of Black Sabbath's Paranoid, which was initially slated for release at the same time as the Deluxe BSS--Amazon's US site notes the release date as having been pushed back to 6 Jan. 2009, so we'll see what happens.)

Today was my first listen of the SACD version of Brain Salad Surgery. There are two other discs included with this edition, neither of which are of interest to me. I also own the DVD-Audio version.

Why it gets 4 stars. It sounds as good, perhaps a tiny bit better than the dvd-audio version. Hard for me to do A-B comparisons with any accuracy, but I do have a solid system anchored by a denon DVD-3910, and the SACD is high quality. Really depends on your player and which format sounds better on it. If you do not have the dvd-audio version than this is a no brainer.

Why not 5 stars then? Well, because I was hoping for better dynamics on the first Karn Evil track (that always sounded a little flat to me on the DVD-Audio) and there is not much if any improvement there. Also, there is no bonus Lucky Man track on the SACD, which sounds quite good on the dvd-audio version. If you have the DVD-Audio verson, probably no need to get this one. If not, pick the SACD up for $25 or so from one of the venders here, and avoid paying the rediculous amount that the DVD-Audio version is going for.

5 Stars for Brain Salad Surgery, of course. 1 Star for this remastering on the Deluxe Edition (SACD).

The midrange on this Deluxe Edition has been jacked up with EQ and it is compressed enough so that Lake's vocals now grate a bit, but most difficult to understand is how this sound was considered appropriate for Palmer's drums. When his first beat kicks in with hi-hat in tow around 1:30 into "Jerusalem," I think some folks will probably say to themselves: "You've got to be kidding." The hi-hat was already a rough listen on the Victory but here it has been turned into a metallic pinch. I don't personally think that these EQ moves were a success. The added compression is also really annoying. The whole signal sort of "pumps" as a result. Surely some will rave about more "detail" and "clarity," but in actual A/B comparisons with the old Victory CD, I found this to be utterly "tinny" with way too much added midrange EQ. And I already found the Victory a bit too bright. I still think that despite what I suspect were less than perfect source tapes, the original Atlantic CD mastered by Barry Diament is the best digital version of this album. Some might find it a bit "dull," but in comparison to what? I don't know, I find my ears tolerate 40 minutes of that sound just fine. Adding treble to recordings during remastering seems common in the digital realm, but sometimes over the course of an entire album this added treble can really become annoying. I wonder if people would find the original Atlantic CD "dull" if they cleaned their ears out with some warm sounding vinyl for a few days?

Let us keep in mind that the Victory remastering in 1993 by Joseph Palmaccio was apparently the first time this entire album had been remastered from master tapes. This same mastering was then used by Rhino (ignore the new mastering credit inside, it's just a mistake). Castle also used this mastering after first accidentally issuing a downmix from the Rhino DVD-A. Hence, you have the Victory CD, the Rhino and "corrected" Castle editions all featuring the same mastering by Mr. Palmaccio. The Japanese releases on JVC are not worth discussion (too compressed) other than the fact that they had snazzy packaging. The album was released on CD in Germany on Ariola/Manticore, but while some of the Manticore CDs are hunted by audiophiles (especially the first album as well as Tarkus, and to a certain extent Trilogy -- all of which I agree sound excellent), I didn't find the Manticore CD of BSS to be all that great. Too much treble. Incidentally, I suspect that all of the Japanese mini lp CDs by JVC originate from the Manticore/Ariola sources anyway, if not just the CDs themselves. If you are curious about different digital versions of the ELP catalog, I recommend trying to find those for comparison. The Japanese minis were (sonically) a complete joke and offer nothing of value to the dynamics or tonality of these albums.

But back to this new SACD: The no-noise is thankfully subtle, and will likely not be evident to any but the most obsessive audiophile, but some was surely applied. Consider that the hiss level between this and the Victory are very similar and yet this is compressed and had some added midrange (things that would increase hiss), so you figure it out. I can't stand the stuff and wish there was more reverence for the breath inherent in analog tape amongst many modern mastering engineers, because the sound that occurs when perfectly natural tape hiss is removed via computer is not an improvement to my ears, in fact, it is a major downgrade ... but that's another story.

The much bigger issue at hand will simply be if one thinks the Victory mastering needed to be even brighter and have compression added. If so, you'll like this sound. I found the new release vastly inferior to the Victory, and I still prefer Barry Diament's Atlantic CD mastering for the smoothest sound (particularly on Palmer's cymbals) of them all.

I think that those people who hate the sound of the SACD in this release either need to get their sound system checked or they need to get their ears checked! After reading those 1 star reviews I purchased this "deluxe edition" with no small degree of trepidation. But after playing the SACD I was enormously relieved and pleased by its excellent sound quality. I can't imagine what could make them dislike it so much.

I am very thankful that some labels continue to release a few titles in this format. I recently learned that In the Court of the Crimson King (Deluxe) by King Crimson (featuring Greg Lake on vocals and bass) has been released as an SACD as well, and have happily placed my order! If only Atlantic would release "Close to the Edge" in this format I would gladly shell out the $$ for it even though I already own the LP and the digitally remastered CD versions. Mostly I have had to be content with the many excellent classical SACD releases, of which I have purchased not a few.

What didn't please me about this "deluxe edition" of BSS was the package. This three disc set is packaged in a tri-fold digi-pak but there are only two plastic trays with CD hubs in the package. The third disc (the SACD!) was stuffed into a pocket along with the booklet, like an afterthought. Hardly "deluxe packaging"! The booklet is rather skimpy for a "deluxe edition" as well. I guess it had to be slim enough to fit along with the SACD! I have swapped the positions of the CD version and the SACD so the SACD should be safe.

Still, I remain grateful that the multi-channel SACD version is available at all and that it sounds so good.

There are a couple other reviews that Amazon has included here that are of OTHER versions of Brain Salad Surgery. Check the review dates, if they are before October 2008, they don't belong here. This new edition has three discs. It should have only had two, as the first disc is the same compressed mix issued by Rhino over a decade ago. Any fan of this album will have already wasted their money on that. The second disc with the "unreleased until 35th anniversary versions" is the reason to buy this deluxe edition! Never before have I heard the dynamics that only existed in my head since hearing this record as a teenager. All the instruments are clear yet retain the original balance of the 1973 mix. I have bought this album 1. on viny1, 2. the Rhino release, 3. The DVD-Audio version, 4. and now this one. I could have skipped 2 and 3, except for the 5.1 version of Lucky Man on the DVD-A. Finally a decent stereo version! Like the other reviewer, the SACD sounds better than the DVD-A just because it has better bass management. I don't agree with some of the sloppy mixing decisions in the 5.1 mix, it disappoints with 'happy panning' that is just irritating. There are snippets of beauty then something stupid bounces around. Again, the money is worth having the great 35th Anniversary stereo mixes! A masterpeice of progressive rock, full of its pompous bombastic self.

Ignoring all of the rampaging about the sound quality, the versions need explanation instead. The supposed different versions on the album aren't really different. Only nugget I found to be interesting was Karn Evil 9 Third Impression backing track where you hear all the moog intricacies along with some added echo. The rest has been all heard before in some form or another. The hidden track isn't anything special either. It's just a few minute mix of regular BSS song snippets where it was probably taken off of a final mix acetate in 1973 where again nothing is revealed or different.

I am one of the few people (the rest of you know who you are) who believe that SACD has been the missed opportunity that audio fans and music lovers who don't want to be bothered with vinyl were waiting for. So with that in mind, I really purchased this for the SACD portion of the set. I am of an age that I remember ELP at their peak and always hoped to get a great digital remaster of one or all of their best recordings. As far as the SACD disc goes this is not it. In fact it is by far the worst SACD I have ever purchased, popular or classical.

I own two of the best SACD players ever built, the Sony SCD-XA9000ES and the Marantz reference player. I first decided to preview the SACD disc on the Sony using the headphone jack and my Sennheiser HD600s. The sound on the first track Jerusalem was so bad- literally distorted, that I thought there was a problem with the player or the headphones. I switched to the Marantz and my Sony MDR-F1 headphones and it sounded even worse! At that moment I realized I should have taken some of the negative reviews more seriously. Although some of the later tracks on the SACD disc are better, overall in is bad, just bad. It is an embarrassment that any studio engineer and any recording label actually issued this disc.

The CDs are good, not great, but listenable. But if you were hoping for the full SACD experience that was possible for ELP you will be bitterly disappointed.

The album itself is five stars, but the primates let loose to remaster this bring it down to three. Now, I like the strong presentation of the midrange that SACD renders, but the midrange on this SACD is so inordinately exaggerated that it is almost unlistenable. If you have two-way speakers and are slightly tone deaf to midrange frequencies, then this mix might work for you. However, if you have normal sensitivity to midrange frequencies AND a dedicate midrange on three-way speakers, then this is a far, far cry from what this music is supposed to sound like. The loudness issue rears its ugly head as well, but even that pales to what these monkeys did to the midrange.

If you are an audiophile, you may want to track down the dvd-audio of this album instead. My only hope is that, once again, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs will step up to the plate and show everyone how a remaster is supposed to be done. I normally refrain from scathing reviews as I would like to give the potential target of my ire the benefit of the doubt, but there is no doubt here. If this was intended for audiophiles, then this remaster is unforgivable.

What can i say, it's one of my best SACDs, once i heard a 5.1 SACD, its hard to go back to regular CDs, this one is no exception, it's superb, I can't believe these HI-FI purists giving this SACD a less than 5 rating, all i can say about that is, you can't please everyone. i just feel when i hear good music/sound, I know when i love it, This is WAY better than a standard CD, but i guess i am just easy to please. I am sure if you have 10 grand or more to spend on a "super duper HiFi top of the line stereo/turntable system (with perfect LPs)" you can tell some differences between LPs/CDs and the like, but for just a little bit of money, you can listen to SACDs like you have never heard the music before. I have a Playstation 3, >HDMI to Onkyo 705 > Bose 901s/Bose 2.2s +sub/center and it sounds like heaven. If you have a PS3. go to ps3sacd.com tp get the right receiver for the SACD multi-channel output. otherwise, get a stand alone SACD player (less that 100.00 on ebay (harmon-kardon/refurbished)) and a half decent receiver/amp and some good speakers and enjoy the bliss.

Apart from Amazon being a great Online retailer, they have dropped the ball when it comes to accuracy in CD Label/Version detail and UPC identification. Case-In-Point: I have attempted to enlighten Amazon by submitting description updates only to find them rejected. At one time, a dispute over whether the item was Newly Remastered; I pointed out as proof that the printing on the CD in question itself said "Digitally Remastered" and that Amazon of Canada, listed it as such. But the description update request still was rejected.

For all who are wondering what happen to the K2 HD remastered 35th Anniversary reissues of ELP, this CD (Amazon, ASIN: B000AMZ20Q) is the UPC:4988002489909 for Brain Salad Surgery; K2-HD, 35th Anniversary Remaster, Japan-Victor 9/28/2005

I consider the Limited Edition, K2-HD 24bit Digital Remaster's to be one of the best series to date.

Why So Many Versions? The answer isn't that Keith Emerson, Lake and Palmer (or others) are out to build a massive retirement fund. Technology has vastly improved and the quest for that perfect remastered reissue prevails. Sometimes, a remastering house project may fall short of expectations and the artist may need to shop around again for a better manufacturer of his work. Sometimes it involves record label contracts and the need to wait-out the contract in order to get it remastered by someone else. Either way, the effort of most to remaster ones life's work is more about quality, not quantity.

The best to date remaster's I've auditioned are: the DVD-A release, Rhino/WEA 2000 [UPC-081227598099]; This 35th Anniversary, K2-HD Coding JVCP-63175, 2005 [UPC-4988002489909]. I have yet to audition Shout Factory, Bonus Tracks, 2007 [UPC-826663106428] but will post an update.

See Album Details at: amazon.ca (and) amazon.co.jp
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