[IPodPJ]

Quote:

I respectfully and completely disagree with your view on Steven Wilson's mental state/depressing life for reasons I won't elaborate on. 
 

That's fine, you are of course free to disagree.  But are you Steven Wilson?  If not, then all you have to do is listen to some of the interviews he's given a long time ago where he talks about his life experiences.  If you are, then there are a few things I'd quite like to say to you privately.
 
 
Quote:

I preordered today on burning shed, along with the new SW remasters of King Crimson's "discipline" and "Starless and Bible Black".

Which version of GFD?  Regular CD, Vinyl, or Deluxe CD/Blu-Ray?  Knowing you, I'd say you either ordered Vinyl or Vinyl & Deluxe.
 

 

[Skylab]

Yeah, no deluxe for me.  I just went for the regular CD for now.  If I really like it, I will also get the vinyl. 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Yeah, no deluxe for me.  I just went for the regular CD for now.  If I really like it, I will also get the vinyl. 

Wow, got that completely wrong then.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

so, out of curiosity... does anybody else think of jeff buckley when hearing 'grace for drowning'?
 
first thing that popped into my head.
 
the album sounds fantastic, i bought 'the incident' fancy-pants version with the book and whatnot. found it kind of dull... i'm SO tempted to get this one, but i'm afraid of the book being boring, as i agree that the lasse hoile stuff is uninteresting. the music is all i care about, so i think i'll pass on this version, but i would like to have it on dvda... i used to buy whatever the guy did, until i heard only the clips of the third blackfield. that didn't sound great, but this sounds wonderful! can't wait!

 
I know I mentioned this yesterday, but now here's the official word from SW himself:
 
"Hi folks, some clarification, at least what I know (while I'd love to control every aspect of everything, I just can't!) : The deluxe edition is limited to 5,000 copies worldwide. Exclusive to the deluxe is of course the 120 book itself, and the bonus CD (though 3 of the pieces from the bonus CD also appear as extras on the blu-ray). The blu-ray disc / 5.1 mix will only play on a blu-ray player, no DVD version this time. I believe blu-ray will soon become standard for high res audio releases, and probably movies too - players can now be picked up for as little as £50 and note that you can play your regular DVDs on a blu-ray player too. A standalone blu-ray will be available too (not sure why no pre-order for that one). I think you can cancel your order for the deluxe if you just prefer the blu-ray - we can certainly use them if you prefer not to have one, it's selling pretty fast. I don't know what's going on with the high price of ordering from the local mail order companies, the whole idea was to try to make it cheaper for everyone, but I'm guessing the problem is still the cost of getting the copies out to them from the UK, even in bulk. Kinda frustrating (so here is a picture if me looking suitably grumpy). Anyway, looking into that. The double vinyl will include a drop card allowing you to download the album, but I don't know if that's lossless or compressed mp3. So a few things I need to clarify with the label - hopefully more info in a few days...."
 
So if you want the high-res mix, you'll have to get it on the deluxe edition Blu-Ray.
 
 

 

[murrays]

Quote:

I'm gonna wait to see some review (from reviewers not from fanbois) and then decide. I still cant forgive Wilson for the last Blackfield album 

There are online tracks available to have a listen.  Kscope's recent monthly podcast had a track (on Soundcloud in high quality). 
     <http://soundcloud.com/kscopemusic/kscope-podcast-episode-3>
You can get a free download track if sign up to the mailing list for the new album.
    <http://www.burningshed.com/store/kscope/freedownload/11/>
 
It's probably best that you have a listen and make your own mind up.  The nature of Steven Wilson's material and people's attitudes result in wide variations of reviews and opinions that still won't accurately help you judge what you own feelings will be.
 
I avoided getting Insurgentes for a long time because of all the bad reviews.  However, now that I have it, it has become one of my favourite albums to listen to.  You never can tell.  Maybe the problem was that many just wanted another Porcupine Tree metal album?

 

[tdogzthmn]

I too ordered the deluxe album which I thought was reasonable for the price.  Although I currently do not have a Bluray player or 5.1 yet I think the stereo mix will hold me over until I purchase a good surround system which will let me rediscover all his music in a new light.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

I too ordered the deluxe album which I thought was reasonable for the price.  Although I currently do not have a Bluray player or 5.1 yet I think the stereo mix will hold me over until I purchase a good surround system which will let me rediscover all his music in a new light.

I have a Sony Blu-Ray player and a Sony Bravia HDTV, but I don't have a 5.1 system anymore.  I would like to extract the high-res stereo 24-bit audio that is contained on the Blu-Ray, but am not sure how I would do that since I don't have a Blu-Ray player in my computer, and I certainly don't want to use the DAC in my older, bottom model Blu-Ray player to output the analog signal and then record it through my sound card, as that would surely result in worse SQ than just using the 16-bit audio on the CDs.  And the S/PDIF output on the Blu-Ray player via Toslink has some noise issues, as does the digital input/output on my sound card.
 
Since I have already spent the $108 to purchase this edition but lack the ability to extract the files myself, I'm hoping someone else who has ordered it will be able to extract the 24-bit audio to FLAC files from a Blu-Ray player in their PC and might be able to send them to me.  I can certainly provide evidence of purchase.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/articles/web-extras/2011/aug/16/download-exclusive-track-steven-wilson/
 
Radio edit of the song (listen in browser or download the MP3) Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye
 
Absolutely beautiful song.
 
 
And here's a link to a 20 minute in-studio performance from Steven Wilson from the WNYC interview:
 
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2011/aug/16/studio-steven-wilson/

 

[IPodPJ]

Well, we're only 5 days away from release and I really hope my deluxe edition is here by then.
 
My only problem will be finding someone to help me extract the high-res audio from the Blu-Ray disc, so if anyone can help it would certainly be appreciated.
And while you legally shouldn't keep a copy for yourself, I'm sure you would.

 

[IPodPJ]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005N1I1IO/ref=mu_dm_alb_dp
 
Samples of each song from Amazon UK.

 

[IPodPJ]

While I can't post links here, I will say that Grace For Drowning has officially made its rounds on the internet as of tonight because people started receiving their copies today.
I won't receive mine for at least a few more days.
 
It's a phenomenal album.

 

[Skylab]

Can't wait! Mine has shipped from burningshed...

 

[IPodPJ]

Damn, is it ever majestic!  The first CD is better than the 2nd, and the first 3 songs of the first CD are the best of all, but the entire two album project really is something special and is probably Steven's finest work to date.  The sonic pallete is far more expansive than anything he's done before, the sound quality seems to be very good from what I can tell so far, and it's his most mature work to date.  He's grown as an artist, undoubtedly and will be lauded as a master creating his finest, most triumphant work.

 

[IPodPJ]

He really stepped up the bar with sound quality on this one.  As great as it is through headphones of course, it's truly enjoyable listening to it through a full size speaker system, which I had the pleasure of doing last night.  Not the best system, in fact definitely on the lower end except for the speakers which were older Infinitys with the EMIT-R tweeters and sound quite good.
 
Infinity used to make some really nice speakers back in the day.  I even had a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers at one point over 15 years ago, and I replaced the dome tweeters with EMIT-R tweeters because they fit in the same rectangular cutout area and I was able to purchase a pair of brand new EMIT-R tweeters from a local store called ITC Electronics for an incredibly stupid price of $10.  I had to also have someone make adjustments to the crossover and add some more internal damping to tonally balance them, but they sounded quite nice for 6.5" drivers in a fairly large bookshelf speaker cabinet, and I think I picked up the pair of speakers originally for about $400.  I was driving them with a Yamaha natural sound receiver, and this was when Yamaha made really nice equipment that wasn't too pricey.  The speakers should have lasted longer though, but the driver surrounds eventually dried up and flaked apart so I just trashed them.  I wasn't able to find replacement drivers with the hole in the center that actuated around the internal cone-shaped structure (whatever that's called).  If that cone wasn't there, I certainly could have installed a good driver.  Had I been more knowledgeable back then I'm sure I could have found replacement drivers.

 

[Bojamijams]

Is this the project he did with Mikael Akerfeldt?